Beauty
Salon Daily Cash-Up Sheet: How to Close the Till and Spot Differences
By MAXORI Studio · Updated 17 October 2026 · 6 min read
At closing the drawer is often counted in a hurry, card and cash totals sit on different slips, and a small shortage goes unnoticed until it repeats. A daily cash-up sheet gives you one routine: the same figures, in the same order, every day. This guide covers what to record, how expected cash is worked out and what to do with a difference.
What to record at closing
Use one row per day and keep the same columns.
- Opening float: the cash you started the day with.
- Takings by payment type: cash, card, vouchers redeemed and other.
- Tips received, and tips paid out in cash to the team.
- Cash paid out during the day (supplies, change, small expenses).
- Cash counted in the drawer at closing.
How expected cash is worked out
Expected cash = opening float + cash takings + cash tips, minus cash paid out and minus tips paid out in cash. The difference is cash counted minus expected cash. A positive number means over, a negative one means short.
This only works if every cash payment and every cash payout is recorded. The sheet cannot tell you why a difference happened, only that it did.
Setting a tolerance
A few cents of difference are normal with change and rounding. Decide what you accept as OK, for example a small fixed amount, and mark anything beyond it as short or over. This avoids false alarms and lets you notice a pattern, such as the same day of the week or the same person on the desk.
A closing routine
Keep it short enough to do every evening.
- Print or read the day's totals from your own reports.
- Enter the figures in the day's row.
- Count the drawer and enter the cash counted.
- Read the difference and note a reason if you know it.
- Leave the standard float and set aside the rest to bank.
What weekly and monthly totals tell you
Once the days are in one table, you can see takings by week and month, the mix between cash and card, and which weekdays are busiest. This is for your own records. It is not accounting, tax or payroll advice, and rules on tips and on voucher sales differ by country.
Questions
What is a daily cash-up?
It is the end-of-day count of the till: you compare the cash you should have, based on the day's records, with the cash you actually counted.
How do I calculate expected cash?
Opening float plus cash takings plus cash tips, minus cash paid out and minus tips paid out in cash.
What should I do about a small difference?
Set a tolerance you accept, note the reason if you know it and watch for patterns. One small difference is normal; the same one repeating is worth a closer look.
Does a cash-up sheet replace accounting?
No. It is a tool for your own records. For tax, bookkeeping and payroll follow your local rules or ask a qualified professional.
Ready-made tools for this
The Salon Daily Cash-Up & Takings Sheet is an Excel workbook for salons, barbers and beauty studios: a row per day with takings by payment type, tips, cash paid out and cash counted, giving expected cash, difference and status, plus weekly and monthly summaries and a dashboard, with DEMO and BLANK files in five languages. It is manual entry only, with no till or card terminal connection, and is not accounting or tax advice. Tested in desktop Excel for Windows only.
