I'm trying to revamp our employee's paperwork system in regards to end of shift/day. Help?
I inherited a paperwork/cash handling system from a prior GM. I've been slowly changing it to make it more organized and easy to use, but I still feel like there's room for improvement.
The ultimate goal is to have clear accountability for cash per shift, something clear and easy to complete for the staff, and the ability to use these sheets as a tool for management.
Information included on this sheet:
Employees that worked
cash in drawer
deposit
total cash due (this is produced by the Aloha POS system on their checkout)
+/- difference
All payouts (cash taken for band payouts, grocery, etc...)
Total CC and credit card machine totals (my POS and CC terminal are separate)
Total Net Sales - I keep this on the sheet so that they are aware of sales and their impact on them.
Once the paperwork makes it to the office, I enter in each sales category (for example, coffee products, retail, food, beer/wine, etc...), the deposit, payouts, CC's, and so on into QB.
I then process the deposits in QB. I have to do this every single day to stay on top of it If I skip a day or two, I end up spending hours in the office instead of managing my staff or maintaining the shop. This system takes quite a while. I've attached a copy of the cash sheet.
How much information do you request from your shift leads? Do you use a paperwork system that might work better for us? Do you utilize QB or Aloha? Can the two be synced up?
How do you monitor cash handling in your shop?
Thanks in advance for your suggestions!
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DAILY CASH SHEET.doc, 42 KB
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jay Caragay on
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Entering each sales category into QB sounds like a lot of work. Are you tracking that data in QB? If it's for specific purposes then absolutely. But if it's not really being used, then doesn't your POS track that data and can access them through reports?
Our system has each shift lead completing a similar worksheet that catalogs the exact cash in the drawers, as well as credit card transactions, totals and other inventory tracking data. When processing, we simply double-check to make sure the numbers on the worksheet and the Z-Reports match, everything is tallied and the deposits made. The cash in drawers are the responsibility of the shift lead - meaning that shortages in the drawer are their responsibility and must be made up by them.
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Permalink Reply by Lisa Kettyle on
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Currently we use the data QB for our P&L reports and inventory. The owner doesn't work in the shop, so I send reports on sales and product mix to him daily.
Jay Caragay said:Entering each sales category into QB sounds like a lot of work. Are you tracking that data in QB? If it's for specific purposes then absolutely. But if it's not really being used, then doesn't your POS track that data and can access them through reports?
Our system has each shift lead completing a similar worksheet that catalogs the exact cash in the drawers, as well as credit card transactions, totals and other inventory tracking data. When processing, we simply double-check to make sure the numbers on the worksheet and the Z-Reports match, everything is tallied and the deposits made. The cash in drawers are the responsibility of the shift lead - meaning that shortages in the drawer are their responsibility and must be made up by them.
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I'm thinking maybe the cash sheet is fine, but the back office stuff could be streamlined?
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Permalink Reply by Kathy Fadorsen on
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I just started to use QB it does take a lot of time but I think it is worth it for the information I will gain. One example would be year to year comparsions. I was under the impression it is not legal to make employees pay back shortages. I suppose you could take from (tip money) does not seem right. Also do they get to keep if drawer is over? And if more than 1 person runs the drawer how would this be fair to take from just one?
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Permalink Reply by Phil Goodl on
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So, I'm not familiar with QB but I thought if you are trying to streamline your end of day expenses I could run you through what my employees are set up to do throughout the day and at closing to be held accountable for money. This may or may not work with your POS system. Every till is counted at the beginning of the day by the opening shift to ensure they are at the specified amount. Each person is recorded as assigning a register (we have multiple registers and each person is tied to the specific time-frame they are on the register). When that person closes their till for the day the supervisor takes the large bills out of the seperate drop box, puts them into a sealed security envelope with the till location, the person's name, the date, and the supervisors' initials, and drops it into the time-locked second door of the safe. This happens for each person and the supervisor records in the cash book under the appropriate till the security bag number, the time it was dropped, the person's name, and again initials the form. The last supervisor of the day takes each till after it has been closed and counts it back to the required amount, drops the difference in the time-lock door and records this in the same way. When shifts exchange the cash keys they each count the safe, first the shift leaving counts to ensure it is at the proper amount and counts the number of dropped bags from people closing tills and bags from dropping tips. The supervisor doing the deposit opens the back of house system each morning and counts the money in each bag - tied to each register and the funds should match the computer's records of cash transactions. I'm not sure if this helps at all, but I think to simplify the end of day system for record keeping, record keeping should be done at every point possible throughout the day and with each person.
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My staff is required to report all cash differences and are not permitted to keep overages or forced to make up shortages. I have a system in place to control frequent differences (write ups for +/- $5 and so on).
Also, I just added a column for the second person on shift to verify the drawer, bank and deposit.
Kathy Fadorsen said:I just started to use QB it does take a lot of time but I think it is worth it for the information I will gain. One example would be year to year comparsions. I was under the impression it is not legal to make employees pay back shortages. I suppose you could take from (tip money) does not seem right. Also do they get to keep if drawer is over? And if more than 1 person runs the drawer how would this be fair to take from just one?
