The Life Starter
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Course Library · Lesson 2 of 6
Money · Guided lesson

Prepare a starting till

About 10 minutes · 4 reading + 6 practice and checks
Time includes reading, practice, and questions. Extra videos or further study are optional.
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A fictional cash-desk control file with role separation, cash count, deposit reconciliation, refund evidence and exception follow-up.

Keep your working files in your own notebook or software. Save a private description, checklist, and work link in My Proof.

What to include

  • A role separation and compensating-review matrix.
  • A denomination count and opening custody handoff.
  • An expected-versus-counted till reconciliation.
  • A source-linked refund check and remaining-amount ledger.
  • A bag-to-bank batch reconciliation with unnetted exceptions.
  • A variance investigation and authorized correction report.

Review and revise

Use these criteria to check your work and choose what to improve.

  • Roles: approval/custody/review are separated or compensated.
  • Counts: denominations and cash-only bridges reconcile.
  • Sources: refunds and deposits retain linked evidence.
  • Exceptions: neutral investigations support only authorized corrections.
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Before you begin

The idea in everyday life

Original fictional practice. All money is USD. No account, payment, personal record or outside participation is required. Original fictional desk policy: Rae approves refunds/paid-outs, Ivo counts/custodies cash, Lin independently reconciles records/bank. Starting float 100: three 20 notes, two 10 notes, two 5 notes, coins 10. Cash sales 420; card sales 180; approved cash refund 30; authorized paid-out 20. Closing count:15 twenties,10 tens,10 fives, coins 17=467. Keep float 100; sealed deposit 367. Evidence later supplies an additional approved/receipted paid-out 3 omitted from ledger. Separate bank batch exercise: sealed B1=367, B2=245, B3=180; bank credits 367,245,178. Refund sources 12 originally paid 75 cash, previous refund 10; new request 30. No real currency or identities are used. Supplied synthetic desk records for till TILL-P1 on 2026-04-14: receipt S12 records original cash payment 75 at 14:00; prior refund R10 records 10 at 14:30. Approval APP-30 names Rae as approver, links S12/R10, approves current refund 30 at 15:10 and names Ivo as custodian; payout REF-30 records that same 30 at 15:12. Omitted paid-out voucher V3 records cash 3 for office stationery at 16:00, till TILL-P1, custodian Ivo, approval APP-V3 by Rae at 15:59; receipt ST-3 supports its amount/purpose. Closing denomination count COUNT-467 records 467 at 16:30, custody Ivo, separate reconciliation reviewer Lin. These are entirely fictional records supplied for matching; do not create real signatures or pretend to obtain actual approval.

The idea

The opening count is the starting boundary for later variance.

Follow along

Prepare a starting till — complete worked case

The opening count is the starting boundary for later variance.

Original fictional desk policy: Rae approves refunds/paid-outs, Ivo counts/custodies cash, Lin independently reconciles records/bank. Starting float 100: three 20 notes, two 10 notes, two 5 notes, coins 10. Cash sales 420; card sales 180; approved cash refund 30; authorized paid-out 20. Closing count:15 twenties,10 tens,10 fives, coins 17=467. Keep float 100; sealed deposit 367. Evidence later supplies an additional approved/receipted paid-out 3 omitted from ledger. Separate bank batch exercise: sealed B1=367, B2=245, B3=180; bank credits 367,245,178. Refund sources 12 originally paid 75 cash, previous refund 10; new request 30. No real currency or identities are used. Supplied synthetic desk records for till TILL-P1 on 2026-04-14: receipt S12 records original cash payment 75 at 14:00; prior refund R10 records 10 at 14:30. Approval APP-30 names Rae as approver, links S12/R10, approves current refund 30 at 15:10 and names Ivo as custodian; payout REF-30 records that same 30 at 15:12. Omitted paid-out voucher V3 records cash 3 for office stationery at 16:00, till TILL-P1, custodian Ivo, approval APP-V3 by Rae at 15:59; receipt ST-3 supports its amount/purpose. Closing denomination count COUNT-467 records 467 at 16:30, custody Ivo, separate reconciliation reviewer Lin. These are entirely fictional records supplied for matching; do not create real signatures or pretend to obtain actual approval.

Synthetic cash counts

Paste at A1.

ACountB20 notesC10 notesD5 notesECoinsFTotal
Opening32210100
Closing15101017467

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  1. 1. 2.1 Prepare

    Create a denomination table with quantities and extended values.

    You should see: 60+20+10+10=100.

  2. 2. 2.2 Prepare

    Check the total against the case-authorized float 100.

    You should see: Count matches authorization.

  3. 3. 2.3 Prepare

    Record synthetic custody transfer and separate acceptance check.

    You should see: Same till ID/count is transferred.

  4. 4. 2.4 Prepare

    Change twenty-note quantity from 3 to 4 and flag the 20 discrepancy against authorized 100.

    You should see: Actual 120 is a count exception, not an automatic float policy change.

Now change one thing

Changed till: two 20 notes, three 10 notes, two 5 notes and coins 5. Enter its total.

Your work

What to finish

A denomination count and opening custody handoff.

Common mistake

Watch for this

Using the authorized amount as proof of actual counted cash.

How can I tell I understand it?

Verify that your completed denomination count and opening custody handoff meets the three lesson-specific checks and retains the supporting original records.

Try 3 questions

Quick knowledge check

Answer all 3 questions. Get at least 2 right and the lesson completes automatically.

Not yet passed

You’ll get an explanation for each answer. Signed in? Your results save to your account.

1Three 20, two 10, two 5 and coins 10 total what?
2Four 20 notes replace three while other amounts stay fixed. What total is counted?
3Why preserve opening custody evidence?
0 of 3 answeredApply the lesson to a short question, then review the explanation.
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Answer all 3 questions above and get at least 2 right. You can review the explanations and try again.

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Sources and further reading

Explore the references behind this lesson.

Dartmouth: Cash/check handling controls
Source & access notes · checked 2026-10-01

Read safeguarding, duty separation and collection records; institution-specific deposit procedure is not assigned to the fictional cash desk.

Access: Public primary page body opened and relevant sections read through the web reader on 2026-10-01; no account required for reading.

Reuse: Original Life Starter cases, datasets and questions; no source exercise or worked dataset reproduced. Links support further reading.

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