If you receive a warning during a daily closing that the cash register balance is invalid, this is because you have modified daily closings in the past and this has changed the cash register balance. These changes are properly documented, but they result in the printouts of daily closings in the meantime containing an invalid cash register balance.
In the case of an operational audit, such phenomena as invalid cash register balances are immediately flagged and typically the period is estimated. Therefore, make sure that you count the cash register balance daily and completely avoid subsequent changes that affect the cash register balance. The reason is that a subsequent change affecting the cash register balance proves that you did not verify the cash register balances in the meantime.
Causes
This can have several causes. In any case, however, it is due to negligence in cash register management.
- Gratuity was frequently paid by card on this day, which should have been taken from the cash register. However, this did not happen, so it was not noticed that the given gratuity remained in the register.
- Entries were cashed incorrectly or forgotten to be cashed.
- The actual cash balance from the previous day did not match the total in the daily closing. Either the register was not counted or the difference was not corrected.
If you need to make a subsequent change for a specific reason (theft, forgotten gratuity withdrawals, etc.), try to document the changes extensively. You should then, if possible, reopen all daily closings in the meantime, regenerate them, and reprint them. All daily closings will then be marked with a note that is traceable.
Example of a warning following a retroactively made entry affecting the cash register balance:
In this case, an additional cash receipt was entered before 4/12/2019, so all subsequent daily closings and already saved daily closings will contain this warning.