A box office cash-up compares what the drawer should hold with what it does. Each cashier opens a shift with a counted float. Cash sales add to it; cash refunds and returned deposits come out of it. At close the cashier counts, the system works out what was expected, and the difference is kept with a note, never corrected. Card takings are checked against the terminal, not the drawer.
Start the shift with a counted float
The float is the change the drawer starts with. Whatever amount you choose, three rules make it work:
- The same float every time, so a cashier sees at once when it is wrong.
- Counted by the person who takes it, at the start of their shift, not by whoever closed the night before.
- Recorded as a figure on the shift, so the expected total at close starts from it.
The denominations matter as much as the total. A float of large notes cannot give change, and a cashier with no change starts improvising.
In iTravel Attractions, ticketing software for attractions, a cashier opens a shift at the box office by naming the till and typing the float. No desk sale can be made without an open shift.
One shift per person, one drawer per shift
A cash-up proves something only if each drawer belongs to one person for the length of a shift. Two cashiers sharing a drawer can balance it together and still never find out which of them gave the wrong change.
- One login per person. A shared box office login turns every difference into nobody's.
- A change of cashier is a close and a count, then a new shift. Ten minutes with someone else at the drawer is a handover, whatever it is called.
- Name your tills, so a cash-up says which drawer it was.
In Attractions, a cashier has at most one open shift per venue, and every desk payment and every refund handed back from the drawer belongs to it. A till registered as a device names the shift, and stops selling the moment it is switched off in Settings. Today lists any shift still open from an earlier day.
Cash, card and everything else
Not every way of paying touches the drawer:
| How the guest pays | Moves the drawer? | Check it against |
|---|---|---|
| Cash | Yes, in and out | The count at close |
| Card on the venue's own terminal | No | The terminal's own end-of-day report |
| A gift card | No | The gift card's balance and history |
| A cash deposit for a rental | In when taken, out when handed back | The count, and the rentals still out |
| A late fee in cash | Yes | The count |
The trap in that table is the deposit. A kayak deposit taken in cash at 10:00 belongs to the guest until the kayak comes back. If it comes back after the shift has closed, the cash leaves a later shift's drawer. The drawer is right both times; it simply is not all takings. Bank takings, not deposits still owed.
In Attractions, a desk sale is paid in cash, with the amount given and the change due shown, or on the venue's own card terminal with the terminal's reference typed. A gift card pays first and the rest is cash or card (gift cards for attractions). Gift cards and memberships sold at the desk belong to the shift too (memberships and annual passes), and rental deposits and late fees taken in cash count in the drawer (equipment rental booking).
Voids and refunds at the desk
A mistake noticed before the guest walks away and a refund three hours later are different things, and your procedure should treat them differently. Answer these in writing before the first busy day:
- Who may refund, and up to what amount without a second person.
- The reason, every time, in words someone can understand next month.
- Where the money goes back: a cash sale in cash, a card sale on the card. Never card money handed back as cash.
- Whose drawer it leaves. Cash handed back comes out of the drawer of the person handing it back, so it must be on their shift.
In Attractions, a booking is cancelled from its order page, and a reason is required. You set the refund, which can never be more than was paid less what has already gone back. Cash handed back comes out of the canceller's open shift, so their cash-up expects it. A gift card's share goes back onto the card first, never into cash. Money taken on the terminal is refunded on the terminal, and the order records it as to be paid back by hand.
The end-of-shift count and the difference
The count itself:
- Count the drawer by denomination, away from the counter.
- Enter the total counted.
- Compare it with the expected figure: the float, plus cash taken, minus cash handed back, plus cash deposits and late fees, minus deposits handed back.
- Keep the difference, over or short, with a note.
- Take out the takings, and keep the float as your procedure says.
Two decisions belong to you.
A blind or an open count. In a blind count the cashier counts without seeing the expected figure, so the number they write down is the number in the drawer. In an open count they can see it, which is quicker and invites rounding to match. Attractions shows the expected figure during the shift and on the closing sheet, so if your rule is a blind count, have a second person count first, on paper.
Over is as wrong as short. A drawer that is over gave somebody too little change. Record both, and read the pattern across shifts rather than any single one.
Attractions keeps the expected figure, the counted figure and the difference, with the cashier's note if they add one. It never changes a difference to make the shift balance.
Who signs off
The cashier signs the count. Someone else, a supervisor or the duty manager, checks it: counts again, looks at the refunds on the shift and reads the note on any difference. Then the takings go to the safe or the bank, with a record of who handed them to whom.
In Attractions, closing a shift opens its cash-up, ready to print: the venue, the till, the cashier, the opening and closing times, the float, cash taken, cash handed back, deposits and late fees, the expected figure, the counted figure, card takings, the number of payments, and either "balanced" or the difference with its note. Attractions records the cashier who closed the shift. The second signature is your procedure, on the printed page.
A worked example: one shift's cash-up
Say a cashier runs the box office from 09:00 to 15:00 on a busy day, with a float of 200.00 in the venue's currency.
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Float | 200.00 |
| Cash taken for tickets, a membership and a gift card | + 1,450.00 |
| Cash handed back: one refund | − 60.00 |
| Rental deposits taken in cash (3 × 50.00) | + 150.00 |
| Rental deposits handed back (2 × 50.00) | − 100.00 |
| One late fee in cash | + 10.00 |
| Expected in the drawer | 1,650.00 |
| Counted | 1,640.00 |
| Difference | − 10.00 |
| Card on the terminal (not in the drawer) | 2,300.00 |
The cashier's note says: "Change on a 20.00 note, around 13:00, I think." The supervisor counts again and also gets 1,640.00. The terminal's own report says 2,300.00, so the card side balances.
What goes to the safe? 1,640.00 counted, less the 200.00 float kept for the next shift, is 1,440.00. One deposit of 50.00 is still owed to a guest whose kayak is out. That is not takings: it stays with the float for the shift that will hand it back. So 1,390.00 is banked, which is the shift's cash takings of 1,400.00 (1,450.00 − 60.00 + 10.00) less the 10.00 short. The figures agree, and the 10.00 is on record against one shift, one till and one name.
The reports finance will ask for
- Cash-ups across shifts: one row per shift, with expected, counted, difference and note. Patterns show up here: the same till short every Saturday, the same cashier always a little over.
- Sales by channel: what the desk took against the online shop.
- Card takings per shift, against the terminal's own reports.
- Revenue, not just cash: what visits in the period earned, against what was paid for days still to come. Money taken today for next month's visit is not this month's revenue.
In Attractions, Reports shows sales by day bought, ticket, guest type and channel, with tabs for visits, the gate, cash-ups and revenue (earned, of which no-shows, still to come, and paid for later days). Each table downloads as a CSV. If the gate was offline for part of the day, its scans arrive when it reconnects (offline ticket scanning); the cash-up does not depend on them.
Cash-up checklist
At the start:
- The same float, counted by the cashier, denominations checked.
- A shift opened in the cashier's own name, on a named till.
During the shift:
- Every sale and every refund on the shift of the person handling the money.
- A reason on every refund; card money back on the card.
- Rental deposits written down as owed, not as takings.
At the close:
- Count by denomination, away from the counter.
- Enter the count; keep the difference with a note.
- Check card takings against the terminal's report.
- A second person checks and signs the printed cash-up.
- Takings to the safe; the float and deposits still owed kept apart.
Each week:
- Read the cash-ups list for patterns, not single shifts.
- Close any shift left open from an earlier day.
