What is counting the drawer?

Point of Sale (POS) Glossary

Depending on company procedures, at the end of each shift or day, a point of sale register’s till must be closed out. The drawer is balanced by totaling the cash, checks and electronic receipts plus the POS drawer’s starting total. POS systems may help automate this process.

Each POS register is usually assigned to one employee, so any shortage or overage can be attributed to that person. Management needs to resolve any discrepancies and may act against the employee if the register does not balance.

In today’s increasingly cashless society, some point of sale terminals, such as tablets, may mostly, if not exclusively take electronic payments. In this case balancing only requires reconciling transactions with electronic payments and no physical money counting is necessary.