Today’s consumers increasingly opt for cashless payment methods such as credit and debit cards, or digital services like Venmo, Zelle, PayPal, and Apple Pay. Despite the shift toward digital payments, a portion of the population still prefers to use cash. These cash transactions present retailers with significant challenges, particularly regarding cash drawer overages and shortages.  

Cash register discrepancies can lead to financial losses, operational inefficiencies, and heightened business risks. Manual tracking and reconciliation of cash drawers are not only time-consuming but also prone to inaccuracies, offering limited visibility into cash management. This lack of insight makes it difficult to identify trends, hold employees accountable, and detect potential fraud or theft.

3 causes of cash register discrepancies

1. Honest Mistakes and Lack of Training: Most cashiers are honest, hard-working individuals, and many cash register discrepancies are the result of honest mistakes or a lack of training, rather than intentional fraud. For example, a cashier may accidentally enter the wrong tender into the register, such as inputting $20 when the customer hands over a $10 bill. The register will then display the amount of change to return, but if the cashier relies solely on the register’s display without double-checking, they may give too much change.

Another common mistake occurs when a $20 bill is accidentally placed in the section for $10s. If the cashier doesn’t notice, they may inadvertently give too much change. Proper cashier training and oversight can help reduce these types of errors and reduce or prevent register discrepancies. 

Discovering the exact reason why a cash drawer is over or short on any given day is no small task. 

2. External Sources: Cash register discrepancies can also be caused by external sources beyond the cashier’s control. For example, a shortage might result from errors made by a manager when filling the till, or, in more concerning cases, theft by the manager attempting to shift blame onto the cashier.  

Register discrepancies could also be due to a cashier from a previous shift stealing money and leaving the till short. Additionally, quick-change artists pose a constant threat, using deception to confuse cashiers and make off with extra money. For example, a customer may pay for a small item with a large bill, then quickly ask for a series of change transactions, using fast-paced talking and confusion to make the cashier lose track of the original transaction. The goal is to create enough distraction so that the cashier unknowingly hands over more money than they should, resulting in a cash shortage in the register. There is also the risk of overt theft, where a customer snatches money from the till and runs. 

3. Employee Fraud: Employee fraud is another cause of cash register discrepancy and refers to instances where an employee steals from the cash register or colludes with an external party to commit theft. According to Retail Dive, “employee theft constitutes a substantial portion of retail losses. In 2022, it accounted for 29% of retail shrinkage, with external theft at 36%.” 

According to the California Restaurant Association, “75% of employees admit to stealing from their employer at least once during their employment.” Many are motivated by financial hardship, greed, or a sense of entitlement. They may see others getting away with these thefts and perceive a low risk of being caught.  

Others may be coerced into committing fraud by an acquaintance or family member. Plus, it is pretty easy to take cash, especially with the reduced coverage in many stores. They can simply take the money out of the till, pocket money given to them by a customer, or give out too much change to an accomplice. Managers tasked with providing change or pulling excess cash from registers may also exploit those moments to remove funds.

How can retailers protect against cashier fraud?

Discovering the exact reason why a cash drawer is over or short on any given day is no small task. Many retailers use a “shared till” approach, where multiple employees share the same register and often the same cash drawer, or till, during the day. Any one of the cashiers could be responsible for the errors or fraud that led to the over or short position. In addition, to save time, many retailers are also now only reconciling tills every other day as a time-saving measure, thereby multiplying the number of cashiers who could be responsible for a variance. 

Unfortunately, most store managers simply don’t have time to manually examine the records as frequently as required to determine if the over/short position is due to cashier fraud or some other error, or to identify exactly which cashier might be responsible. Yet, retailers can’t afford to ignore the situation, as it will only get worse if not detected and stopped, impacting profits and employee morale. 

The answer lies in technology.

How to use technology to identify and reduce cash register discrepancies

Using a tool like Appriss Retail’s Secure Cash Over/Short to assist, retailers can quickly and accurately ensure lane and cashier accountability. Cashier and cash drawer transaction data from all registers can be easily consolidated to help identify the concerning trends and discrepancies worth investigating to detect the cause of register overages and shortages. With features such as automated cash reconciliation, retailers can eliminate manual tracking errors and save valuable time. Cashier monitoring helps loss prevention teams quickly identify high-risk cashiers and cash register discrepancies, allowing them to prevent internal losses before they escalate. Its integration with Secure enhances fraud detection, enabling deeper investigations into any cash-related issues. Powered by advanced AI analytics, the software helps managers stop cashier fraud and spot register discrepancies faster to take immediate, targeted action to safeguard cash flow. Here’s how:  

• Full Visibility Across All Cashiers – Drillable dashboards and reports focus on store-level activities, maintaining a history of shortages and overages for the store’s cashiers and registers, presenting trends and abnormalities. 
• Top 10 Cashiers Lists – Views of the Top 10 cashiers with the highest average drawer openings and the most cash discrepancies help managers recognize the cashiers most likely to be causing losses to the company, either intentional or unintentional. 
• Easy Deep-Dive Analysis – Click-through functionality allows users to jump from summaries to the receipt level to gain insights into whether a cashier’s actions indicate a need for additional training or disciplinary action. 
• Targeted Exception Alerts – With Secure EBR integration, let the system alert your investigators when cash counts exceed expectations and take action before cash losses get out of hand. 

Routine cashier oversight helps protect profits from register discrepancies

The longer cash register discrepancies go undetected, the more likely it is for fraudulent behavior to escalate. Regular review of all cash register transaction data is the best way to catch overages and shortages quickly so they can be dealt with consistently. Employing a technology solution to review the data in real-time is the best defense retailers can employ to prevent cash losses at the register.

This blog was originally published in May 2023 and has been updated to ensure accuracy.