What is collection and how to do it correctly?

What is cash collection?

In-store cash collection is the transfer of money or valuables under guard from store employees to the bank where the current account is opened, or in cash directly to the business owner or responsible employee.

Why do you need to carry out cash collection?

Encashment in the store is needed to count the money that was stolen during the day and make sure that it matches the data in the Torgsoft program. Collection allows you to identify any discrepancies in accounting and eliminate their causes in the future.

Also, cash collection is needed to protect money and other valuables from theft or loss — it is dangerous to keep a large amount of cash at the store's cash desk for a long time.

What is the difference between cash collection and cash surrender?

Cash collection and cash surrender are different processes, although they have the same essence.

Collection is the actual withdrawal of money from the cash register by the store owner or a cash collector. For example, a director takes money for his or her own needs. These funds are written off from the program, and no further financial accounting is kept for them. 

Revenue transfer is the transfer of money from one cash register to another. For example, a seller hands over the proceeds from the store's cash register to the manager's cash register — a safe or a cash register in the store owner's office.

Unlike collection, the money doesn't disappear from the system when you hand over the proceeds — financial accounting continues at the other cash register.

In fact, collection is an incomplete financial accounting, while the receipt of proceeds is complete. Therefore, if you plan to keep full financial records with all receipts and expenses, we recommend using the "Revenue delivery" in Torgsoft to withdraw money from cash registers.

How to do cash collection?

The usual process of collection in a store for a business owner is as follows:

1. Collect all the money collected during the day. 

2. Recount the funds and make sure they match the data in the accounting program.

3. Enter the collection data into the Torgsoft program, where the system will record the date, time, accounting object, collection amount, and collector.

4. Print the collection receipt and sign it.

Collection regulations

Regulations on cash collection in a store may differ depending on the organizational processes, requirements, and rules of the store or company. However, the general regulations for in-store collections may include the following steps:

• Preparation of cash and documents: Separating all cash received during the course of trade and making a list of all cash and documents received.

• Identify responsible persons who will participate in the collection.

• Preparation of a report on all cash received during trading: a cash report for the day or a commodity profit by day for the period.

• Inventory: counting all cash and checking its compliance with the report.

• Transfer of the counted cash to a designated place or to a responsible person — a cash collector.

• Entering data on the collection into the accounting program, printing a collection receipt, signing the document by the cashier and the collector.

How to reflect collection from the store in Torgsoft?

Collection in Torgsoft can be done in several modes: 

• Payment → Cashier summary
• Payment → Financial document → Cashier
• Document → Realization

Basic conditions of collection in Torgsoft:

• Collection in Torgsoft is carried out only at the cash desk of the accounting object specified on the main form of the program. 

• Collection reduces the cash balance in the cash desk by the specified amount, the funds are debited from the accounting program. 

• The program records the date, time, object of accounting, collection amount, collector, and employee who deposits the funds

• The collection is automatically assigned to the financial analysis item "Internal turnover", with the possibility of editing it. This is necessary to control expenses and cash flow in the menu Payment → Balance by financial analysis items.

• In Torgsoft, you can control the collection check by scanning the barcode of the check, after which a message about the collection document will appear.

• By default, collection is not available for sellers and other employees with role-based access restrictions. 

How can I make an encashment via smartphone?

In the Torgsoft mobile application, you can also quickly conduct a collection in the "Mobile operations" menu. This is convenient when there is no computer nearby or the seller serves customers in the program. 

In the application, you need to fill in the following fields: 

• the amount of the encashment, 

• the cash desk from which the money will be withdrawn,

• comments if necessary,

• company, if any,

• collector — the person who carried out the collection,

• employee who gives money from the cash register.

Who should perform encashment?

As a rule, cash collection is performed by employees responsible for cash transactions — accountants, administrators, business owners. The cashier must be present and participate in the collection.

If the business is large, the collection is carried out by employees of the control and audit department, whose duties include:

• control of the work of sellers and other employees of the company,

• control of the assortment and retail prices of goods in chain stores,

• control of the use of cash registers,

• conducting encashments,

• controlling the availability of goods and compliance with merchandising standards,

• conducting inventories;

• control of the availability of the necessary documents of the outlet, sellers and certificates of goods,

• control of the terms of sale of goods.

How often do you need to carry out cash collections?

The frequency of cash collections in a store depends on the size of the business and its transactional activity: in small stores, cash collections can be carried out once a day, in larger stores — several times a day. In large stores with high sales intensity, collection can be performed several times during the day.

The frequency of collection is set in accordance with the financial needs of the business and taking into account the risks — the possibility of loss or theft of money.

How to duplicate a collection check?

A duplicate collection receipt is needed for backup documentation and transparency of the collection process. A duplicate collection receipt is used as a reference document for audits or to resolve disputes related to collection. This is an additional record of cash that was counted and transferred during the collection — the receipt can be used to confirm the accuracy of the cash balance at the end of the business day. 

Starting with version Torgsoft 2022.0.20, it will be possible to print a duplicate of the collection check.

To do this, in the menu Payment → Financial document → Cashier, we have added the action "Print encashment receipt". A preview of the collection receipt will open with the option to print it. Printing of such a receipt is possible only for cash financial documents that have the "Encashment" category and is not available for revenue collection.