In the evening a seller comes back from his round with a wad of notes. He gives you a figure, you count, it comes out about right. Next day, the same. After a month, nobody can say whether "about right" means 200 dirhams short, or 2,000.
Why sellers' cash slips out of the owner's sight
It is almost never a question of honesty. It is a question of record. The money passes through three pairs of hands — the customer, the seller, you — and at each step there is only someone's word. A hand-in made late, a note given back as change, fuel paid out of the takings: nothing serious, but nothing written.
The result: a gap found at the end of the month can no longer be explained. Nobody remembers, and the conversation turns into an accusation.
Collected, handed in, still to hand in: three figures per seller
For every person who takes cash, there are only three figures to keep. An example, with round numbers for illustration: over the week, Youssef collected 6,000 DH in cash. He handed in 4,500 DH that you counted, and he has just declared a further 1,000 DH that you have not seen yet. He still holds 500 DH.
Those figures assume one account per seller. Two sellers on the same phone means one balance for two people — so nobody responsible.
That is what Gestio keeps: every employee has an account, and for each one you can read the cash collected, what is confirmed, what is pending and what is still to hand in. Only cash sales count here; a cheque or a transfer never passes through the seller's pocket.
The hand-in: the seller declares, the owner confirms
A cash hand-in is the moment money changes hands. To leave a trace it needs two steps, not one. In Gestio, the seller picks the invoices whose cash he is handing in, the amount adds itself up, and the owner is notified. The owner (or an administrator) counts, then confirms or refuses.
- Confirmed. The counted amount matches the declaration: the seller's balance goes down by that much.
- Confirmed with a difference. You enter what you actually counted; the gap stays recorded on the hand-in.
- Refused. The money did not arrive, or not as declared. A reason is required, the seller receives it, and the amount stays on his balance.
When to confirm? The same day — that is advice from the shop floor. A hand-in that waits three days to be counted turns back into one person's word against another's.
Cash differences: record them, never erase them
At the counter the logic is the same, with the till. You open it in the morning with a float, note what goes in and out (a small purchase paid in cash, an advance to the driver), and count it in the evening. Gestio works out what should be there — the person closing does not type the expected figure — and records the difference with its reason.
Faced with a 30-dirham difference, the temptation is to "fix" it so it balances. Bad habit: an erased difference disappears, and ten erased differences never become a pattern.
A recorded gap can be understood. An erased gap comes back.
What an activity log changes
The balance tells you how much. The log tells you who and when. In Gestio every action — sale created, product changed, payment recorded, hand-in declared, confirmed or refused, till opened or closed — is kept with its author and date, and the person in charge is the one who reads it.
The day a balance does not add up, you go back through the day line by line instead of searching your memory. That is what lets you clear a doubt without accusing anyone.
The Saturday check, and the mistakes that skew it
Once a week, take ten minutes to read the whole team's balances. You are not looking for a single figure, you are looking for a habit: the seller whose balance never comes back to zero, or the one whose hand-ins are often confirmed with a difference.
- Paying expenses out of the takings. Fuel paid with customers' money mixes two accounts. A separate advance, recorded as such, is better.
- Counting without recording. A hand-in that was counted but not confirmed stays "pending" for everyone.
- Looking for cheques in the balance. It follows cash only. Cheques and due dates belong with customer receivables.
Bringing in the rule without putting the team's back up
Announced as a control measure, the rule sounds like suspicion. Present it for what it also is: protection for the seller. With a written balance, an honest seller never again has to justify himself from memory — the figure speaks for him.
Start simple: one account per person, one hand-in a day, the same rule for everyone — the longest-serving included. To organise a team on the road, see the Gestio features page.