Investigate and report a variance
See this course’s project requirements
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.
Want more background?
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.
An explanation becomes a correction when evidence and authority support it.
Investigate and report a variance — complete worked case
An explanation becomes a correction when evidence and authority support it.
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.
| ACount | B20 notes | C10 notes | D5 notes | ECoins | FTotal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opening | 3 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 100 |
| Closing | 15 | 10 | 10 | 17 | 467 |
Copy as plain text
Original synthetic refund and omitted-voucher evidence
Paste at A1.
| ARecord | BAmount | CSource link | DTill/date | ETime | FAuthority/evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S12 | 75 | Original receipt | TILL-P1 / 2026-04-14 | 14:00 | Original cash payment |
| R10 | 10 | S12 | TILL-P1 / 2026-04-14 | 14:30 | Prior refund |
| APP-30 | 30 | S12 / R10 | TILL-P1 / 2026-04-14 | 15:10 | Rae approves; Ivo custodies |
| REF-30 | 30 | APP-30 | TILL-P1 / 2026-04-14 | 15:12 | Cash refund |
| V3 | 3 | ST-3 / APP-V3 | TILL-P1 / 2026-04-14 | 16:00 | Stationery; Rae approved 15:59 |
| COUNT-467 | 467 | Denomination count | TILL-P1 / 2026-04-14 | 16:30 | Ivo counts; Lin reconciles |
Copy as plain text
1. 6.1 Investigate
Preserve original 470/467 mismatch and list possible causes as hypotheses, not accusations.
You should see: Original 3 short record retained.
2. 6.2 Investigate
Match the supplied missing voucher 3 to approval, time, till and cash movement.
You should see: Documented additional payout supports correction.
3. 6.3 Investigate
Post authorized 3 payout correction and recompute expected 467/count 467.
You should see: Till variance closes with evidence.
4. 6.4 Investigate
Report closed till versus open B3 deposit exception separately, including reviewer/date/next evidence.
You should see: One corrected boundary does not close another.
What to finish
A variance investigation and authorized correction report.
Watch for this
Inventing a missing voucher to force agreement or calling an open bank exception resolved.
How can I tell I understand it?
Verify that your completed variance investigation and authorized correction report meets the three lesson-specific checks and retains the supporting original records.
Quick knowledge check
Answer all 3 questions. Get at least 2 right and the lesson completes automatically.
You’ll get an explanation for each answer. Signed in? Your results save to your account.
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.
Go to the knowledge checkTools, templates, and lesson sources
Tools and templates
Tools open in a new tab so you can keep your place here.
Sources and further reading
Explore the references behind this lesson.
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.
Source & access notes · checked 2026-10-01
Read refund/source receipt records, duty separation and reconciliation. Idaho requires a specific deposited/check procedure; this course explicitly uses its own fictional authorized-cash-refund policy instead.
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.
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.
Report a problem with this lesson
Tell us what went wrong. Please leave out personal information and private project contents.