The cash float is the money in the drawer before the first sale that must still be there after the last one. It is not there to take payments: it is there to give change. Until it is fixed in both amount and denominations, no close is verifiable, because there is nothing to compare the counted drawer against.
In short
- A float is not sized on turnover but on the change you hand back during the first two hours.
- It is composed of denominations, not a total: 600 MAD is useless if it is all in 50s.
- It is counted twice: at opening and at close, and always written down.
- It never moves: the same amount every morning, or the comparison stops meaning anything.
- Whoever worked the till does not count alone where that is possible.
What a float is, and what it is not
The most common confusion is expensive, because it makes cash variance impossible to interpret.
- It is not the takings: The day’s takings are the counted drawer minus the float. If the float changes every day, the calculated takings are wrong every day.
- It is not a reserve: You do not take from it to pay a supplier, a delivery driver or an urgent purchase. Every unwritten withdrawal becomes a variance the same evening.
- It is not a round number decided once: It is a composition: so many 1s, so many 5s, so many 20-dirham notes. The total is only the consequence.
- It is a point of comparison: Its one management function is to make the close verifiable. The detail of that check is in our piece on cash variance at close.
Sizing it: a 600 MAD example
The useful rule: you must be able to give change on the most common payments for the first two hours, before the takings themselves start supplying coins. For a small shop where customers often pay with 20, 50 and 100-dirham notes, that gives the following composition.
| Denomination | Quantity | Subtotal |
|---|---|---|
| 0.50 MAD | 20 | 10 MAD |
| 1 MAD | 40 | 40 MAD |
| 2 MAD | 25 | 50 MAD |
| 5 MAD | 20 | 100 MAD |
| 10 MAD | 10 | 100 MAD |
| 20 MAD | 5 | 100 MAD |
| 50 MAD | 4 | 200 MAD |
| Float total | 600 MAD |
Note the split: 300 MAD in coins and small denominations, 300 MAD in notes. That is the opposite of intuition, which pushes people to build the float from large notes because it is quicker to prepare. A float in large notes does not give change: it sends the cashier next door by the third sale.
Then adjust on your own observations, not on this example. If you systematically run out of 1-dirham coins by eleven, add ten coins to that line and leave the rest alone. A float is tuned one line at a time, over two or three weeks.
The routine, morning and evening
Six steps, three minutes in the morning and five at night. They only count if they are written down.
- In the morning, count the float by denomination and note the total. Do not start selling before that is done.
- Open the day in the till by entering that amount as the opening float, so the software computes the variance for you at night.
- Write down every cash movement out that is not change given: an emergency purchase, a customer refund, an owner’s draw.
- At night, count the whole drawer by denomination, without looking at the expected total. Looking first corrupts the count.
- Remove the takings and leave exactly the float, rebuilt in the same denominations as the morning.
- Record the variance, even if it is two dirhams, and its cause if you know it. The series informs, not the isolated figure.
Step 5 is the one most often skipped. Leaving the right total in the wrong denominations simply postpones the problem to tomorrow morning, for somebody else.
Never take change out of the takings
When coins run short mid-day, the temptation is to make up the difference from what has just been taken. That creates no accounting discrepancy, but it destroys the one useful thing: the known composition of the float. At night the drawer holds the right amount in the wrong denominations, and tomorrow’s cashier inherits an unusable float. Keep a separate change reserve outside the drawer instead, and swap equal amounts into it in writing.
Who counts, and why not alone
The two-person rule is not an accusation, it is a protection. Someone counting alone a drawer they worked alone has no way to prove a variance did not come from them, and that is exactly what poisons relationships in a small business. Two independent counts, or one count followed by a manager’s check, solve the problem without accusing anybody.
In a one-person shop, replace the second person with a record: count, note it by denomination, and keep the sheet. Twelve weekly sheets say far more than a witness. If several people share the same till, every shift change must be a count: otherwise the evening’s variance belongs to everybody, and therefore to nobody.
Finally, in a country where the share of cash remains high, as our guide to payment methods notes, the float is a genuine treasury line. 600 MAD tied up per till, across three tills, is an amount permanently asleep: that is normal, but it should be known rather than discovered at the moment you need liquidity.
The three rules that never change
Everything else adapts to your shop; these three do not.
- Same amount every morning. A variable float makes any comparison impossible.
- Counted by denomination, not in bulk. The total alone hides half the problems.
- Written down, every day. An unrecorded count did not happen.
Mistakes to avoid
- A float in large notes. It gives no change and will be broken within the hour.
- Changing the amount day to day. Calculated takings go wrong and the variance becomes unreadable.
- Paying a supplier from the drawer. If it is not written down that second, it is a variance tonight.
- Counting while looking at the expected total. You find what you expect to find; count first, compare after.
- Leaving the right total in the wrong denominations. The problem is merely moved to tomorrow.
Frequently asked questions
How much should a cash float be?
Enough to give change for the first two hours, before the takings themselves start supplying coins. For a small Moroccan shop, 600 MAD well distributed is often enough, but the amount matters less than the composition: 300 MAD in coins and small denominations in our example.
Is the float part of the day’s takings?
No. The day’s takings are the counted drawer minus the opening float. That is precisely why the float must be identical every morning: if it varies, calculated takings vary with it while nothing has changed in the sales.
Who should count the till?
Ideally two people, or one person plus a manager’s check. It is not a question of trust: someone counting alone a drawer they worked alone can never prove a variance did not come from them. In a one-person shop, the written record replaces the second counter.
Can you take change out of the drawer during the day?
For an equal-value swap, yes, provided it is recorded. For a purchase, a refund or a draw, never without immediately writing the amount and the reason: any unwritten movement out becomes a cash variance the same evening.
One float per till, or one for the shop?
One per till, counted separately. Two tills sharing a float can no longer be closed independently, and the day a variance appears it is impossible to know which station it came from.
What to take away
Fix an amount, build it from useful denominations rather than large notes, count it morning and evening by denomination, write everything down and never let it vary. A well-kept float does not earn money directly: it makes the close verifiable, and it is that verifiability which makes most variances disappear within a few weeks.
The opening float, entered once a day
BelloPOS asks for the float at opening, records cash movements out and computes the variance at close, till by till and user by user. It is all computed on the shop’s PC, offline. The Lite licence is free for life.
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