Till Balancing
This screen is used display, print, adjust and clear balances. For background information see Concepts|Tills.
Summary: How to clear the till
- if necessary press Select to select the required till
- if business needs to continue, press Start Clear to freeze this till balance and let a new one start so that business can continue
- press Print to get the Till Balance Report
- count the till and compare with the report
- if necessary make corrections (see below) and go back to step 3
- when it all matches, press Clear
Initially the screen shows the current uncleared balance of the default till for the current location. The following shows a till with very little activity - normally there will be far more transactions.
The top half of the screen works as a standard select screen to select and display the Till Balance records for the selected till. The bottom half shows the payments making up the selected Till Balance.
If the till displayed is not the one you want, press the Select button to select the required till.
The columns in the top half of the screen are as follows:
Date - this shows the date of the first payment made after the till was previously cleared, ie it will have the same date as the earliest payment in the set shown at the bottom of the screen.
Type - this always shows as 'Till Balance'
Status - will be either Cleared or Uncleared. These should be only one line with status Uncleared, but this will not appear until the first payment is made following the till being cleared.
Amount - this shows the total of the payments received since the till was last cleared. It will always be negative because OpenVPMS treats amounts that the customer owes us as positive, and the amounts they pay as negative. NOTE that this amount does not represent the total of the cash money in the physical till. When you need to see the cash total, use the Print button to print the Till Balance Report.
Description - always blank
The fields in the bottom half of the screen are as follows:
Start Time - the date of the first payment in this till balance
End Time - blank if this till balance has not been cleared, else shows the date on which the till was cleared
Amount - the sum of all the payments shown in the columns below
Cash Float - the amount of cash left in the till each time it is cleared so as to give some money for change.
Printed - set when the till balance is printed
Status - shows Cleared or Uncleared
The columns in the bottom half are as follows:
Date - the date of the transaction
Type - the transaction type, normally Payment but also can be Refund or Cash Float Adjustment
Customer - the customer's name, or if this was a payment for an OTC sale, the name of the OTC account. Note that this is a link so you can click it to jump to the customer.
Amount - the amount of the payment
Description - almost always blank
Buttons - the buttons are as follows:
Start Clear - starts clearing the till. This changes the status of the current till balance to Clear In Progress, so that new payments and refunds don't impact it while it is in the process of being cleared. This can be used in practices that want to perform intra-day till clearing without suspending payments and refunds.
Clear - clears the till. Don't use this until you have checked the amount of cash in the till against the Till Balance Report.
Print - initiates the printing of the Till Balance Report for the selected Till Balance. You will need to print the report so that you can check that the amount in the till matches what the system thinks it is and that the other appropriate documents (eg cheques, credit card clips, etc) are present.
Mail - email the Till Balance Report for the selected Till Balance.
Adjust - generate an adjustment transaction to correct the cash amount in the till.
Edit - edit adjustments and payments. Editing of payments is available to administrators and can be used to correct payment types.
If a payment type is changed (e.g., an EFT replaced with Cash), this will be displayed in an Audit field on the payment, including the time and user name of the person who made the change.
Reverse - (only appears if till status is Clear In Progress, and a Payment or Refund transaction is currently selected) - reverses the currently selected transaction.
New - (only appears if till status is Clear In Progress) - allows you to create a new Payment or Refund.
Transfer - (only appears if the till status is Uncleared and when one of the payments is selected) - transfer the payment to another Till. When you press the button, a confirmation window will appear allowing you to choose the till.
Open Drawer - open the till's cash drawer. This button is only displayed if the Printer Name and Drawer Command for the till have been configured.
The following table lists the possible errors and their corrective actions.
| Error | Action (if Start Clear has been pressed and status is Clear in progress) |
Action (if status Uncleared) |
|---|---|---|
| Cash amount less than shown on print | Use Adjust to insert an adjustment transaction with description ‘Cash amount less than on print’, the amount equal to difference, and the Credit box unticked | Same |
| Cash amount more than shown on print | Use Adjust to insert an adjustment transaction with description ‘Cash amount more than on print’ and amount equal to difference, and the Credit box ticked | Same |
| Print shows payment (cheque, credit card or EFT), but document (ie cheque/credit card slip/EFT record) not found | Select the payment and use Edit to edit it to correct the payment item type. | Same |
| Print shows payment (cheque, credit card or EFT), but document in till has a different amount | Use Reverse to reverse the payment, then use New to create the correct payment | Use Customers|Account|Reverse to reverse the payment, then use Payments|New to create the correct payment |
| Print shows payment (cheque, credit card or EFT) but details are incorrect | Use Reverse to reverse the payment, then use New to create the correct payment | Use Customers|Account|Reverse to reverse the payment, then use Payments|New to create the correct payment |
| Payment has wrong customer (ie payment is for Smith but should be for Smyth) | Use Reverse to reverse the payment, then use New to create the payment for the correct customer | Use Customers|Account|Reverse to reverse the payment, then select the correct customers and use Payments|New to create the correct payment |
| Have evidence of payment (ie Cheque or credit card slip or EFT details or even cash) but no matching customer payment recorded | Either use New to create the matching payment, or alternatively, move evidence to new current till contents and create matching payment using Customers|Payments|New | Create matching payment using Customers|Payments|New |
Confirm Adjust
This is the window that is displayed when you press the Adjust button on the Till Balancing screen.
s
The fields are as follows:
Date - the date of the adjustment
Description - the reason for the adjustment (the default is shown above)
Amount - the amount
Credit - tick this box if this is a credit. If the amount of actual cash in the tin is more than is shown on the Till Balance Report, then leave the box unticked. If the amount of actual cash is less, then tick the box.
The buttons have their normal meanings.
Confirm Clear
This window is displayed when you press the Clear button in the Till Balancing screen.
The fields are as follows:
New Cash Float - this is float amount for the new till. It defaults to the current float amount. If you modify this, then an Adjustment transaction will be added to the till balance being cleared to reflect the change in float amount.
Deposit Account - choose the account into which the cleared amount is to be deposited
Press the OK button to proceed, else Cancel.
Confirm Start Clear Till
This window is displayed when you press the Start Clear button in the Till Balancing screen.
The New Cash Float is the float amount for the new till. It defaults to the current float amount. If you modify this, then an Adjustment transaction will be added to the till balance being cleared to reflect the change in float amount.
Press the OK button to proceed, else Cancel.
Confirm Till
This window appears when you press the Transfer button on the Reporting|Till Balancing screen. Click the till you wish to transfer the payment to and then press OK, or use Cancel to abort.
