Cash handling policy template
One rule in here is worth the whole document. A till that comes up short is the employer’s cost, not the employee’s, unless a narrow set of conditions is met. Deducting it is the most common and most expensive mistake in this trade.
| Section | What the policy says |
|---|---|
| Purpose | To set out how cash is handled here, so the money is accounted for and nobody is left carrying a suspicion. |
| Who it applies to | Everybody who takes payments, counts a till or does the banking, including casuals and managers. |
| Floats | Counted out by the manager on duty at the start of the shift, counted back at the end, and signed for by both of you. |
| One person per till | Each till is used by one person per shift wherever the roster allows it. If two people have to share one, both names go on the count sheet and neither is held responsible alone. |
| During the shift | Ring up every sale as it happens. Keep the drawer closed between transactions. Do not leave the till open or unattended, and do not put personal money in it. |
| Refunds and voids | A manager approves every refund and every void, and signs the docket. No exceptions, including for a manager’s own sale. |
| Staff purchases and discounts | Rung up like any other sale, at the staff rate, with the manager on duty aware. Never given away and never rung up as a discount that is not one. |
| Counting down | Counted at close by the person on the till with the manager on duty present. Both sign the count sheet. The sheet is kept with the day’s takings record. |
| Discrepancies | Anything over or under ten dollars is written on the count sheet with a note of what may have caused it. A repeated pattern is looked into by the owner, and that starts with the process rather than the person. |
| Shortages and your pay | A shortage is not taken out of your pay. We do not deduct money from wages for a till that is short. If a shortage looks deliberate rather than a mistake, that is a conduct matter and is dealt with as one, not by a deduction. |
| Banking | Done by a manager, on the days set by the owner, taking a different route and a different time each week. |
| Safe and keys | The safe combination is known by the owner and the duty managers only. It is changed when one of them leaves. It is not written down anywhere on the premises. |
| If you are robbed | Hand it over. Nothing in the till is worth anybody getting hurt. Do not follow anybody out. Call the police, then the owner, and the venue closes for the rest of the shift on full pay. |
| Review date | Reviewed each year in March, or after any discrepancy that is not explained. |
What is in the file
- Template, blank, with each section down the side and room for the answer.
- Example, the same sheet filled in for Harbourside Coffee.
- How to use, with the steps and the mistakes below.
How to fill it in
- Keep the shortages section exactly as strong as it reads. Deducting a till shortage from wages is unlawful in most situations and is the risk this document exists to remove.
- Set your own tolerance rather than using ten dollars, and set it high enough that a normal night does not trigger it.
- Roster one person per till where you can. Shared tills make every count meaningless.
- Write the robbery section before you need it, and read it out at a team meeting once a year.
Common mistakes
- Taking a short till out of somebody’s pay, which is the single most common breach in a small venue
- Three people on one drawer all night, then an investigation into who was responsible
- A safe combination on a note in the office, which makes every other control here decorative
What changes by trade
The law behind this document is the same wherever you trade, so the wording above is written once. What changes is what the trade puts in front of it.
| Cafes and restaurants | Split bills, card tips and a busy pass make small discrepancies normal. Set the tolerance to match reality rather than treating every two dollar variance as an event. rostering a cafe |
| Retail | Refunds are where the real exposure sits, not the float. Require a manager on every refund and keep the signed dockets, because that is what an audit looks at. rostering a shop |
| Pubs and clubs | Multiple tills, gaming floats and a late close. Say who counts what and when, and never let the same person run the float out and the banking in. rostering a pub or club |
| Bottle shops | Late trade, one person on and cash on the counter. The robbery section matters more here than anywhere, and it should be read on the first shift rather than filed. rostering a bottle shop |
| Bakeries | An early start means the float is counted before anybody else is in. Say who verifies it, even if that is a photograph of the count sheet sent to the owner. rostering a bakery |
| Takeaway and fast food | Drivers carrying change and a drive through window both move cash outside the till. Say what a driver carries and how it is reconciled at the end of the run. rostering a takeaway |
Sources
The official pages this wording was read against, on 22 September 2026.
When a spreadsheet stops being enough
A count sheet is only useful if you know who was actually on the till. Roster Flow keeps the published roster and the clock in times together, so the shift a discrepancy belongs to is not a matter of memory.
Questions
What is on the cash handling policy template?
14 sections down the side, running from purpose to review date. The example beside them is filled in for Harbourside Coffee: floats, counts, banking, and why a short till does not come out of anybody’s pay.
Does the cash handling policy template work anything out for you?
No. It is a document with 14 sections to answer in your own words, not a calculator. Nothing on it is a formula.
Can I use the cash handling policy template in Google Sheets?
Yes. Open cash-handling-policy.xlsx from Google Drive, or use File, then Import, then Upload with cash-handling-policy.csv. The document and its example come across either way.
Is the wording in the cash handling policy template ready to use as it is?
The cash handling policy template is a starting point for Harbourside Coffee or any business like it, to adapt rather than sign. The wording was checked against the official sources on 22 September 2026, it is not legal advice, and it has not been through a workplace relations professional.