Troubleshooting
      Back to home
      1. Knowledge Base
      2. Updates and Help
      3. Troubleshooting

      Cash Log Variance Investigation

      It is expected that some times when cashing up you will be presented with variances. This article has handy tips to investigate these variances.

      Last Updated 11 Nov 2022

      Jump to:

      Introduction

      Because we work in a fast paced and sociable environment, small amounts of human error are to be expected in your operations financial transactions. This is usually because the team are focussed on giving your customers the best experience they can. 

      This however does give you, the shift leader, a more difficult task of "cashing up" (even if you're cashless) at the end of the shift. This article is intended to give you a handy checklist to help investigate any such variances.

      This list is available as a handy print out for your venues to aid their cashing up. It also explains how to cash up if your internet connection goes down: Handout.

      Note: This article is a generic list of hints and tips, and you should speak to your line manager to ascertain if your company has a specific policy or process for cash management and variance investigation. 

      Checklist

      Check your inputting Before you spend time re-counting everything, just check that what you have actually entered into Kobas is what you were intending to enter. If it's wrong, simply correct and click out of the box.
      Cash and Card Tips Have tips been processed correctly? See the section below.
      Check your PDQ Z-Reads The next easiest option to check is to take another look at your Card Machine Z-Reads. Have you entered the correct amount in general, Amex and Tips (if applicable). Have you missed a PDQ, or even done the same one twice (it happens!)? See the section below.
      Check your Petty Cash Is there any Petty Cash still outstanding to input? If this is the case, continue with your Cash Declaration and then enter the Petty Cash at the end (or email someone who has the permission level to do that for you).
      Re-count your takings Now to make sure that you haven't miscounted. It might be beneficial to ask someone else to count for you, or to count by hand if your initial count was with a coin/note counter.
      Re-count your Till Floats Now we know that your takings are correct, let's revisit your Till Floats and make sure you counted those correctly.
      Re-count your Change Safe And the same logic with the Change Safe (if applicable).
      Check the areas around your tills Looking around the areas where your tills are situated, and areas such as Waiting Stations will hopefully show you dropped money, pots of money, or dropped petty cash receipts. Make sure to take the outer Cash Draw out to check in there.
      Check open tabs Take a look at your EPoS, do you have any tabs open that should have been Settled during the shift?
      Check daily transactions Were all of your orders and tabs today settled correctly? Did someone accidently settle a bill as Uber Eats when in fact it should've been Cash, for example.
      Check reservations and deposits Were all of your deposits recorded and redeemed/refunded correctly? Did you mark a booking as No Show when in fact they did show?
      Consider bookings  If you have had unusual trade, such as a large booking/event, did their items and payments get processed correctly in Kobas?
      Consider integrations If you use integrations such as DesignMyNight, InnStyle, or Deliverect, have you ensured they are working correctly? Did all of the bookings and payments push through? If your internet connection is down, this is likely the cause of your variance.
      Speak to the team Finally, nothing can replace good communication. Speaking to the team that has worked that day can often be the speedy resolve you were looking for. 

      Card and Cash Tips

      A regular cause of erroneous variances is the incorrect entering of tips into Kobas.

      A configuration consideration should be how tips are processed on your Card Machine, and how they're displayed in the Z-Read. Read more about tips and settings here.

      How they're processed:

      • Do you overcharge on your non-integrated card machine for tips?
        • If so, staff must enter the amount they have taken on the Merchant Receipt into Kobas by pressing Take Payment > [Amount] > Card, and not using the Pay Remaining Balance On Card. This option can be turned off in venue settings.
        • If using this method, your Card Machine will not know what money it's taken was for tips and what was for sales. Therefore, you will have to trust the Expected Card Tips from Kobas, by checking the PDQ Tips variance, and entering that into the tips box.
      • Do you use an integration that asks the customer whether they wish to add a tip?
        • If so, Kobas and the Card Machine will know the amount for sales and the amount for tips and you should enter this as such.

      How they're displayed on the Z-Read:

      • Are the tips part of the Grand Total, or separate? You should make sure that your settings reflect this so that you're not creating an erroneous variance. 

      Top Tip: The same principle above applies to American Express cards also.

      Cash Tips

      Kobas cannot handle Cash Tips through the shift, as we always assume overpayment by Cash will end in change being given. Therefore, we suggest that Cash Tips are collected separate to your cash draw during the shift. If you are using Kobas to distribute tips, the total value can be added during the Cash Log. 

      Card Z-Read

      Ensure that your Card Machine Z-Read functions as you need it to. Many payment providers will work so that the Z-Read will give you a total and reset the totals on the machine, ready for the next trading day.

      However, others work in a different way. Dojo is our preferred payment provider, and for their terminals you would need to follow these instructions:

      1. From the sales screen, tap the menu icon in the top left corner (three lines)
      2. Select ‘Summary’
      3. Select 'Custom'
      4. Customers will have an option to select a custom timeframe for their report. This is most relevant if your days trade has continued past midnight.

      Recording and Accountability

      Make sure that you document your investigation steps and outcome in the Cash Log. You may also identify further steps that can be taken by others or at a later date. Remember that your name is logged against this Cash Log, so be accurate and thorough.

      Top Tip: All aspects of the Cash Log declaration (excluding the days' sales) can be edited retrospectively by someone with the relevant user permissions.

      When you are looking to investigate variances several days or further, we have added further auditable information. Currently in the Safe Log and the Till Float Log, you can hover over the i-Bubble and see who entered the values and when, and any subsequent changes. This will be added shortly to the Cash Log and Cash Bags.