Giving event-day cashiers their own till logins
How an organiser sets up event-day cashiers so every till sale, refund and cash-up is tied to the person who handled it, with supervisors for the rest.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Events businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
On event day, the people behind the bars, the merchandise stand and the door are rarely your permanent staff. They are casuals, volunteers, a friend of the bar manager who stepped in at the last minute. They work fast, under pressure, in the dark, and they hand over to each other between sets.
When the takings come up short at the end of the night, the only useful question is "whose till, whose shift?" If everyone used the same login, there is no answer. This article explains how to set up event-day cashiers in Achekam so that every sale, every refund and every cash-up belongs to a named person.
The cashier is the signed-in user, with no PIN
At Achekam's till, the cashier is whoever is signed in. There is no cashier PIN layered on top of a shared login: the user account is the cashier.
That makes the setup rule simple and strict. Every person who will ring up sales gets their own user account, in their own name, with their own password. No "Bar1" accounts, no "cashier@" logins shared by a team, no manager signing in once and letting the casuals use the session.
In practice, for an event:
- Collect names and e-mail addresses of all cashiers before the day.
- Create a user account for each, and keep supervisor and manager rights for the people who need them.
- Have each one sign in on a test day or at the briefing, and change their password.
- Remind them that signing in for someone else makes them answerable for that person's sales.
After the event, ask your administrator to remove access for casuals who will not be back, so a login is never left open for someone who no longer works for you.
One open session per till name
A cashier opens a till by naming it and entering the float they counted. Achekam allows only one open session per till name, and reloading the page finds the open till again, so a cashier whose browser refreshes mid-rush does not lose their place.
Plan till names with that rule in mind. If "Main Bar" is open, a second cashier cannot open another "Main Bar" alongside it. Give each serving point its own name, such as "Main Bar 1", "Main Bar 2", "VIP Bar", "Merch Stand" and "Door", and assign one cashier to each at a time.
For a shift change, the outgoing cashier cashes up their session and the incoming cashier opens a new one with a freshly counted float. That handover takes a few minutes, but it is the only way to know which cash belongs to whom.
Several tills with their own receipt numbers
Several tills can run at once, each opened at one of your stock locations, and the server hands out receipt numbers so two tills never share one. At a festival with many serving points, every receipt is still unique, and any receipt can be traced back to its till, its session and its cashier.
How to plan the tills themselves, with their floats and locations, is covered in pop-up tills and floats.
Cash-up per cashier
At the end of each session, the cashier counts the drawer by notes and coins. The server works out the expected cash, records the difference and posts it to cash over and short. Because the session belongs to one signed-in cashier, the difference belongs to them too.
Breaks need the same discipline as shift changes. A cashier who steps away for ten minutes should lock the screen and keep the drawer closed; one who is replaced for the rest of the night should cash up first, however busy the bar is.
During the event, a supervisor can open a live X report of any open till as a PDF to see how it is trading, and at cash-up the Z report is frozen. Keep each cashier's Z report with their count sheet.
The business day is then closed by a supervisor or manager who was not a cashier that day, which freezes the Z reports, payments, VAT by rate and differences. Choose that person before the event, and keep them off the tills.
Supervisors for refunds, voids and payouts
Some actions are too sensitive for a cashier alone. In Achekam, discounts above the business's limit, refunds, voids and cash paid out all need a supervisor or manager. Line and whole-sale discounts above the cashier limit can be given only by a supervisor or manager, and the server checks this again rather than trusting the screen.
On event day, that means:
- naming one supervisor per zone, reachable by radio or phone;
- telling cashiers that any refund, void or payout waits for the supervisor;
- setting the cashier discount limit before the event, so free drinks for the crew cannot be rung up by anyone at the bar.
AccountingTools explains segregation of duties, assigning the steps of a process to different people so no one person can both commit and conceal theft or error. Cashier, supervisor and day-closer are three different people for exactly that reason. Comps and guest-list drinks raise the same issue, and are covered in complimentary tickets and guest-list drinks.
A briefing card for cashiers
- Sign in as yourself, and never let anyone use your session.
- Count your float, and write the figure down.
- Ring up every sale, including staff drinks.
- Call the supervisor for refunds, voids, payouts and big discounts.
- Cash up before you hand over.
Print the card, hand it out at the briefing, and walk every new cashier through one sale and one cash-up before the gates open.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
