A cash drawer count sheet has seven fields that compare the cash expected at close with the cash actually counted.
At the end of the day, someone has to count the cash in the drawer, write down what is there, and check it against what the register says should be there. A simple count sheet keeps that work in one place. It turns a quick guess into a record that a manager can read the next morning.
This post walks through the seven fields on a cash drawer count sheet, in the order you fill them in. For each field it explains what goes in the box, where the number usually comes from, and what to watch for. The steps are general. Your own register, your store rules and your manager's instructions come first.
Key takeaways
- Count only after the last sale is finished.
- Fill in all seven boxes, with a zero where there is nothing.
- Write the gap as over or short, and add a note for any gap.
- Flag any cash payment over $10,000, or related payments that add up to more than that.
- Hand the sheet to the manager before you leave.
The seven boxes at a glance
| Field | What goes in the box |
|---|---|
| 1. Who, when and which drawer | Store, date, shift times, person's name, drawer number |
| 2. Starting cash | Cash in the drawer when the shift began |
| 3. Cash sales | Total of cash sales only |
| 4. Cash taken out | Refunds, paid-outs and safe drops |
| 5. Expected cash | Starting cash, plus cash added, plus cash sales, minus cash taken out |
| 6. Counted cash | Total of what you physically count |
| 7. Difference and notes | Over or short, and why |
Before you start counting
Count only when the sales for the shift are finished. If a customer is still at the till, the number on the screen will keep changing and the count will not match. Take the cash out of the drawer, and leave the coins and bills where you can see them on the counter. Do not count the cash while someone else is putting money in or taking money out. For the totals to check first, see recording cash totals before you close the till.
Use a pen, not a pencil, and do not leave boxes blank. Write a zero where there is nothing to report. A blank box can mean nothing happened or that someone forgot, and the person reading the sheet later cannot tell the difference.
Paper or a spreadsheet
Either works. Paper is fast and keeps working if the internet goes down. A spreadsheet can do the sum for you, so you only type the starting cash, cash added, cash sales, cash taken out and the counted cash. If you use a spreadsheet, check that the sum is set up right the first time, and check it again after anyone changes it. Whichever you use, keep the seven boxes in the same order every time, so anyone can read any day's sheet.
Field 1: Who, when and which drawer
Write the store name, the date, the shift start and end times, and the name of the person who ran the drawer. If the store has more than one register, write down the register or drawer number as well. This box sounds like paperwork, but it is the one you will need most when a count is off.
Use the same layout every shift. If the sheet always puts the name first and the drawer number second, a manager can check any shift in seconds. Write the time you started counting as well as the shift times, so the count can be placed in order if a question comes up later.
Where you can, keep one person on each drawer for each shift. That makes it clear who is responsible for the cash in the drawer.
If two people share a drawer during one shift, write both names and the time each one took over. Sharing is where a missing amount is hardest to trace, so the sheet has to show who held the drawer at each point.
Field 2: Starting cash
The starting cash is the money in the drawer when the shift began, before the first sale. Write that amount here. Some stores call it the float, which means the small stock of change kept so the cashier can make change. Without a correct starting number, the rest of the sheet cannot tell you whether the drawer is right.
Loyverse's help guide covers shift management. Microsoft's guide describes comparing the expected amount with the counted amount for each shift, so a wrong start number throws off the gap at the end.
The starting cash should normally match the cash the last shift left in the drawer. If it does not, something happened between shifts, and that gap belongs in the notes. For the float from start to close, see cash drawer reconciliation steps.
If the number is wrong, do not guess what it should have been. Check the last shift's sheet, which should show the amount left in the drawer at its close. Write what you find, and write a note if the two do not agree.
Field 3: Cash sales
Write the total of all cash sales taken during the shift. Use the register's shift report if it has one, since it adds the sales up for you. Do not include card payments, gift cards or other payment types in this box. They belong on a different line, and mixing them in makes the cash number wrong.
Here is an example. A shop took a good amount of cash over an afternoon and evening. The register's report showed the same total, so the number went on the sheet as is. If the two numbers had been different, the first step would be to check the list of sales for any cash sale typed in under the wrong payment method, not to change the number to make the sheet look right.
A cash sale typed in as a card sale leaves that cash out of this box, so the expected figure is too low and the drawer looks over. A card sale typed in as cash does the opposite, so the drawer looks short.
If the register lets you print a list of cash sales, add it up once by hand. Doing that for a long list takes a few minutes, and it is a good way to catch typing errors.
Write every amount to the cent, not a rounded figure. Small rounding errors add up over a month, and they make it harder to match the sheet to the bank.
Field 4: Cash taken out
Write the total of all cash that left the drawer during the shift for reasons other than a sale. There are three common kinds. A refund is cash handed back to a customer for something they returned. A paid-out is cash taken from the drawer to pay for something the store bought, such as a box of cleaning supplies. A safe drop is cash moved from the drawer to the safe in the back room, so it can be kept somewhere more secure.
Every paid-out should have a short note and any paperwork that goes with it. The note should say what the money was for, who took it and who approved it. Clip the note and any paperwork to the sheet. Without it, the drawer will look short at the end of the day, and nobody will know why.
A refund is different from a sale. Do not subtract refunds from the sales box. Write them into the cash taken out box, and jot down how many refunds there were. A refund total that is higher than usual is worth passing to a manager.
Safe drops need the same care. Write down how much went into the safe and when. Keep it apart from paid-outs in your notes, because it is money moved to a safer place, not money spent.
Refunds paid in cash go in Field 4. A refund that went back on a card does not, because no cash left the drawer.
