Updated 17 October 2026
Step by step
The same routine every evening is what makes a close reliable.
- Stop sales and print or note the day's totals by payment method.
- Count the cash in the drawer, and take out the float you start each day with.
- Read the balance of each mobile money till or paybill, bank and card terminal.
- Subtract the day's cash expenses and any money banked or taken out by the owner.
- Compare what you counted with what you should hold, channel by channel.
- Record the difference, who was on the till, and any explanation.
Check each channel on its own
Adding cash and mobile money together hides mistakes: a sale recorded as cash but paid by mobile money makes one channel short and the other over, and the total looks fine. Checking each channel separately shows it.
Small differences, every day
A difference found the same evening has a reason someone remembers. The same difference found at the end of the month is a loss. Mark each day as balanced, a small variance or one to look into, and look at the pattern weekly.
Questions
What if the cash is over, not short?
Treat it the same way. An unexplained surplus usually means a sale was recorded against the wrong payment method, or not recorded at all.
How does Owwel help with the daily close?
Owwel's daily close works out what each channel should hold from the day's trading, you enter what you counted, and it marks the day balanced, a minor variance or one to investigate.
How Owwel handles this
- Daily close and reconciliation
At the end of each day, compare the cash you counted and every payment channel against what trading says you should hold. Differences are flagged that evening, while someone can still explain them.
- Mobile money, bank and card
Record M-Pesa and every other mobile money, bank and card channel, see each balance next to cash, and record transfers between accounts with any fee counted as a real cost.
- Staff, roles and commissions
Give each team member their own login and only the parts of the business they need, record who sold or served each line, and pay commission straight into your expenses.
More in all guides.