Cash collected from a vending machine does not become a banked business receipt in one step. It may pass through a driver’s hands, a commission payment and the operator’s safe before it reaches the bank. Every handover is a point where a figure can be copied wrongly, mixed with another collection or left unexplained.
A sensible reconciliation process follows the money from the machine to the deposit. It should tell you how much was collected, how much remained after any site payment, what should be in the safe and which collections made up the bank deposit.
Begin with a complete collection record
Do not start the reconciliation with a bag of coins. Start with the record made at the machine. For each collection, identify the site, machine, date and person who completed the visit. Keep the gross coin count alongside the commission or charity contribution applied and the amount retained by the operator.
The labels matter. If one driver records “total” as gross takings and another uses it for the amount brought back, the figures may look consistent while describing different things. Use the same terms on every round and on every receipt.
Record corrections rather than replacing the original figure without explanation. A transposed number is easy enough to understand when the first entry, amended entry, reason and person making the change remain visible.
Calculate the expected cash before counting the safe
The expected cash position is a running calculation:
Opening cash balance + cash added from collections – cash removed = expected closing balance.
Cash removed might include a bank deposit or commission paid from the collected money. Whatever the reason, enter it as its own transaction. Avoid changing a collection total merely to make the balance agree.
Once the expected balance is known, count the physical cash independently. Comparing an actual count with an expected figure is more useful than counting first and then trying to build records around the answer.
Coins kept as an operating float should be clearly separated from collected takings. Decide whether the float forms part of the recorded safe balance and apply that decision consistently. Loose cash in the van, an unrecorded change bag and yesterday’s takings can otherwise become one impossible total.
Make every bank deposit traceable
A deposit record needs the amount, date and a reference that can be matched to the paying-in slip or bank transaction. It should also show which safe balance it reduced. If the deposit contains cash from several rounds, keep a list of the included collection dates or a batch reference that leads back to them.
The amount credited by the bank should then be checked against the amount recorded as leaving the safe. Timing can cause apparent differences, especially around weekends or when a deposit appears on the statement later than expected. Keep the deposit date and bank credit date as separate facts rather than forcing them to match.
HMRC says self-employed people need records of all sales and income, and the records must allow business transactions to be identified. UK limited companies must keep accounting records covering all money received and spent. The detailed records required will depend on the business and its accountant, but a clear collection-to-deposit trail gives the bookkeeping a reliable starting point. See the GOV.UK guidance for self-employed business records and limited company accounting records.
Investigate differences without losing the trail
A discrepancy should have its own record. Note the expected amount, actual amount and difference, then check the events in order. Was the machine count entered correctly? Was commission handed over at the site? Did cash arrive back from every completed stop? Has a deposit already left the safe but not been entered?
Do not spread an unexplained shortage across several machines or alter an old visit until the total agrees. That makes the current balance look tidy but damages the history needed to find the cause. If the difference remains unexplained, record it honestly and set out who reviewed it and what happens next.
Small differences deserve attention too. A repeated shortage of the same size can point to a counting method, denomination error or handover habit that needs fixing. Review the pattern, not only the value of one incident.
Use a clear handover when more than one person handles cash
When a driver returns cash to the office, both sides should know what has changed custody. A handover record can be brief, but it should connect the amount received to the day’s completed collections and identify who gave and received it.
Use individual accounts for digital records. Shared logins make it harder to establish who entered a collection, recorded a deposit or corrected a figure. Access should also match the job: a driver may need to complete cash-ups without needing the company’s full financial reports.
Physical controls still matter. Set a regular banking routine, restrict access to stored cash and avoid leaving counted bags without a date or batch reference. Software can maintain the record, but it cannot identify an anonymous bag of coins.
Review the process as well as the closing total
A safe that balances today can still contain weak records. Periodically check that collection entries are completed on the visit date, handovers are acknowledged, deposits have bank references and corrections include reasons. This is also a useful time to look for collections or deposits that have remained open longer than expected.
VendMetrix is built around this part of a UK vending round. Its confirmed features include cash-ups, bank deposit records, a running safe balance and team permissions. The site also states that corrections are kept in an audit trail. Those tools can keep the figures together, but the operator still needs a consistent routine for physical counts, handovers and banking.
The end result should be simple to explain: these collections added cash, these authorised payments reduced it, this amount was handed over, and this deposit reached the bank. When each step has its own record, a difference can be investigated where it arose instead of being discovered weeks later in the accounts.