Opening and closing out the till
If you work at the Donation Desk or in the Thrift Store you may be asked to handle money as a cashier. Only staff members and authorized volunteer cashiers are allowed to handle money. If you are an authorized, you may find yourself needing to start out or close out the day. It is important that this be done correctly so we can account for all the money in an easy and clear way.
Opening the till
Tills come from the safe and should be counted and ready to go when you arrive. If you do not have access to the safe, ask a staff collective member to get your till for you.
Inside the till, you should have:
- the money for starting the day and
- an End of shift form with amounts listed in the Start column.
The amounts should be totaled and there should be a number in box A at the bottom of the Start column. (The standard number of bills and coins is usually what is spelled out in the Standard Cash Drawer page, but there might be a minor variation in your particular till.)
You need to count the money to make sure that this is all correct. If there is any error, correct the paperwork and re-add the amounts to reflect how much money is actually in the till. Record the actual amount of cash next to box A, so the closer will be able to see how much money was actually there at the start of the day.
Problems with opening
- If the till has been used, the End column will already be filled in. Get someone to return the till for a clean one.
Closing out the till
When turning in the till to the closer, you should have all of the following:
- the money brought in during the day
- checks (front desk only) - stamped, FD or TS # at top, DL #, proper date, signature, money amounts written and numeric matching
- an End of shift form with amounts listed in the Start columns, already in till
- a Till worksheet - fill in with data and print out when done, including explanation of any overage or shortage
- credit card report printed out after 7 PM, from credit card machine (see the instructions)
- money receipts - with reference to credit slip when applicable
- reimbursement or IOU slips - will all lines complete, including 2 signatures
- mileage reimbursement slips - will all lines complete, including 2 signatures
You need to:
- Make sure all the money is in its correct place. (That is, all the ones are in with the ones, all the fives are with the fives, all the dimes are with the dimes, etc.)
- Count all the money by denomination and record each amount in the End column in its appropriate spot.
- Total up any amount of checks and record the total amount at the top of the End column.
- Add up the cash and checks for a total that should be recorded in box B.
- Subtract the amount in box B from box A to determine how much money should go to the safe. Put this amount in box C
- Total up any reimbursement slips and record the total amount in box D.
- Close out the credit card machines and record the amount from the credit card report in box E. (see the instructions)
- Total up any unpaid IOUs and record the total amount in box F.
- Add the amounts from boxes C, D, E, and F to get a subtotal for box G.
- Total up any Money Receipts and record the total amount in box H.
- Subtract box H from box G to get the regular income amount for box I.
- Pull up the Income Report from the database to compare with your numbers.
- Check the report for inconsistencies with your paperwork. Solve any problems you can, and correct your paperwork or the database as necessary. (See below.)
- The Check column on the database Income Report should be the same as the amount in box at the top of the End column.
- The Credit column on the database Income Report should be the same as the amount in box E.
- The exception to the above would be if there are checks and/or credit amounts that were not entered into the database, such as cash-only donations or tech support tickets.
- Write the Total Real amount for your till from the database report in box J on your paperwork.
- Is the till out of balance?
- If box I and box J are the same, your till is in balance.
- If box I is larger than box J your till is over.
- If box J is larger than box I your till is short.
- After double checking all your work, record overages or shortfalls in box K. Overages are positive numbers. Shortfalls are negative numbers.
Tills will go into the safe and should be counted and ready to go when you arrive. If you do not have access to the safe, ask a staff collective member to get your till for you.
Problems with closing
- My checks are off!
- Normally this means that a check transaction was recorded as a credit card or cash. Arrange the checks in order by receipt number and compare them to the database. If you find a transaction that is not recorded as a check but should be, then use the database to fix the problem. (This means you will need to re-run the Income Report.) This can also be because a check was written for something that did not get entered in the database, like a cash-only donation, or a tech support ticket at the front desk. Make sure that gets entered as "cash in" on the till worksheet and then even though the check total will not agree with the database, the final balance should come out alright.
- My credit cards are off!
- Normally this means that a credit or debit card transaction was recorded as a check or cash. Arrange the credit card slips in order by receipt number and compare them to the database. If you find a transaction that is not recorded as a credit card transaction but should be, then use the database to fix the problem. (This means you will need to re-run the Income Report.) Another possibility is that a credit card was used for something that did not get entered in the database (see the check example above).
- My checks or credit card slips don't have receipt numbers on them!
- This usually means that someone earlier in the day forgot to record the TS or FD number when the transaction happened. You'll need to look for the transaction in the database and record it yourself.
- What about checks that are "signed over" to Free Geek?
- If someone endorses a check "Pay to the order of Free Geek" and exchanges it for cash, then the database total in the Check column will be different from the total amount of checks in your till (at the top of the End column). Make a note of this in the Notes section of the paperwork.
- The cash is off!
- Make sure your checks are correct and your credit cards are correct. If these are off, they'll affect your cash. Once that's done, re-check your work methodically:
- Make sure your bills or coins aren't mixed. (Three fives and a ten do not make twenty dollars.)
- Recount your bills.
- Check your addition. (Add your numbers again. If you get a different total than before, repeat until you get a consistent result.)
- Sometimes, the cash is just off. If you've tried all the above and it still doesn't add up, don't sweat the small stuff. You will record the shortfall or overage on the paperwork and the beancounters will maybe catch the mistake tomorrow.