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This does help. : ) Thanks.
We don't currently have shift leads or supervisors. This is why each employee has access to the cash.
I like the idea of having cash drops for large bills and having folks sign off on it. I'm considering just having them focus on the deposit, but doing the end of day paperwork myself the next morning. Hmmm...
Phil Goodl said:So, I'm not familiar with QB but I thought if you are trying to streamline your end of day expenses I could run you through what my employees are set up to do throughout the day and at closing to be held accountable for money. This may or may not work with your POS system. Every till is counted at the beginning of the day by the opening shift to ensure they are at the specified amount. Each person is recorded as assigning a register (we have multiple registers and each person is tied to the specific time-frame they are on the register). When that person closes their till for the day the supervisor takes the large bills out of the seperate drop box, puts them into a sealed security envelope with the till location, the person's name, the date, and the supervisors' initials, and drops it into the time-locked second door of the safe. This happens for each person and the supervisor records in the cash book under the appropriate till the security bag number, the time it was dropped, the person's name, and again initials the form. The last supervisor of the day takes each till after it has been closed and counts it back to the required amount, drops the difference in the time-lock door and records this in the same way. When shifts exchange the cash keys they each count the safe, first the shift leaving counts to ensure it is at the proper amount and counts the number of dropped bags from people closing tills and bags from dropping tips. The supervisor doing the deposit opens the back of house system each morning and counts the money in each bag - tied to each register and the funds should match the computer's records of cash transactions. I'm not sure if this helps at all, but I think to simplify the end of day system for record keeping, record keeping should be done at every point possible throughout the day and with each person.
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Permalink Reply by Jared Rutledge on
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forcing employees to make up drawer shortages is unethical and could lead to lawsuits - it's basically asking for a kickback. there's a reason big companies don't do it.
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Permalink Reply by Keaton Ritchie on
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If this were facebook, I'd be "liking" this post.
Mistakes happen, your drawer might come up short from time to time. If your trust in your employees is so low that you want to make them pay out of pocket for those mistakes, you should probably get new employees or get out of this business.
(Seriously, as we have conversations about how great it would be if the profession of barista could be taken seriously and cafe owners could afford to pay their baristas real living wages, is anyone really going to suggest that a barista taking home 9$ an hour for highly skilled, demanding work should then make up the 10$ short in the till out of pocket? That is beyond ridiculous, and a slap in the face to your staff)
The system in the shop I work at is pretty simple. We do either a deposit or a drop when we switch from morning to evening staff (depending on the amount of cash being dealt with) and do an X cash report. At the end of the day we print out a Z and total everything up. There's rarely more than a couple dollars over or short. I remember freaking out at the end of my first close when I started at the shop because the cash came up 15$ short. I stayed 30 minutes late counting over and over again before calling the owner. His response? "It's 15$, I trust you and it was probably nothing more than a handful of entry errors. Lock up and go home". If your response to the situation would be significantly different, then the problem isn't your paperwork system.
Jared Rutledge said:forcing employees to make up drawer shortages is unethical and could lead to lawsuits - it's basically asking for a kickback. there's a reason big companies don't do it.
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I read your cash balance sheet and at bottom it said employees where responsible so I took that to mean you had to pay back sorry for the my confusion.
Lisa Kettyle said:My staff is required to report all cash differences and are not permitted to keep overages or forced to make up shortages. I have a system in place to control frequent differences (write ups for +/- $5 and so on).
Also, I just added a column for the second person on shift to verify the drawer, bank and deposit.
Kathy Fadorsen said:I just started to use QB it does take a lot of time but I think it is worth it for the information I will gain. One example would be year to year comparsions. I was under the impression it is not legal to make employees pay back shortages. I suppose you could take from (tip money) does not seem right. Also do they get to keep if drawer is over? And if more than 1 person runs the drawer how would this be fair to take from just one?
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Big companies have tried many different ways to require employees to pay back shortages. The bottom line is it is not legal. Years ago I worked for an employer that lost a class action lawsuit and had to pay back employees. The exception is if you are caught stealing and you can collect but you may not take it out of their paycheck.
Jared Rutledge said:forcing employees to make up drawer shortages is unethical and could lead to lawsuits - it's basically asking for a kickback. there's a reason big companies don't do it.
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Permalink Reply by Adrian Badger on
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Hi Lisa -
The information from your POS should be sufficient to provide your owner. A POS as sophisticated as Aloha should also have an export function that allows you to export its data directly into QB (or at least to a file that can be imported into QB with a couple of clicks), thereby eliminating duplication of data entry (QB, Excel, etc). Shift close information should also be able to be done in the POS thereby tracking cash. The only thing you should have to do outside the POS is your daily cash reconciliation before entering the shift cash data into the POS for end-of-day processing. In theory you should not have to make a single manual entry in QB in order to get the information you need from Aloha.
After that its a simple matter of printing either your owner's report from Aloha or QB. (Perhaps Aloha daily and then QB Monthly, or quarterly.)
If your POS is not capable of reducing your paperwork, then you should consider getting a new POS that can. The cost of the new POS can easily be justified by the amount of time you and your staff are spending on this.
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