How to do an end-of-day cash-up in a small business

Running the business · Updated 2026-09-16 · 5 min read

A bakery owner counting cash into stacks beside an open cash drawer and a tablet after closing

Key takeaways

A cash-up compares what the POS says you took with what you can actually count, one payment method at a time.
Count the opening float in the morning and take it out before comparing cash at night.
Count cash by denomination, and reconcile card, QR and e-wallet totals against their own settlement reports.
Record money that did not pass through the till - delivery platform payouts, petty cash, supplier payments - as adjustments, not as a variance.
A small variance is normal. A repeated one, in the same direction, is a signal to investigate.

An end-of-day cash-up - also called closing, cashing out or reconciliation - is the ten minutes that tell you whether the day's sales are real. It is the same routine whether you run a boutique, a salon, a grocery or a coffee stall: compare what your system says you should have with what you actually have, find out why they differ, and write it down. Done every day, it catches mistakes while they are still easy to trace. Skipped for a week, a small gap becomes a mystery.

What you need

Your POS sales totals for the day, split by payment method.
The cash drawer, and a quiet moment to count it.
The day's settlement or transaction summary from your card terminal, QR provider or e-wallet.
Any slips for cash taken out during the day - petty cash, supplier payments, change runs.

Step 1: Know your opening float

The float is the cash placed in the drawer at the start of the day so you can give change. Count it and record it every morning, even if it is always meant to be the same amount. At closing, the float is not revenue: take it out of the count before comparing against sales, or the drawer will always look over by exactly the float.

Step 2: Count the cash by denomination

Count each note and coin value separately - RM 100, RM 50, RM 20, RM 10, RM 5, RM 1 notes and the coins - and multiply out. Counting by denomination is slower than counting a pile, but it is far more accurate, and when the total is wrong you can recount a single stack instead of starting again. If two people are available, have the second person count independently.

Step 3: Reconcile every other payment method

Cash is the method that goes missing, but it is not the only one that goes wrong. For each non-cash method - card, DuitNow QR, e-wallets, online transfers - compare the POS total with the provider's own record for the day. Differences usually come from a payment recorded under the wrong method (a QR payment keyed as cash), a payment taken but never entered in the POS, or a transaction that failed on the provider's side after the customer left.

This is why it matters that the POS records each payment method separately. If everything is logged as one total, a cash shortage and a mis-keyed QR payment cancel out and hide each other.

Step 4: Record what did not go through the till

Some money moves without a sale in the POS: payouts from food delivery platforms, cash taken for a supplier who came to the door, tips paid out to staff, petty cash for supplies. Record each one as an adjustment - income or expense, with a note - rather than letting it show up as an unexplained variance. That keeps the variance meaningful: once adjustments are recorded, whatever gap remains really is a gap.

Step 5: Work out the variance

For cash, the variance is: counted cash, minus the opening float, minus the cash sales the POS expected, adjusted for any cash paid in or out. For each other method it is the provider's total minus the POS total. A positive variance means you have more than expected; negative, less.

Step 6: Decide what the variance means

A variance of a few ringgit on a busy cash day is normal - change given wrongly once or twice. What matters is the pattern:

Random small differences in both directions are ordinary human error.
A repeated shortage in the same direction, or on the same staff member's shifts, needs looking into.
A variance equal to one sale's amount usually means a sale was entered twice, voided without the cash being returned, or never entered.
Cash over and QR under by the same amount is almost always a payment recorded under the wrong method.

Write a note against any variance you explain, and against any you cannot. The notes are what make next month's pattern visible.

Step 7: Close the day, and do not quietly edit it later

Once the numbers are recorded, close the day so it cannot be changed casually. If a mistake is found later, reopening the day should be something only the owner can do, so the record stays trustworthy.

Habits that make cash-up easier

Give each person their own POS login so every sale and refund has a name on it.
Keep the float the same amount every day.
Enter refunds and voids in the POS at the moment they happen, never from memory at night.
Do the cash-up before anyone goes home, not the next morning.

Where FivePOS fits

FivePOS has an End of Day Closing page built around this routine. Starting a close pulls the day's totals per payment method from your orders. You enter the opening float, count cash with a denomination grid that fills in the cash row, enter counted totals for the other methods, and record adjustments such as delivery platform payouts and expenses. The page shows the variance for each method, saves as a draft, and closing the day finalises it; the owner can reopen a closed day if a mistake turns up. Each staff member signs in with their own login, so sales are attributed. See also How to choose a POS system in Malaysia.

Frequently asked questions

What is an end-of-day cash-up?

It is the daily routine of comparing the sales your POS recorded with the cash and payments you can actually count or verify, one payment method at a time, and recording any difference. It is also called closing, cashing out or reconciliation.

Should the opening float be included in the cash count?

Count it, but subtract it before comparing against the day's cash sales. The float is change money, not revenue, so leaving it in makes the drawer look over by exactly the float amount.

How much cash variance is acceptable?

There is no fixed number, because it depends on how much cash you handle. Small, random differences are normal. A shortage that repeats in the same direction, or on the same shifts, is the signal to investigate.