How to stop cash going missing at your shop counter

The cashier closes up, you count the drawer, and it is Ksh 500 short again. Nobody admits to anything, and you start to wonder who to trust. Most cash that goes missing at a counter is not taken in one big theft: it leaks through small gaps that a simple routine closes. Here is that routine, with a counting sheet and a worked evening at a shop.

M-Pesa payments need their own checks. That is covered in how to keep track of M-Pesa payments at a shop with staff. This post is about the notes and coins in the drawer.

Where cash at the counter usually goes

Before you change anything, know the common gaps:

• Sales that were never written down. A customer pays Ksh 120 for bread and milk in a rush, the cashier forgets to write it, and the money sits in the drawer or leaves in a pocket. Either way, nobody can tell.
• Wrong change. A Ksh 1,000 note taken as Ksh 500, or change given twice. Small, but it adds up over a month.
• Pay-outs with no note. The drawer pays the boy who brings the bread, a matatu fare, a packet of sugar for tea. If nobody writes it, it looks like a shortage.
• Personal money mixed in. The cashier puts her own fare in the drawer in the morning and takes it out at night. Now the count means nothing.
• M-Pesa written as cash, or cash as M-Pesa. The total is right, but one column is short and the other is over.
• Fake notes. A note that looks fine in a hurry and is worthless at the bank.
• Real theft. It happens, but you can only see it once the other gaps are closed.

Set up the counter so cash can be checked

• One drawer, one person. Each shift has one person responsible for the drawer. If two people share it, nobody is responsible. If you need two at the counter, give each their own drawer or tin.
• A fixed float. Start every day with the same amount of change, say Ksh 2,000 in small notes and coins. Count it with the cashier in the morning and both of you note it.
• Every sale written, as it happens. In a sales book, on a sheet or in an app. Not from memory at the end of the day. Write cash and M-Pesa in separate columns.
• Every pay-out on a slip. Who was paid, for what, how much, and the cashier's name. Keep the slips in the drawer until the count.
• No personal money in the drawer. Staff keep their own money in their bag. The drawer holds only the float and the day's takings.
• Big notes out of the drawer. When the drawer gets full, move the Ksh 1,000 notes to a locked box or a safe drop, and write the amount down. Less cash in the drawer means less to lose.
• Customers see the price. A price list on the wall and the total said out loud. It stops arguments and makes wrong change rare.

Count the cash the same way every time

Use one counting sheet every evening, in the same order: big notes first, then small notes, then coins. Count it twice, or have the cashier count and you check. Here is an example of a filled sheet:

Then work out what should be in the drawer:

Expected cash = float + cash sales − cash pay-outs

If you moved notes to a safe drop during the day, add those to the counted total before you compare.

Worked example: one evening at a duka in Nakuru

This is a made-up example. A shop opens with a float of Ksh 2,000. The sales book shows Ksh 14,350 of cash sales. There is one pay-out slip: Ksh 600 to the boy who delivered bread.

• Expected cash: 2,000 + 14,350 − 600 = Ksh 15,750
• Counted cash (the sheet above): Ksh 15,250
• Difference: 15,750 − 15,250 = Ksh 500 short

The owner does not accuse anyone yet. She checks the M-Pesa side. The book shows Ksh 9,800 of M-Pesa sales, but the payment messages on the till phone add up to Ksh 10,300, which is Ksh 500 more. She goes through the book line by line and finds a Ksh 500 sale written in the cash column, with an M-Pesa code next to it. The customer paid by M-Pesa. The cash was never short; the sale was in the wrong column.

Total takings were right all along: 14,350 + 9,800 = 24,150 written, and 13,850 + 10,300 = 24,150 received. The fix is a rule, not a punishment: an M-Pesa sale always gets its code written next to it, and anything without a code goes in the cash column.

When the drawer is short: find it before you blame

Go through these in order. Most shortages end on the first three.

1. Count again, with the cashier watching. Recount any bundle of notes.
2. Check the M-Pesa column, as in the example. Compare the total of the M-Pesa column in the book with the payment messages.
3. Look for missing pay-out slips. Ask: did anything get paid from the drawer today?
4. Check the float. Was it really Ksh 2,000 this morning, and did someone take change from the drawer for another till?
5. Check the arithmetic on the sales book. A wrong total is common on a busy day.
6. Look at the pattern. One shortage is usually a mistake. Shortages that keep happening on the same shift, or always in round amounts, need a closer look.

Write the result down every day: date, who was on the counter, expected, counted, difference, and the reason if you found it. After a few weeks this log tells you more than any single bad evening. If your staff already send the day's totals in a WhatsApp group, add the count and the difference to that message. The daily sales report format shows how.

Can you deduct a shortage from a cashier's pay

Be careful. Kenya's Employment Act, section 19, allows an employer to deduct a shortage of money caused by an employee's negligence or dishonesty only when that employee's contract specifically says they are trusted with receiving, keeping and paying out money. It also limits all deductions at one time to two-thirds of the wages. So if you plan to recover shortages, put the cash duties in writing in the contract, keep your daily count log as the record, and get advice from a lawyer or your county labour office before you deduct anything. A fair process also keeps good staff.

Catch fake notes before they reach the drawer

The Central Bank of Kenya asks the public to check three things on its notes, including the 2024 edition that circulates alongside the older ones:

• Feel: run your fingers over the note. You should feel the word KENYA, the edge and the value.
• Look: hold it up to the light. The security thread shows as a continuous line, and the watermark shows a lion's head, the letters CBK and the value.
• Tilt: the security thread changes colour when you tilt the note.

Teach every cashier to check Ksh 500 and Ksh 1,000 notes this way before giving change. CBK says counterfeit money is not exchanged for any value, so a fake note taken at the counter is a full loss.

Make the cash smaller

The less cash passes through the drawer, the less can go missing:

• Ask customers to pay by M-Pesa where they are happy to, especially for big amounts.
• Pay suppliers and the bread boy by M-Pesa, not from the drawer, so there is a record.
• Bank or move the day's cash every evening, not once a week.

When the sales come from more than one place, it helps to see them together. Risiti lets you share a shop with staff so they record cash and M-Pesa sales and costs themselves, and it can read their WhatsApp sales reports and your M-Pesa messages, counting a sale that appears in both only once. More for shop owners is on the shops page.

What to do today

1. Decide your float amount and count it with the cashier tomorrow morning.
2. Put a pay-out slip pad and a pen in the drawer.
3. Tell staff that personal money stays in their bag.
4. Print or copy the counting sheet above and use it tonight.
5. Start a daily log: expected, counted, difference, reason.
6. Show every cashier how to feel, look and tilt a Ksh 1,000 note.

Sources

• Employment Act (Cap 226), section 19, deduction of wages, as published by Sheriaplex (read November 2026; check the current official text on Kenya Law)
• Central Bank of Kenya: Currency services, on counterfeits and security features (read November 2026)
• Central Bank of Kenya: New currency, 2024 edition banknotes (PDF)