At closing, split the day's sales by how the customer paid: cash, UPI, card and credit. Work out how much cash should be in the drawer, count what is actually there, and compare the two. Then check the day's UPI total against the list of payments in your UPI app, and the card total against the card machine's report for the day. If anything does not match, write the difference and the reason on the day sheet and have the owner sign it. Do not make it up from tomorrow's takings.
This works with any billing app, a sales book, or none.
Sales are not the same as cash in the drawer
A shop that sold ₹48,450 today will not have ₹48,450 in the cash drawer (galla). Part of the day's sales was paid by UPI and part by card, so that money is somewhere else. Some cash went out during the day, for a courier or a refund, and the drawer started the day with change in it. A day close checks each of these separately, so that a short drawer or a UPI payment that never arrived is spotted the same evening, while the customer and the staff still remember the sale.
Split the day's sales by how they were paid
From your bills or sales book, total the day's sales under each method:
- Cash
- UPI
- Card
- Credit (udhaar): sales the customer will pay for later. These go on your list of customer dues, not into today's takings.
- Mixed payments: if a customer paid part in cash and part by UPI, put each part under its own method.
The four totals together should equal the day's sales.
Work out the expected cash
Expected cash = opening float + cash sales − cash paid out from the drawer − cash refunds − cash taken by the owner
- Opening float: the change the drawer started the day with. It is not part of today's takings.
- Paid out: any small expense paid from the drawer, each with a voucher, kept as you would for petty cash.
- Cash refunds: money handed back to customers, noted against the original bill.
- Cash taken by the owner: if the owner takes cash from the drawer, write it on the day sheet with the amount, so the count still makes sense. How that is recorded is for your accountant.
The cash tally, then UPI and card
Count the cash first. Count by denomination and write the total on the day sheet. If a staff member does the count, one simple habit is to record the count before looking at the expected figure, so the number you expect does not influence the count. Then compare counted with expected.
Then check UPI. Total the UPI sales from your bills and compare that with the list of payments received in your UPI app for the same day. Look out for:
- a payment that shows as pending or failed in the app, though the customer was shown a success screen or the sale was recorded as paid
- a sale recorded as UPI that was actually paid in cash, or the other way round
- a payment that arrived for the wrong amount
Then check card. Compare the card sales from your bills with the card machine's report for the day.
These checks are against the payment app's or the card provider's own list, the same evening. Checking when the money actually lands in your bank account is a separate, later step: that check belongs to your bank reconciliation.
When something does not match
- Write it down. Put the difference and what you found on the day sheet, even if you have not found the reason.
- The owner signs it. The person who counted and the owner both sign the sheet.
- Do not carry it into tomorrow. Tomorrow's drawer starts with the normal float. A shortage is not made up from tomorrow's sales, and an excess is not kept back to cover a future shortage.
- Follow it up. A pending UPI payment: check the app again the next morning and, if needed, speak to the customer. A cash difference: look for a missing voucher, a refund not noted, or a sale recorded under the wrong method.
- Treat it as a number to explain, not as an accusation. Closing every day means a difference has only one day of bills behind it, which keeps the search short.
Ask your accountant how card fees and any cash differences are recorded.
Worked example: a stationery shop's day
Illustrative example: a fictional stationery shop in Tiruchirappalli, one day. The business and figures are invented.
Sales by method:
| Method | Sales |
|---|---|
| Cash | ₹17,950 |
| UPI | ₹24,300 |
| Card | ₹6,200 |
| Total | ₹48,450 |
There were no credit or mixed sales that day.
Cash. The drawer started with a float of ₹3,000. During the day, ₹600 was paid out for a courier, with a voucher, and ₹250 was refunded in cash to a customer who returned an item.
Expected cash: ₹3,000 + ₹17,950 − ₹600 − ₹250 − ₹0 taken by the owner = ₹20,100. The counter staff count ₹20,060. The drawer is ₹40 short (₹20,100 − ₹20,060).
As a cross-check without the float: the drawer holds ₹17,060 of the day's cash (₹20,060 − ₹3,000) against ₹17,100 expected (₹17,950 − ₹600 − ₹250), the same ₹40 short.
The counter staff and the owner check the vouchers and the refund note and do not find the ₹40. They write "₹40 short, not found" on the day sheet and both sign it. Tomorrow starts with the usual ₹3,000 float.
UPI. The bills show ₹24,300 of UPI sales. The UPI app lists ₹23,800 received for the day: ₹500 less. The difference is one ₹500 payment that the app shows as pending. The customer is a regular, so the owner notes it on the sheet and checks the app again in the morning before contacting the customer.
Card. The bills show ₹6,200 of card sales, and the card machine's report for the day shows ₹6,200. No difference.
The day-close sheet
One sheet per day. Fill in the blanks at closing.
Day close: [Shop name] Date: [ ]
Bills say Found Difference What we think happened
Cash (drawer) ₹[ ] (1) Count ₹[ ] (2) ₹[ ] [ ]
UPI ₹[ ] App list ₹[ ] ₹[ ] [ ]
Card ₹[ ] Report ₹[ ] ₹[ ] [ ]
Udhaar ₹[ ] → customer dues list, not today's takings
Day's sales ₹[ ] = cash sales ₹[ ] + UPI ₹[ ] + card ₹[ ] + udhaar ₹[ ]
(1) Cash the drawer should hold:
float this morning ₹[ ] + cash sales ₹[ ] − paid out ₹[ ] (vouchers: [ ])
− refunds ₹[ ] − taken by owner ₹[ ] = ₹[ ]
(2) Drawer count: ₹500×[ ] ₹200×[ ] ₹100×[ ] ₹50×[ ] ₹20×[ ] ₹10×[ ] coins ₹[ ] = ₹[ ]
Still open (follow up; never netted into tomorrow): [ ]
Float left in the drawer for tomorrow: ₹[ ]
Counted by: [ ] Checked and signed by owner: [ ]
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