The Importance of Cash Management in Restaurants: Best Practices for Accountability
Just because cash transactions have decreased doesn’t mean cash-handling standards should. Daily reconciliation, even for small amounts of cash, is key to maintaining accountability, improving operational efficiency, and fostering a culture of trust and transparency. Over the years, I’ve observed several approaches to managing daily cash receipts, each with its pros and cons.
Common Cash-Handling Approaches
1. Weekly Deposits Without Reconciliation
Some businesses store cash in a safe and make deposits weekly. While this might seem efficient, any discrepancies between deposits and the POS system often aren’t caught until the accounting team reconciles them—sometimes more than a month later. When discrepancies do surface, tracking down the specific day or cause becomes nearly impossible, making it difficult to find missing money or identify errors.
2. Daily Deposits Without Daily Reconciliation
Other businesses make daily deposits but wait for the accounting department to reconcile them at the end of the month. While this method allows for pinpointing the day with discrepancies, store staff are often unable to recall details about that day weeks later, leaving errors unresolved.
3. Daily Deposits With Daily Reconciliation
The most effective approach is to reconcile daily deposits with the POS cash-on-hand amount before the cash leaves the store. This allows store personnel to investigate and resolve discrepancies immediately while the day’s events are still fresh in their minds. Additionally, by posting cash in transit, the accounting team has a second opportunity to verify the work. Addressing issues in real time is far easier than attempting to resolve them weeks later.
Don’t Forget the Safe!
Another critical piece of cash management is balancing the safe daily. Maintaining proper denominations ensures your tills are ready to provide change. If someone takes a roll of quarters without replacing it with cash, the tills will appear over.. Daily safe balancing makes it easy to catch and correct these errors.
Why It Matters
Whether you run a coffee shop or a full-service restaurant, letting cash management slide can lead to inefficiencies, errors, and even potential losses. By implementing strong, consistent cash-handling procedures, you set clear expectations for your team and safeguard your revenue.
In the digital age, it’s easy to overlook cash, but every penny still counts—literally.
How does your restaurant handle cash? Let’s start a conversation!
