The market has finished. You count the cash twice and get the same amount, but it is lower than the figure you expected. Before calling it a shortage, check that the count and the records describe the same box over the same period.
Stop moving cash and note the time
Choose one physical box and the moment you stopped adding or removing cash. Keep personal money, another seller's box and a separate tip jar outside this count. If a refund or transfer happens after the cutoff, it belongs to a later check.
Count that unchanged box a second time. A count taken before a transfer and a report taken after it cover different amounts, even if each is accurate.
Check what each total means
Use the opening cash and the cash movements through your cutoff. Cash-management reports commonly separate starting cash, cash sales, refunds and cash paid in or out; Square's cash-session documentation describes these categories. Check your own source definitions before using its totals.
- Opening cash: the money already in this box at the start.
- Cash sales: sale-related cash retained after giving change, before subtracting refunds. Card or QR payments do not add cash to this box.
- Cash refunds: money paid out of this box as refunds during the session.
- Other cash added: non-sale money added after opening. Leave the opening cash out of this total.
- Other cash removed: money taken out for reasons other than refunds.
If your sales total already deducts refunds, subtracting them again will understate expected cash. Find a clearly defined before-refund cash total. If the records cannot separate it, keep the comparison unresolved rather than guessing. Each movement belongs in the comparison once.
Compare the figures before explaining the difference
Expected cash is opening cash plus cash sales, minus cash refunds, plus other cash added, minus other cash removed. Subtract that expected amount from your physical count: a negative result means less cash than expected; a positive result means more.
Keep the original sources while checking
Count the notes and coins again. Check the opening amount, whether sales were paid in cash, whether refunds were already deducted and when transfers happened. Look for an entry omitted or included twice. Do not change a record just to make the totals match. If you find a supported correction, retain the original source and note what changed and why.
If the count changes because cash moved, use a new cutoff and matching records. If you still cannot explain the difference, keep the amount and the open question visible.
Keep a short record of the box, cutoff, counted amount, source totals and unresolved difference. Add any supported correction separately so you can follow what changed.
Know what a matching result does not prove
A zero difference means the figures you used agree. Two errors can offset each other. It does not prove the records are complete, show profit or identify anyone responsible for missing cash. This is a small physical-box comparison, not bank reconciliation or a replacement for your bookkeeping process.
A note and a calculator are enough for this check. Keep the counted amount, the source totals and any unexplained difference together. Continue using your normal bookkeeping process.
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