A pub cash-up is one sum: the cash you counted, minus the float, plus every card machine total, plus anything you paid out of the drawer, minus the tips, compared with the till's Z read. The gap is your over or short. I've made a free cash-up sheet that does that sum for you, with a weekly summary and the tips record the law now wants you to keep. No email, no sign-up: download the cash-up sheet (Excel). Below is how to use it, the tips trap that hides real shortages, and why the sheet matters more since April if you're a sole trader.
Most cash-up sheets online are a checklist that says "count the till". That isn't the hard part. The hard part is knowing which numbers go in which column so the answer means something, and that's what this is about.
The cash-up in five steps
- Count the drawer. Note by note, coin by coin. Two people if you can, both initial the sheet. Bagged coin goes in as a value.
- Take off the float. Whatever you started the day with comes off first. What's left is the cash you took.
- Print every card machine's end-of-day report. Type in each machine's total from the machine, not from the till. If the two disagree, the machine is the one that pays you.
- Add back paid outs. Lemons from the shop, milk, the window cleaner. Cash that left the drawer with a receipt still counts as takings, so it goes back into the sum.
- Run the Z read last. Once the money is counted, print the Z and put its total sales figure in. Over or short is what you actually took minus what the till says you took.
A worked day
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Cash counted in the drawer | £520.00 |
| Less the float | £150.00 |
| Cash takings | £370.00 |
| Card machines, from their own reports | £805.00 |
| Paid outs from the drawer, with receipts | £25.00 |
| Less card tips inside the card totals | £12.00 |
| What you actually took | £1,188.00 |
| Z read total sales | £1,200.00 |
| Short | £12.00 |
The tips trap
Look at that table again and leave the card tips in. £370 plus £805 plus £25 is exactly £1,200. The day balances to the penny, everyone goes home happy, and £12 of your staff's tips has just quietly covered £12 of missing money.
This is the most common cash-up mistake I know of, and it's worse than a maths slip now. Since 1 October 2024 the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act means every tip has to go to the workers in full, without deductions, by the end of the month after it was paid. Card tips count as received by you, the employer. So a cash-up that lets tips fill a gap isn't just hiding a shortage, it's using money that legally belongs to your team. Take the tips off before you compare with the Z. Always.
The same law wants three things written down, which is why the sheet has a Tips record tab:
- A written tipping policy, available to all your workers.
- A record of every tip and how it was shared, kept for three years from the date the tip was paid.
- Tips passed on by the end of the following month. A tip left on 23 June has to be out by 31 July.
Cash tips should go in a jar, not the drawer. If they end up in the drawer, the sheet has a line for that too, so they come off before the comparison.
What over and short actually tell you
A few pence either way is change given wrong. Fine. A single day £20 out with a note saying "refund for the double-rung Sunday dinner" is fine too, because you know why. What I'd chase is the pattern, not the day.
Put it on a week. £12 short every day is £84 a week, £4,368 a year. At about £2.23 of gross profit on a £4.89 lager, the figure from my quiet nights guide, that's nearly 2,000 pints of profit gone without anyone noticing a single bad night. The Week tab on the sheet counts how many days came up short and works out the week as a percentage of takings, so the pattern shows before the year does.
When it is short, check in this order before anybody gets looked at sideways:
- A card machine that wasn't totalled. The spare machine on the end of the bar is the usual one.
- Paid outs without receipts. Cash went out for something real, nobody wrote it down.
- Refunds and voids done as cash. A refund rung on the till but paid back to a card, or the other way round. My guide on till voids and refunds goes through it.
- The float. Short-changed at the start of the day means short at the end. Count the float in, not just out.
- A shift changeover with one drawer. If two shifts share a drawer you can't tell which one it was. One drawer per person, or a count at handover, sorts that. More in shift handover discrepancies.
The cash-up proves the money, not the stock
This catches a lot of people out. A perfect cash-up only proves the money in the drawer matches what was rung on the till. It says nothing about what wasn't rung on the till at all. A pint poured and never rung, a free one for a mate, the wrong button: the cash-up balances, the stock doesn't. That's why the pub that cashes up to the penny every night can still get a shocking stocktake. The two checks answer different questions, and you need both. If your stock and till disagree, start with why the till doesn't match the stocktake.
