How to avoid cash register errors in your restaurant?

A cash register error can be explained in many ways, but the result is always the same: you pull your hair out when you do your accounting. So you might as well limit them!

To save you from this and especially to facilitate the monitoring and management of your business, Innovorder has studied the subject. In this article, we give you some tips to avoid cash register errors in your restaurant in order to manage your business serenely. 

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The cash register error

The cash register error, the bête noire of every restaurant owner, deserves a few minutes of attention. Definition, causes, sanctions, you will know everything!

Definition 

Let's start this article with the basics, the definition of a cash flow error in the accounting sense of the term. It is simply a difference between the theoretical cash balance and the actual cash balance. This difference can be explained in two ways: a theft or a collection error. 

You will detect this discrepancy at the time of the cash register closing thanks to the Z cash register, a document summarizing the sales of the day and the turnover realized. If the amount on the cash register Z and the amount in the cash register differ, there is a cash register error that you will have to integrate into your accounting reports, as a credit to the account for positive errors and as a debit to the account for negative errors.

The causes

Whether a cash register error is due to theft or poor handling during collection, it is always attributable to a human being. 

It can be in the company's favor when the amount collected is higher than the product sold, but it can also be in the customer's favor. The cashier may well have forgotten to invoice one of the products consumed, entered the wrong amount or returned too much for a cash payment .

Liability for cash register errors

‍Whenchecking tills daily, if an error is found, it's important to determine responsibility. However, restaurateurs cannot legally deduct the missing amount from their employees' wages, nor can they offset this loss against tips. Cash register errors can have many origins, and are not necessarily the fault of employees. It is therefore illegal to pass these losses on to employees, which could expose the employer to legal risks.

However, if concrete, official evidence shows that the checkout error was deliberate, this constitutes professional misconduct or gross negligence. In such a situation, disciplinary action, including dismissal of the employee, may be considered. Depending on the seriousness and the amount involved, it may be necessary to involve the police. Depending on the evidence and the severity of the act, a complaint could also be filed.

The sanctions 

If the cash register errors are repeated or if the amount is high and has a significant impact on your establishment's finances, here are the penalties you can apply: 

• issue a written warning or reprimand to the offending employee, which you must send by registered mail with return receipt. This document is valid for 3 years. 

• demote him/her in the hierarchy of your institution or transfer him/her,

• proceed with a disciplinary layoff,

• to dismiss him/her for professional inadequacy or for serious misconduct in the event of theft. 

Under no circumstances should you opt for a financial penalty. The Labour Code strictly prohibits an employer from reducing an employee's salary or deducting the amount of the error from his or her pay. 

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Solutions to avoid cash register errors 

There are a number of things you can do to avoid checkout errors or at least reduce their number. We have listed them for you!

Equipment to limit cash register errors

The cash register 

The best way to avoid cash register errors is to turn to a touch-sensitive cash register like the one Innovorder has developed. It is certified NF525 and therefore complies with the conditions of security, inalterability, archiving and conservation in accordance with the law against VAT fraud. This facilitates the control of manipulations as well as the security of your cash register. It also simplifies the management and analysis of your activity as a restaurant owner. 

With this type of cash register solution, you can considerably reduce the risk of errors when giving change or collecting products. The prices of the latter are recorded in the cash register software. This way, you limit the risk of anyone getting the price wrong at the time of invoicing. When customers pay in cash, the amount to be returned is clearly indicated on the touch screen cash register. 

Thanks to its many features, the Innovorder cash register is already making life easier for hundreds of restaurant owners.

"My managers appreciate being able to easily close the cash register in the evening thanks to the self-checkout function of the cash register". Anthony, Ankka franchisee in Grenoble

👉 Find out more : Discover the Innovorder cash register

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The automatic coin acceptor

Even with the best cash register system, mistakes can happen. You or one of your employees may confuse two coins or return one bill instead of two. 

To avoid this kind of problem, it is possible to install an automatic coin acceptor. Thus, when the customer pays in cash, he inserts his coins and/or banknotes in the machine which then gives him the change without any cash having been handled by the employee behind the cash desk .

Once implemented, this tool becomes a must, especially if your customers are used to paying in cash, as is the case in fast food restaurants and bakeries. 

Another positive point is that with an automatic coin-operated machine, your employees are less stressed and can focus on the customers.

"Since my coin acceptor is synchronized with my cash register, all my transactions are accounted for without error at the end of the day and I save 30 minutes a day on opening and closing the cash register." Peggy Garnier, BCHEF franchisee in Perpignan

👉 Learn more: discover Peggy's testimonial in our white paper dedicated to the BCHEF franchise

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The means of payment to be preferred

The less money is handled and the fewer people involved, the lower the risk of cashier errors. One of the solutions is therefore to prefer payment by card or by phone.

You can encourage your customers to switch from cash to less risky payment methods from an accounting point of view, such as :

• payment at the table via QR code is also to be considered so that your customers are less tempted to take out their wallet,
• The order terminal facilitates payment by card or telephone and also allows for more customers to be collected.

The staff 

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, cash register errors are always the result of one person. You can therefore act at this level to avoid them. 

You can start by limiting the number of people who can cash out. Then consider assigning responsibility for a cash register to a specific employee to prevent any employee from taking it over. Also, make sure that you assign roles so that each employee manages their own cash register. 

By empowering your staff and preventing too many employees from handling cash, you reduce the likelihood of having discrepancies between actual and expected cash balances at the end of the day. 

The training of the staff on the cash register software is also crucial. The mastery of the tool will drastically reduce the risk of bad manipulations. 

You can also customize your cash register access. By creating cashier accounts, you can assign roles to each operator:

• cancellation of orders,
• modification of the catalog,
• closing of reports, etc.

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Let an expert guide you in equipping your establishment with the cash register software or automatic coin acceptor best suited to your needs.