The Pay Out Button on your point of sale is a handy tool to cover unexpected business needs. But without proper quality control in place, the temptation to expand the uses for it is great. If you give into this temptation, it could sabotage your books and even lead to theft.
The first thing our franchise accounting experts want you to remember is that your pay out button is in your POS and accessible by anyone who uses that system. Setting up strong procedures and reinforcing them in employee trainings helps establish standards for how the pay out button should be used.
Why Quality Control is Important for the Pay Out Button
One control you should be sure to put in place is to always attach a receipt for what the cash is reimbursing– whether they’re using the pay out button for fuel, groceries or some other good or service, it’s important to have a method in place to keep track of it.
These standards of how to use the pay out button are important because, when used, it appears in the POS as “Pay Out” with no additional detail. This makes the expense impossible to categorize properly.
If this standard isn’t set early or, worse, if management doesn’t set a strong example in adhering to it, further abuse of the pay out button is likely.
We’ve seen the pay out button used to award employee bonuses or even cash paychecks. It can be tempting to help employees without bank accounts or to take care of expenses with cash on hand, but these practices erode the quality controls set in place.
Businesses who lack quality control are more prone to have employees who take advantage of the pay out button. If it’s known a cash drawer isn’t being monitored, the opportunity for theft becomes greater.
We’ve seen employees get so comfortable taking cash with the pay out button that the theft occurs at their regular shift intervals and in even dollar amounts. For example, every Monday and Tuesday $50 would be paid out with no explanation.
Pay Out Button Quality Control Best Practices
Keep your books in order and avoid the theft liability of your pay out button by implementing a few quality control best practices:
- Have clear rules in place for what the pay out button can and cannot be used for. Make sure everyone follows these rules.
- Require a manager to always sign off on a pay out.
- Always attach receipts reflecting the pay out reimbursement.
- Require management to review the POS each shift and account for all pay out receipts.
Following these quality control best practices for your pay out button will help keep your dollars in the right place.
August 2021
