Reconciling the till with stock each day

In many shops the till is counted at the end of the day and then everyone goes home. Stock, on the other hand, is checked once a month, sometimes once a year. As a result a shortage or an error stays hidden for a long time, and when it is found it is almost impossible to say why. The cheapest protection is to reconcile the till with stock every day, in 10 to 15 minutes. This small habit catches big losses early.

The idea

Every sale leaves two traces: money appears in the till and stock goes down in the storeroom. If the records are kept properly, the two traces must agree: the value of goods that left, at selling prices, must equal the money that went into the till. If it does not, something was not recorded, was recorded wrongly or was lost.

The daily check: five steps

1. Count the money in the till: write down cash, the amount taken through the card terminal, and Click, Payme and other payment systems separately. Their total is the real takings for the day.
2. From your table take the goods that left today (were sold), multiply each line by the selling price and add up. This is the expected takings.
3. Compare the two figures and record the difference.
4. If there is a difference, look for the cause straight away (a list follows).
5. Work out end-of-day stock with the formula "morning stock + receipts − sales", and check it by counting the 5 to 10 fastest-selling items on the shelf.

For example, the table says goods worth 2,450,000 so'm were sold today, but the till holds 2,410,000. The difference is 40,000 so'm. You spend fifteen minutes looking and find that goods worth 40,000 were handed to a customer on credit and nobody wrote it down. An error found in the evening is a thousand times easier to fix than one found a month later.

It is the same with stock. In the morning the table showed 45 packs of tea, 12 were sold during the day, so 33 should remain by evening. You count the shelf and find 31. Two packs are missing. Who worked today, what was returned, which box was opened: all of it is still fresh in your mind. Tomorrow these questions are much harder to answer, and a month later it is almost impossible.

Where a difference can come from

The most common causes:

• a discount or promotional price was not taken into account;
• goods were given on credit but not recorded;
• a customer returned goods, the money was refunded, but the stock was not updated;
• goods were sold at the wrong price (an old tag, a seller's slip);
• a sale was entered twice or not at all;
• an employee or the owner took goods for personal use;
• wrong change was given or money was taken from the till for another purpose.

Recording credit, returns and discounts

For the check to be accurate, also record movements outside the till:

• Credit: goods left, no money came in. This is recorded as a sale, but the payment shows up separately in a "debt" column.
• Return: the goods come back as a receipt and the money leaves the till.
• Discount: the sale is recorded at the actual price and the discount amount is shown separately.

Your formula then looks like this: expected takings − discounts − credit − refunded money + old debts collected = money in the till. If every deduction and addition is recorded, the difference will be close to zero.

Sharing responsibility

When one person both sells and keeps the records, the chance of making a mistake or hiding one goes up. If you can, split the duties: the seller counts the till, and the storekeeper or another employee checks the table. If there is no second person, the owner should check once a week. The aim is not to blame anyone but to make sure the records match reality.

Conclusion

The daily check is one of the cheapest record-keeping habits and gives quick results. You find a shortage the next day, not next month. If stock and the till have not agreed for a long time, the records will need to be checked from scratch. AniqHisob can run a stock count, find the reasons for the differences and leave a clear routine for the daily check.