Without implementing suitable cash handling procedures in your retail business you increase your risk of theft, not only from somebody outside of your business but possibly from within. This is why it is important to have proper procedures in place and be selective about who has access to the cash in your business. Having procedures like the following will also help you keep track of your cash which can help in monitoring your businesses performance.
1. Receipts
By printing off receipts of every transaction as it occurs, you can have proof that the customer has paid; this protects yourself and the customer. Your retail business should ensure that all information relating to the transaction is on the receipt. This includes the date, time, products/services, amount paid, payment method, and a receipt identifier number.
2. Authorised staff
It is important that only specific staff have the authority to deal with bigger lodgements and withdrawals. This will help reduce the risk of internal theft. Other staff members that have access to smaller amounts of cash should be trained in cash handling procedures.
3. Security
As a retail business you will have at least one or more tills. To ensure safe cash handling, cash and floats should be kept in these tills or locked cash box. It is important to ensure regular removal of high-value notes from tills and keep them in a safer area. You should not allow large sums of money to accumulate in your till as in the case of a robbery you will lose it all. When removing these large sums you should be careful not to do so when there are customers on your retail business premises and not to have regular times when you do this process.
4. Till reports
At the end of the day your till/s should be emptied and ensure till receipts balance with the cash you received. Many tills generate X reads and Z reads. X reads can be helpful in monitoring staff performance as after each shift they can print off this read to monitor takings without resetting the days total to zero which is what a Z read does.
5. Petty cash
Your small business may keep petty cash to cover any small expenses. It is important for good cash handling that you only use petty cash to cover these costs, not cash from the till as it will mean at the end of the day your till receipts won’t match the cash in your till. You should not have large amounts of petty cash on your premises and you should have one person responsible for handling petty cash.
We will cover counterfeit money and handling cash in transit in different posts so be sure to check back. For more on this topic we have designed a cash handling guide that even has a checklist to ensure you have appropriate procedures in place.
