Cash Remittance — handing over the takings

Cash builds up in a till all day. At some point somebody carries it to the bank or hands it to a manager. This screen records that hand-over: how much is in each account, how much has been declared and is on its way, and what was actually received at the other end.

Until it is confirmed, no money moves in the accounts. Confirming is what posts it.

Before you start

• You need the Payments & Receipts permission to open the screen and declare a hand-over.
• You need the Journal Entries permission to confirm one, because confirming is what moves the money.
• You will only see cash and bank accounts you are set up to operate. An administrator grants that on the account itself, under Chart of Accounts.

What "cash in hand" means

Cash in hand = the account's balance − anything already declared and not yet confirmed.

The balance is the same one the Cash Book shows, so the two screens cannot disagree. The subtraction matters: once you have declared cash and handed it over, it is no longer in the drawer. If the screen still showed it, somebody could hand over the same money twice.

Steps — handing over cash

1. Open Accounting → Cash Remittance.
2. Find your account in Your cash accounts. The big figure is what should physically be there.
3. Click Hand over.
4. The amount is filled in with everything in hand. Change it if you are only handing over part.
5. Optionally choose which bank account it is going into, and enter the teller slip or deposit reference. Both can be left until confirmation.
6. Click Submit hand-over.

The amount now shows as in transit and comes off cash in hand. It appears under Awaiting confirmation for whoever will receive it.

Steps — confirming a hand-over

1. Open Accounting → Cash Remittance and stay on Awaiting confirmation.
2. Find the hand-over. You can see who declared it, how much, and how many days ago.
3. Click Confirm.
4. Enter what you actually counted. The screen shows the declared amount beside it and works out the difference as you type — you see any gap before you commit, which is the point of the step.
5. Choose the account the money went into, if it was not already stated.
6. Click Confirm and post.

The money now moves: a fund transfer from the cash account to the destination, posted the normal way.

If the amounts do not match

The difference posts to an account called Cash Over and Short, created automatically the first time it is needed.

• Short (less arrived than was declared) — the difference comes out of the cash account and into Cash Over and Short.
• Over (more arrived) — it goes the other way.

One account handles both, so over a period it shows your net exposure. The individual events stay on each remittance, so you can always see which hand-over a gap came from.

Cancelling

A hand-over that has not yet been confirmed can be cancelled, and you must say why. The record stays with your reason and the amount returns to cash in hand. Nothing is deleted — a hand-over that could quietly disappear is exactly what this feature exists to prevent.

A confirmed remittance cannot be cancelled: the money has already moved. Reverse it with a fund transfer instead.

Tips

• Declare the hand-over before you leave with the cash, not after you get back. The in-transit figure is what tells everyone else the drawer is already empty.
• The Days column on Awaiting confirmation ages each outstanding hand-over. Anything more than a day or two old is worth a question.
• Cross-check against Reports → Collections: what was collected into an account should, over time, equal what was remitted out of it plus what is still in hand.

Common problems

• "You are not set up as an operator of any cash or bank account." Nobody has granted you access to a till. An administrator does this on the account, under Chart of Accounts.

• "The Confirm button is greyed out." Confirming posts the transfer, so it needs the Journal Entries permission. Declaring does not.

• "A remittance must be confirmed by someone other than the person who raised it." By design — a hand-over confirmed by the person handing it over is not a check, it is a note to self. If your site genuinely has one operator, an administrator can turn off Remittance requires confirmation in Preferences. Do that knowingly: it removes the second pair of eyes, and each affected remittance is marked self so a later audit can tell the difference.

• "The account is showing a negative cash balance." That is a posting problem, not money in a drawer, and remitting from it would make it worse. The Hand over button is disabled until it is corrected — show your administrator the Cash Book for that account.

• "I typed the wrong amount when declaring." A submitted amount is locked on purpose, so it cannot be quietly edited to match whatever turned up. Cancel it with a reason and raise it again.

• "Cash in hand does not look like what is in the drawer." Check the in transit figure first — that is money already declared. If it still does not agree, the gap is a real counting difference and belongs in a hand-over with the amount you actually have, so it lands in Cash Over and Short where someone can see it.

• "I cannot find a remittance from last quarter." The list covers the last 90 days. Older ones are still recorded; ask your administrator to widen the window or pull it from the reports.