The Life Starter
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Course Library · Lesson 3 of 6
Money · Guided lesson

Count and reconcile cash

About 14 minutes · 4 reading + 10 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

Expected cash and actual count are calculated independently.

Follow along

Count and reconcile cash — complete worked case

Expected cash and actual count are calculated independently.

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

Copy as plain text

  1. 1. 3.1 Count

    Build an expected-cash bridge from opening, cash receipts and cash payouts only.

    You should see: Expected 470; card 180 excluded.

  2. 2. 3.2 Count

    Independently extend closing denominations to 467.

    You should see: Count 467.

  3. 3. 3.3 Count

    Compute signed actual minus expected and describe shortage in ordinary language.

    You should see: −3, or 3 short.

  4. 4. 3.4 Count

    Change cash sales to 430 with count still 467; compute revised expected 480/shortage 13.

    You should see: A source change must propagate; no count is invented.

Now change one thing

New expected cash is 500 and independently counted cash is 486. Enter the shortage magnitude.

Your work

What to finish

An expected-versus-counted till reconciliation.

Common mistake

Watch for this

Including card sales in physical cash or changing actual count to erase variance.

How can I tell I understand it?

Verify that your completed expected-versus-counted till reconciliation 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.

1Which amount belongs in the expected physical cash bridge?
2Expected 470, count 467 gives which variance?
3Which response preserves the control after a shortage?
0 of 3 answeredApply the lesson to a short question, then review the explanation.
3
Finish this lesson

Pass the check. We’ll save the progress.

Answer all 3 questions above and get at least 2 right. You can review the explanations and try again.

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Tools, templates, and lesson sources

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Sources and further reading

Explore the references behind this lesson.

University of Missouri: Deposit reconciliation and corrections
Source & access notes · checked 2026-10-01

Read source/receipt/deposit correspondence, independent matching and written over/short discrepancies.

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.

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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