In layman's terms, "closing out" a cash register entails compiling data from its daily usage, accounting for all cash, check and credit transactions therein and dropping all the information with an accountant or, in some cases, at the bank. Register systems and transaction types vary depending on your type of business, the size of your company and other factors, but the general process you need to follow to successfully and quickly close out your register is the same, wherever you work.

Complete your day's transactions. If you begin closing out your register but have to take another customer, you will need to start the process over--your numbers will be inaccurate.

Run your end-of-shift or end-of-day report, which is a report your register prints to tabulate all the sales it did during a shift. If you use a register with a graphical interface, this functionality will lie in the "Reports" menu and will generally require you to push a single button although in some other cases, you might have to press a combination of buttons. Occasionally, your supervisor will need to run the report for you.

Remove any cash, credit card slips and checks from your register. Compare the contents of your drawer to your report. If you use paper credit card slips, for example, and your report suggests you should have $751.39 in "Visa" transactions, add these slips up to ensure you're not missing any.

Place the contents of your drawer neatly inside your designated deposit bag once you have accounted for all your transactions. Close your register drawer and log-out of the system.

Drop the bag with either your store's accounting department or, if you're the manager or owner of your store, the bank with whom you do business.

Tip

f you use a non-computerized register, you can't run an end-of-shift report. Instead, you'll need to add-up all the transaction totals from your register tape and subtract from this number your the whole amount of your credit card and check transactions, as well as the amount of money you had in your drawer to begin the day.

In terms of cash, counting bills will usually result in close approximation of the cash you're meant to have as per your report--your entire inventory of coins will rarely equal more than a few dollars, euros or pounds at the end of a shift.