Why the sheet matters more since April
Two bits of HMRC housekeeping make a daily cash-up record worth keeping properly.
How long to keep it. If you're self-employed, HMRC wants your business records kept for at least five years after the 31 January submission deadline for the tax year. A limited company keeps them for six years from the end of the financial year they relate to, and HMRC lists till rolls among the records a company must keep. Daily cash-up sheets are the backbone of that.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. If you run the pub as a sole trader and your income from self-employment and property was over £50,000 on your 2024 to 2025 return, you should have started using Making Tax Digital from 6 April 2026. The threshold is turnover, the amount before expenses, not profit, so a pub taking about £1,000 a week is over it. That means digital records and a quarterly update through compatible software. The next deadline is 7 November 2026, covering 6 April to 5 October. The threshold drops to £30,000 from April 2027 and £20,000 from April 2028. Partnerships and limited companies aren't in it yet.
None of that needs fancy software. It needs the same numbers written down the same way every night, which is what a cash-up sheet is. Your accountant or bookkeeping software picks it up from there. If you're VAT registered, how the VAT side of a pub's takings works is in what a pub pays in VAT.
One idea worth trying
Do the cash-up blind. Whoever counts the drawer doesn't see the Z read until the count is written down and initialled. It sounds fussy. It stops the very human habit of counting towards the number you expect, which is how a £10 miscount turns into "close enough". It costs nothing, takes no extra time, and it protects the person counting as much as it protects you. Then once a week, take the Week tab total and set it next to that week's GP, which is the bit the cash-up can't see. I covered how to read that number in how to read your GP report.
Common questions
How do you cash up a pub till?
Count the drawer, take off the float, add every card machine's end-of-day total and any paid outs with receipts, take off tips included in the card totals, then compare the result with the till's Z read total sales. The difference is your over or short for the day.
Should card tips be included in the cash-up?
Card tips sit inside the card machine totals, so take them off before comparing with the Z read. If you leave them in, tips can silently cover a cash shortage, and since 1 October 2024 all tips must be passed to workers in full without deductions.
How long do I need to keep cash-up sheets?
Sole traders must keep business records for at least five years after the 31 January submission deadline for the tax year. Limited companies keep records for six years from the end of the financial year they relate to, and HMRC lists till rolls among them. Tip records must be kept for three years.
Does Making Tax Digital apply to my pub?
If you trade as a sole trader and your turnover from self-employment and property was over £50,000 on your 2024 to 2025 tax return, Making Tax Digital for Income Tax applied from 6 April 2026, with quarterly updates. The threshold falls to £30,000 from April 2027 and £20,000 from April 2028. Partnerships and limited companies aren't in it yet.
Why does my cash-up balance but my stocktake doesn't?
A cash-up only proves the money matches what was rung on the till. Drinks poured but never rung, given away or rung on the wrong button don't show in the cash-up at all, but they do show as missing stock.
Sources
- All tips to workers without deductions, by the end of the following month, written policy, records kept for three years, card tips as employer-received: Code of practice on fair and transparent distribution of tips, in effect from 1 October 2024 under the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023.
- Self-employed records kept at least 5 years after the 31 January submission deadline: GOV.UK, how long to keep your records. Company records kept 6 years, till rolls listed: GOV.UK, company and accounting records.
- Making Tax Digital for Income Tax thresholds £50,000 from 6 April 2026, £30,000 from April 2027, £20,000 from April 2028: GOV.UK, find out if and when you need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. Qualifying income is turnover before expenses: GOV.UK, work out your qualifying income. Quarterly deadlines 7 August, 7 November, 7 February, 7 May: GOV.UK, send quarterly updates.
- £4.89 lager at about £2.23 gross profit: my quiet nights guide, with its own sources. The worked day, the tips trap example, the weekly figures and the blind count idea are my own arithmetic and opinion. The cash-up sheet is free to use, copy and change.