Morning and evening reception on one till

How a gym hands one reception till from the morning shift to the evening shift so that each receptionist's cash is counted, reported and owned.

By Achekam · 11 October 2026 · 5 min read · For Fitness businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya

Gyms keep long hours. The early receptionist opens the doors for the before-work crowd, the late one closes after the last evening class, and both use the same till at the same desk. If the drawer is simply handed over at lunchtime, any shortage at the end of the night belongs to nobody: each person can fairly say the money was right when they had it.

The fix is a proper handover at every shift change: one person closes their session, the next opens their own. This article shows how that works on Achekam's till and why it is worth the few minutes it takes.

One open session per till name

A cashier opens a till by naming it and entering the float they counted. Only one session can be open per till name at a time. If the reception till is called "Main desk", there can be only one open "Main desk" session, and reloading the page simply finds that session again.

For a shift change, that rule shapes the handover. The evening receptionist cannot start a fresh "Main desk" session until the morning session has been cashed up. So a clean handover always includes a cash-up, which is exactly what you want: the morning's cash is counted and closed before anyone else touches the drawer.

The outgoing receptionist cashes up

At the end of the morning shift, the outgoing receptionist cashes up before handing over.

1. Finish any sale in progress. If the connection dropped earlier, the till keeps sales in the browser and sends them again when it returns, and a resent sale is never recorded twice. A till with unsent sales cannot be cashed up, so make sure the connection is back first.
2. Record any cash that left the drawer during the shift. Safe drops, cash paid in and cash paid out are recorded on the server, and each posts its own journal. A drop recorded when it happened is part of the session's record; a drop remembered at handover is an argument.
3. Count the drawer by notes and coins. The count screen lists the notes and coins for rand, shilling and naira.
4. Let the server do the arithmetic. It works out the expected cash, records the difference and posts it to cash over and short.

The morning receptionist's session is now closed, with its own count and its own difference.

Opening the next session with a counted float

The evening receptionist then opens "Main desk" again, as a new session, entering the float they counted themselves. Counting it personally matters. The float the evening person enters is the starting point for their own expected cash, so if they accept a figure without counting, any gap already in the drawer becomes theirs.

A worked example in words: at handover, the morning receptionist records the safe drop she made mid-morning, counts the drawer and cashes up. The server shows a small shortage against expected cash and posts it to cash over and short. She leaves the agreed float in the drawer. The evening receptionist counts that float note by note, finds it right, and opens a new "Main desk" session with it. If the float had been short, he would have said so before opening, while both of them were still at the desk.

A Z report for every shift

At each cash-up, a Z report is frozen and can be opened as a PDF. A gym running two shifts on one till therefore gets two Z reports a day for that till, one per session, each belonging to the person who ran it.

That gives the manager something concrete to review. A difference on the morning Z report is a question for the morning receptionist; a difference on the evening one is for the evening receptionist. Neither has to defend the other's cash.

While a session is still open, a live X report can be opened too, which helps a manager check the till mid-shift without closing anything; see checking the reception till mid-shift.

At the end of the day, the branch's business day is closed by a supervisor or manager who was not a cashier that day. Closing freezes the Z reports, payments, VAT by rate and differences for both shifts.

Why each person must sign in as themselves

The cashier at the till is the signed-in user. There is no cashier PIN, so the till knows who is selling only by whose login is open. If the evening receptionist carries on under the morning person's login, every sale, every count and every difference lands on the wrong name, and the handover was for nothing.

The same login decides who can do the sensitive things. Discounts above the business's limit, refunds, voids and cash paid out need a supervisor or manager. A receptionist working under a manager's login could do all of those without anyone senior being involved.

So the rule for the desk is short:

• Each receptionist has their own login.
• Nobody sells under someone else's.
• At handover, the outgoing person signs out after cashing up, and the incoming person signs in before opening.

The handover at a glance

Front desks that also take QR payments should read taking QR payments at the front desk, and card takings are matched in card settlements and the till. For the principle behind all of this, ACCA's overview of internal controls covers the control environment, the types of control and segregation of duties.

Two sessions a day on one till is not more admin; it is the only way each receptionist can prove their own drawer. Make the handover a habit from the first week and shortages stop being a mystery.

General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.