Cash drawer audit: the drawer that is never off
How shift reconciliation works
At the end of a shift the clerk counts the drawer and enters the count. The PMS compares it to the cash it recorded — payments taken minus paid-outs and the float — and prints the difference on the shift or cashier closure report: over, short, or zero. Over a month the differences should scatter around zero and stay small.
Why zero is the tell
Coins get miscounted. A guest overpays and leaves. Someone forgets a paid-out slip. Ten shifts in a row at exactly $0.00 means the count was entered to match the system, not counted. Once the count is fiction, the drawer can be short by whatever amount the clerk wants, indefinitely, and the report will say zero.
Night shift, same login, ten consecutive closures at exactly zero. The day shifts at the same hotel: over $3.15, short $1.00, over $0.40. The night drawer was short $180 when a manager counted it unannounced.
Where it shows on the pack
Read it as a streak. The metric is "consecutive shifts at exactly zero" per login. Three is unusual. Six is a habit. Also look at paid-outs on the same shifts — cash out of the drawer to vendors is where a short is often hidden.
What to ask the desk
- Show me the last thirty closures for this login with the over/short each time.
- Who counts the drawer, and does anyone else ever count it?
- Which paid-outs this month have a receipt, and which do not?
- When was the last unannounced count, and what did it show?
What changes when it is watched
An unannounced count once a month fixes most of it. DeskWatch tracks the zero streak per login and tells you when it crosses the line you set, so the count happens on the right night.
See it on your own pack
Forward one night's report bundle to packs@watchmydesk.com, or tap the button. We reply with what we would have told you that morning. No account, no card.
Send one night's pack