Warning signs of staff theft at the till
The patterns in till, cash-up and stock count records that should make a shop owner look closer, how to read them fairly, and who should review them.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Retail businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
Most shop owners would rather not think about it. The staff are friendly, some have worked there for years, and suspicion feels like a betrayal. But stock and cash go missing in every kind of shop, and some of it goes through the till, through the hands of people the owner trusts.
The answer is not to treat every cashier as a suspect. It is to know which patterns in your own records deserve a second look, to read them fairly, and to make sure the person looking is not the person being looked at. This article covers the signals Achekam's till, cash-up and stock count records give you, and how to act on them without accusing anyone on the strength of a number.
Patterns to look into, not accusations
Every signal below has innocent explanations. A cashier with more refunds may simply work the Saturday shift when returns peak. A short count may be a delivery that was never put away. Treat each pattern as a question, and ask it of the records first and the person second.
Before you start, know who did what. The cashier at the till is the signed-in user, and there is no cashier PIN. If staff share logins, or leave a till signed in while someone else serves, every record is attributed to the wrong person and none of the patterns can be trusted. Make individual logins and signing out non-negotiable first.
Retail loss is studied closely elsewhere. The National Retail Federation's National Retail Security Survey asks loss-prevention professionals about shrink, theft and organised crime and how retailers respond; it describes a larger market than most shops in Johannesburg, Lagos or Nairobi, but the categories of loss it tracks are recognisable everywhere.
Refunds and voids clustered on one person or shift
Refunds and voids are one of the easier ways for money to leave a till without goods leaving the shop. In Achekam, a supervisor or manager can refund all or part of a till sale, with a reason, as its own document linked to the sale, with the goods put back into stock. A supervisor or manager can also void a whole sale during its own till session, which reverses its journal and returns the stock.
Because both need a supervisor or manager, the patterns to watch are about pairs and timing:
- One supervisor authorising most refunds on one cashier's till.
- Refunds with vague reasons, the same reason again and again, or reasons that do not match the goods.
- Voids late in a session, especially of cash sales, just before cash-up.
- Refunded goods back in stock that cannot be found on the shelf at the next count.
The till side of refunds is covered in refunds, voids and store credit.
Discounts close to the cashier limit, again and again
Line and whole-sale discounts can be given at the till. Above the business's cashier limit, only a supervisor or manager can give them, and the server checks that again.
A limit creates its own pattern. A cashier who regularly gives discounts just below the limit, never above it, may be using it as an allowance: for friends, for family, or in exchange for a share of the saving. Compare discount totals by cashier for the same shifts and look for anyone well above the rest. Setting the limit sensibly is covered in cashier discount limits.
Repeated cash shortages, or overs in round figures
At cash-up the cashier counts the drawer by notes and coins, and the server works out the expected cash, records the difference and posts it to cash over and short.
Patterns in those differences matter more than any single one:
| Pattern | What it can mean |
|---|---|
| Small shortages on the same cashier, shift after shift | Change errors, or regular small skimming |
| Shortages only on days a certain supervisor closes | Something happening after the cashier hands over |
| Overs in round amounts | Sales taken in cash but not rung up, with some of the cash left in the drawer to cover mistakes |
| A large short followed by a matching over | Money "borrowed" and returned |
How to investigate an individual cash-up difference is set out in till cash-up differences.
Counts that fall short on the same lines
With the Warehousing add-on, a stock count sets a location's quantity to what was counted and records the difference as an adjustment. Over several counts, those adjustments become a map of where stock goes missing.
Look for:
- the same products short count after count, especially small, valuable, easily resold lines;
- shortages at one location and not others;
- shortages that started when a particular person joined or changed shifts.
A product short at every count, while sales of it look normal, is worth a closer look at who handles it, from delivery to shelf to till.
Who reviews: a supervisor who was not on a till that day
A branch's business day is closed by a supervisor or manager who was not a cashier that day, and closing freezes the day's Z reports, payments, VAT by rate and differences. Use that same principle for the review of everything above.
A short weekly routine for the owner, or a manager with no till duties:
- Read the week's refunds and voids, by supervisor and cashier.
- Compare discount totals by cashier.
- Read cash-up differences by cashier and by day.
- Note products that came up short at the latest count.
- Record what you looked at and what you followed up.
If a pattern holds up after you have checked the innocent explanations, take advice before you confront anyone. Disciplinary steps and dismissals have legal procedures in every country, and getting them wrong can cost more than the theft.
Start this week with the refunds and voids list. It is short, it is quick to read, and it is a good place to begin.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
