Date Created: April 30, 2024 Last Updated: May 20, 2024
Overview:
Cornell Retail Services accepts cash at the Main Store, Statler Hotel, and the Weill Cornell Medicine locations. The opening cash balance and sales are tracked in NetSuite Point of Sale and are updated as sales are rung through the registers. Deposits are processed weekly. Additional processes and controls for vault security access and opening and closing registers are in place to protect cash and to prevent opportunities for fraud or theft.
Criticality: High | Frequency: Other | Turnaround: Same Day |
Key Parties / Contacts:
Cashiers: Verify and record opening till counts in NetSuite, inspect counterfeit bills, run End of Day register process for NSPOS, and count cash drawer at closing.
Cash Manager: Responsible for processing deposits, verify reserve safe count, and assists in resolution and reconciliation of discrepancies.
Theft Control Officer: Reviews security protocols and researches cash discrepancies in the main store location through surveillance camera footage.
Store Managers: Responsible for ensuring vault security, distributing, and collecting deposit bags from workstations for each business day, runs Sales Audit Reports, and assists in resolution and reconciliation of discrepancies
Key Documents / Sources of Information:
- NetSuite
- NetSuite Point of Sale (NSPOS)
- Kuali Financial System
- Sales audit reports, closing till receipts, deposit sheets, shared drive
System Access Needed:
- NetSuite
- NetSuite Point of Sale (NSPOS)
- Kuali Financial System (KFS)
Common Problems or Issues Encountered:
- Opening till count is less than $300.
- End of day cash drawer NSPOS calculated count vs actual count discrepancies.
Step by Step Procedures:
Opening and Closing Process:
- The closing cashier prepares bank bags, $300 per bag, for the next business day.
- The opening store manager opens vault room and unlocks the MOD safe to sign out bags to distribute to workstations.
- Cashiers verify the bag count before logging onto the register for the day. If the bag count has a discrepancy at the Main Store or Statler the cash manager, theft control officer, and store manager are notified for resolution and reconciliation. If a discrepancy at Weill Cornell Medicine, the Associate Director of Retail Services and Weill security are contacted for resolution.
- Cashiers log onto registers and record opening till in NetSuite POS.
- NetSuite POS tracks cash opening balance and sales rung into the register throughout the day. Any large bills received at the register are inspected by the cashier to ensure it is not counterfeit. Bills are kept out of the register until transaction is completed and then secured in the drawer.
- Register is closed at the end of the day by the closing cashier who runs the End of Day process in NetSuite POS for the register.
- Cash drawer is counted by a trained cashier and observed by another staff member. The total is entered into NetSuite POS. NSPOS calculates the expected ending count based on cash sales. If the calculated differs from the actual count the system will automatically create an entry to over/short to the GL.
- The closing cashier will leave $300 in a bank bag for the next business day. The rest of the cash will be placed in a deposit bag with closing till receipt from the workstation, which includes workstation number, date, and amount.
- Main Store closing manager signs in the deposit bag and drops in the slot at the top of the reserve safe within the vault, puts the $300 bank bag in the MOD safe withing the vault, initials the closing checklist, and shuts and arms the vault door.
- Statler closing supervisor locks deposit backs in safe until brought to the Cash Manager at the Main Store. Supervisor brings deposit which includes cash, two copies of deposit sheet, and copy of daily deposit calculation from to the main store location for the Cash Manager to process.
- Weill Cornell Medicine closing employee puts the deposit bag in the slot to drop into the safe.
Cash Deposit Process:
- Opening store manager runs the previous business day Sales Audit Report and saves to the shared drive.
- Cash Manager reconciles the Sales Audit Report to the previous business day cash bags returned from the registers. Cash manager counts the reserve safe weekly. The counts are saved to the shared drive.
- Over/Short is calculated by comparing each workstation POS sales reports to actual amount received from the cashier. Any discrepancy + / - $5 and counterfeit bills are reported to the store Theft Control Officer and the store manager. The Theft control Officer will review camera footage at Main Store and report any issues. Counterfeit bills are reported to CUPD and Cash Management. Weill Cornell Medicine also contacts Weill security for any large discrepancies or counterfeit bills.
- Closing till receipts are taped on the deposit tracking sheet with manual counts noted and keyed into the excel deposit sheet and the KFS Sales Deposit sheet form on the shared drive.
- Store management verifies the deposit totals.
- Two copies of the deposit form, the daily reconciliation calculator sheet and cash is placed in a locked bank bag. Armored truck pickup is scheduled for every other Thursday. If the cash total is under $200 the Cash Manager sends an email to cancel the armored truck pickup. Weill Cornell Medicine deposit is taken to Chase Manhattan Bank by a full-time staff member.
- Cash Manager scans check to the bank for deposit. Cash is held in the reserve safe until picked up.
- Cash manager creates KFS AD edoc and GL entry in NetSuite ERP for deposit.
- If the bank or Cash Management have a discrepancy with the deposit it is written off or a correction is made to the AD edoc.
Key Risks | Key Controls |
Risk of individuals having access to the cash vault and safes | 1. Main Store cash safes are behind two locked doors with both key access codes and vault dial. Cameras inside face the vault and there are cameras outside of vault entry door. Only store managers, cash manager, and cash manager backup have access to the vault. Door dial codes are changed when job duties are changed, or staff are terminated. 2. Statler Lobby shop is key access only to store staff. Locked combination safe is kept inside back storeroom. Codes are changed when job duties are changed, or staff are terminated. 3. Weill Shop is located in the library with and is key access only to store staff with a sliding glass for with deadbolt lock in frame. The library is locked when closed and has 24/7 security outside the library. Combination safe codes are changed when job duties are changed, or staff are terminated. |
Risk of internal theft | 1. Opening till counts, end of day cash drawer counts, and deposit totals are verified and/or observed. 2. Camera footage is reviewed by the theft control officer for any cash discrepancies in the Main Store. 3. Store managers, cash manager, and theft control officer are notified of any cash discrepancies. Weill location also notifies Weill security. 4. Safe combinations updated each semester. |
Metrics:
Cornell Finance Staff
- Monitoring the over/short account
- Review of sales and gross margin trends
FTC
- Undeposited Funds- FTC reconciles the undeposited funds account. Any discrepancies are reconciled to the register logs and verified with the Cornell Store.
Glossary of Key Terms/Acronyms:
- KFS – Kuali Financial System
- GL – General Ledger
- NSPOS – NetSuite Point of Sale System
CRS Cash Handling Process Flow Chart (3 pages)
