A Daily Cash Closing Routine for Shops

At most shops the day ends the same way: the owner empties the galla, counts it roughly, takes it home and hopes it is about right. When it is not, nobody can say why. Was it a wrong change, an expense paid from the drawer, a refund, a JazzCash payment counted as cash, or something worse?

A proper closing routine takes ten to fifteen minutes and answers that question every day. It also protects honest staff: when the count matches, everyone knows. This guide covers the full routine. For counter rules against theft, such as PINs for voids and refunds, see preventing theft and leakage at the counter; this post is about the money itself.

Start with a counted float

The opening float is the change in the drawer before the first sale. Decide a fixed amount, enough small notes for a normal morning, and count it at opening every day, with the person taking the counter present. Write it down.

The float should match what was left in the drawer at the last closing. If yesterday's closing left 5,000 rupees and this morning's count is 4,800 rupees, you want to know before the first customer, not at night.

Record every rupee that is not a sale

Most closing differences are not theft. They are cash that moved without a record:

• 300 rupees for tea and 500 rupees for bags paid from the galla.
• A supplier's delivery boy paid in cash.
• The owner taking 10,000 rupees at lunch.
• Change brought in from the bank or the shop next door.
• A refund given in cash.

Every one of these needs an entry at the time it happens, with a reason. Small spends are what accountants call petty cash. Some shops keep a separate petty cash box so the galla only holds sales money. Either way works, as long as it is recorded.

Work out the expected cash

At closing, the cash that should be in the drawer is:

Expected cash = opening float + cash sales + udhaar collected in cash + cash put in − cash refunds − cash paid out − cash taken out

Note what is not in the formula: JazzCash, Easypaisa, bank transfer and card sales. That money never touched the drawer, so it must not be counted as cash. Mixing them up is the most common reason a drawer looks "over" one day and "short" the next.

A worked example

For example, one day at a small grocery store, with illustrative amounts:

150 rupees short on a day of more than 60,000 rupees in cash is most likely change given wrongly. It still gets a written reason. What matters is the pattern over weeks: a cash over/short that is always short, on the same person's shift, is a different story from small differences in both directions.

Check wallet, bank and card payments

Digital payments are now a large share of sales at many counters, and each one needs checking against its own record, not the galla.

• JazzCash and Easypaisa: open the merchant or wallet app and list the day's received payments. Each one should match a bill marked with that method.
• Bank transfers and Raast: Raast is Pakistan's instant payment system run by the State Bank, so the money should already show in your bank app. Match the amounts and names.
• Card: compare the card machine's settlement slip with the card total in your system.

A screenshot from the customer's phone is not proof of payment. Before the goods leave, check that the money has arrived in your own app or SMS. Our guide to digital payments at the counter covers this in more detail.

The Z report and the handover

The Z report is the end-of-day summary: who closed, total sales, sales by payment method, cash in and out, the counted cash and the difference. Print it or save it as a PDF, and keep it. If you close on paper, use the free daily cash closing sheet. A month of Z reports shows you patterns no single day can, and gives your accountant what they need.

If the shop runs two shifts, close the drawer at each handover, not just at night. The morning cashier counts and closes; the evening cashier counts and opens. Each shift is then responsible only for its own drawer.

Mistakes to avoid

• Counting to the number. Count first, then look at expected cash. Otherwise people stop when they reach the figure.
• Taking cash without an entry. Owners do this most. It turns every closing into a guess.
• Treating a wallet payment as cash. The drawer looks over by that amount and the wallet looks short.
• Skipping small differences. 100 rupees a day is 3,000 rupees a month. Record it even when it does not matter.
• Closing tired at midnight. If the shop closes late, count right after the last bill, not after cleaning and locking up.

How Nafaa helps

The cash register in Nafaa opens each shift with a float counted as one amount or note by note, and shows what the last shift of that branch left in the drawer so the opening count can be checked. During the day, cash in and cash out are recorded with a reason, and the till shows the cash the drawer should hold at that moment. At closing you count note by note, see the expected cash and the difference, and must write a reason when it is short or over; the Z report opens right after, and prints on a thermal slip, A4 or PDF. Wallet, bank and card sales are kept apart from cash, the payments accounts show what came into each one, and the day book in reports lists what is still left to close for the day. The cash register analytics show shorts and overs by staff and by day.