Security tracking
[Revised Oct 01]
CASH DRAWERS DO NOT BALANCE.
CASH OVER.
CASH UNDER.
The problem should be isolated by cashing up each cash drawer separately each day, and keeping a record of unders/overs to identify a pattern. Known causes include;
STAFF THEFT or borrowing. It is difficult for a dishonest employee to steal money or goods without the program detecting it, and attempts to cover up will leave a trail of inconsistencies that will alert management. These inconsistencies can look like computer failure, especially if the thief attempts to discredit the computer to cover their tracks. This is reliable software that has been used in many sites for a long time, and experience has shown that `dishonest employee sabotage' is the most common cause of persistent `computer' problems in a new site. It is usually the first indication of theft problems that were previously unsuspected. These situations are covered here despite the likelihood that a dishonest employee will read these notes, since all known ways of stealing stock or money are able to be detected by the program. Knowing possible methods of detection does not make it possible to evade detection.
Outright theft results in the cash being under but may be inconsistent as the thief attempts to cover it by price `fixing' prices down and overcompensating. Honest borrowing, where someone takes a sum and replaces it a few days later, results in both unders and overs and must be stopped as it can easily slide into theft when the person genuinely forgets to replace the borrowing.
Price `fixes' `abandoned sales' and discounts are reported on the till sheet; excessive use of these may indicate security problems. A cash drawer that is `over' can be significant as a dishonest staff member may deliberately `sell' a cheaper item and remove the excess cash when the opportunity arises; sometimes the opportunity will not arise so the cash drawer will be `over'. This can be easily detected if the occasional random mid-day cash up is done.
MISSED SALES ENTRY or DOUBLE ENTRY can occur when there are many `askprice' items sold. When busy, staff may take cash and put it in the drawer intending to ring it up later. This is a bad practice and must be stopped; later they may forget to enter the sale resulting in cash being over, or ring it up twice by mistake resulting in the cash being under. Instruct staff to always complete a sale at the time, even if busy; if a previous sale is holding up the unit, put that sale `on hold' so the current sale can go through.
SUMMARY. Experience of supporting over 1000 PoS sites, some since 1987, has shown that theft by staff is by far the most common cause of seriously non-balancing cash drawers. Management are naturally reluctant to accept this, especially when long term and senior staff are involved.
This is designed to highlight discrepanices.
Related topics