Top 7 Best Practices for Handling Cash

Keeping cash safe within your business is a major priority. Cash is literally the lifeblood of your company. And if something were to happen to it… well, that’s a risk that you just can’t afford to take. 

Therefore, in this post, you’re going to learn 7 of the top best practices for handling cash safely and preventing potential problems. 

Let’s dive into it. 

1. Keep Things Organized

You definitely want to keep your cash organized. Every dollar should be accounted for—from the point of sale to the bank account. Throwing money around willy-nilly can obviously open you up to serious security and cash flow problems. 

So keep things organized, and make sure that your team understands the flow of where cash is supposed to go, and when. 

2. Create Policies And Procedures For Management and Employees

Creating policies and procedures for handling cash is absolutely critical. 

Not only does this make it easier to train new team members when you bring them into your organization—but it also helps you to nail down a specific set of steps that you want to take to ensure that your cash is handled properly, from the moment it enters your company, up till the moment it’s deposited in the bank. 

You’ll also want to make sure to create written versions of these policies and procedures, and to create training materials based on them to get your new team members and managers up-to-speed. 

3. Perform Audits on Your Cash Balance Regularly

Major retailers do this several times per day wherever cash is handled by employees. 

Not only does it serve to keep people honest, but it can also highlight problem areas and help you to identify where cash may be going missing. 

If you do end up with some kind of problem (such as cash missing from a register), audits can help you to narrow down exactly what may have gone wrong, and who may have been responsible. 

4. Keep as Little of It on Hand as Possible

Keeping too much cash on hand is just generally a dangerous practice. 

For this reason, it’s vitally important to make sure that you’re making regular cash deposits into the bank. 

The more cash you keep on hand, the greater the potential for trouble. 

Unfortunately, keeping large cash reserves can make you a target for nefarious criminal activity. 

And you certainly don’t want that. 

Also Read: Things You Don’t Know About a Money Back Plan

5. Invest in Your Team

If you take the time to invest in your team and build a positive company culture, the odds that they’ll look out for you grows higher. 

You definitely want your team to like you, and you want them to be loyal to the company. 

If you treat them right, they’ll just be that much more likely to watch your back while conducting the day-to-day activities of the business. 

6. Invest in Cash Management Technology

Gone are the days where you can write down your cash in a physical, leather-bound ledger and come away unscathed. 

Things are just too complicated for that. 

Now, you probably already know this. In fact, you probably don’t actually use a leather-bound ledger anymore. 

But the fact is that there are also a wealth of different, more complex, and more sophisticated cash management technologies available to businesses in virtually any sector. 

Finding one, and investing in it, can really help you to keep track of your funds. 

This is also useful for tax purposes. 

It certainly pays to be able to track every single dollar as it makes its way through your company. 

7. Hire Security If You Deal With an Unusually Large Amount of Cash

Sometimes, there’s no better way to protect your cash reserves than to hire security. 

This is especially true if you tend to keep a lot of cash and/or valuables on hand throughout the day. 

Special Security Services, a security company based in California, says it like this:

“If you own a business that deals with high-value items or large amounts of cash, there’s a good chance that you’ll need an armed guard.” 

It may seem like a big step. But here’s the thing. 

Criminals prey on those who aren’t protected. 

Hiring security may be the best way to continue to guarantee your company’s safety in these trying times. 

Conclusion

There you have it. 

7 practices for handling cash that’ll likely help you to save your company from significant and frustrating losses. 

Of course, all that’s left now is to put the tips into practice. 

You’ve got this!