Field 5: Expected cash
This box is worked out, not counted. Take the starting cash, add any cash put into the drawer during the shift, add the cash sales, and then take away the total from Field 4. The answer is the amount that should be sitting in the drawer right now. Loyverse's help guide describes its expected cash figure as calculated from cash sales, refunds, and pay in and pay out operations.
Starting cash
+ cash added during the shift
+ cash sales
- cash taken out (Field 4)
= expected cash
Cash added during the shift is money that went into the drawer without a sale. One example is change brought from the safe. Put it on its own line in the sum, not in the sales box, and write a short note saying where it came from.
Write the answer to the cent. Do not change it to match the counted cash. The point of this box is to show what the drawer should hold, so you can see the gap clearly in Field 7.
If the register prints its own expected figure, compare the two numbers. If they match, write the register's number here and note where it came from. If they do not match, work out the difference yourself first, using the sum above, before you trust either number.
Field 6: Counted cash
This is the only box where you count money in front of you. Sort the cash into bills and coins, then count each group. Write how many of each bill and coin you have, work out the money for each line, and add the totals up at the bottom.
If the count and the expected number are far apart, count again before you write anything down. A second count is quick, and it can rule out a simple mistake.
Folded or stuck-together bills are an easy way to miscount. Flatten each bill and sort them by value before you start, so you do not count the same bill twice.
Keep the bills and coins apart while you count, so the coins do not get mixed into the notes. Write the coin total on its own line so it is easy to check.
Square's help guide describes the closing step as recording the actual amount when ending the drawer, which is the number you count, not the number you expect.
Field 7: Difference and notes
Subtract the expected cash from the counted cash. If the counted cash is higher, the drawer is over. If it is lower, the drawer is short. Write the gap in dollars and cents, and mark it as over or short. A gap of zero means the numbers agree.
Some registers do the subtraction for you. Lightspeed's guide says that its Difference field updates to help you identify any potential miscounts.
Some registers print an end-of-day report that already shows the gap. Check that figure against your own sum before you accept it. If the two do not match, a sale or refund may be missing from one of them.
Gaps have to be explained, not hidden. Do not add cash from your own pocket to cover a shortage, and do not move cash in or out just to make the numbers match. Write the gap as it is, and let the manager decide what to do.
Write a short note for any gap. Say what you think caused it and what you checked. A good note is short and factual, not a guess about who is to blame.
A gap can come from a simple mistake, such as giving the wrong change, a paid-out with no note, or a miscount. It can also mean something is wrong that needs a manager's attention. The sheet does not decide which. It only records what you found and what you checked.
Use the last part of the sheet for anything else the manager needs to know. Flag any single cash payment over $10,000, and any related cash payments that add up to more than that. The IRS instructions for Form 8300 cover a business that receives more than $10,000 in cash in one transaction or in two or more related transactions. This is general information, not tax advice, so ask your accountant if you are unsure.
Illustrative example: a made-up evening shift
Someone closed the drawer at the end of an evening shift and filled in the sheet like this:
| Field | Entry |
|---|---|
| 1. Who, when and which drawer | Evening shift, the named drawer, one person's name written in full |
| 2. Starting cash | The float, as counted at the start |
| 3. Cash sales | The total from the shift report |
| 4. Cash taken out | Refunds, one paid-out and one safe drop, each with a note |
| 5. Expected cash | Starting cash, plus cash added, plus cash sales, minus cash taken out |
| 6. Counted cash | The total of the physical count |
| 7. Difference and notes | Short. Matches a paid-out not written on the sheet. Paperwork attached. Manager told. |
The count came in lower than expected. The gap matches a paid-out that was never written down, and the note explains it. Nobody added the missing amount to the count or moved it into sales.
Common mistakes to avoid
Some mistakes come up again and again. The first is writing the expected number in the counted box, which makes the drawer look right when it is not. The second is forgetting a paid-out or a safe drop, which makes the drawer look short. The third is counting before the last sale is finished, so the numbers never match.
Another mistake is changing the counted cash to make the gap disappear. A gap is information. A small gap that keeps coming back on the same day of the week tells a manager more than a sheet that always reads zero.
Training new staff on the sheet
Walk a new person through the sheet during a real count. Let them fill in one box at a time while you watch, then check each answer together. A real count teaches the sheet faster than a page of instructions, and it shows the odd cases that a written guide tends to miss.
Keep a copy of the sheet from a shift where everything matched, and show it to the new person as an example. Mark it clearly as a sample, so nobody copies its entries onto a real sheet.
Who checks the sheet
The manager, or a second person if there is no manager on shift, should read every sheet before the next opening. Look first at the gap box and the notes. A gap with a clear reason is easy to close. A gap with no reason, or a sheet with blank boxes, needs a follow-up the same day.
Keep the sheets in one place, in date order. A stack of loose sheets is hard to search when a question comes up a week later.
Final word
A count sheet only works if it is filled in every time, even on a quiet shift. Each box is small. Together they tell the next person what happened in the drawer, and that is the point.
Next step
Today, compare the cash left in the drawer at your last close with the starting cash you will write on the next sheet. If the two differ, write a note before the next shift starts.
Frequently asked questions
What is a cash drawer count sheet?
A cash drawer count sheet is a record that compares the expected cash at close with the cash you actually count.
Why does the starting cash matter?
The starting cash is the base for the expected figure, so a wrong start number throws off the gap at the end.
Can I use a spreadsheet instead of paper?
Yes, a spreadsheet can do the sum for you, but it still needs the same seven boxes in the same order.
What should I do if the drawer is short?
Write the gap as short, add a note on what you think caused it and what you checked, and leave the decision to the manager.