Operations · From the archive

Cannabis Accounting 101: How to Use a Cash Log

What a cash log is for

A cash log is the daily record of every dollar of physical currency: opening counts, register totals, drops, deposits, and closing counts, with signatures. It sounds trivial. It is the document that lets you prove — to a bank's compliance team, an auditor, or an IRS examiner — that reported revenue and actual cash agree.

In a heavily cash industry, the absence of that proof is read as a finding, whatever the truth was.

What a good one contains

Date, location, and till. Opening float, verified by two people. Each drop during the day, timed and initialed. The POS daily total. The closing count, again dual-verified. The variance between POS and count — recorded even when zero, investigated the same day when not. And the deposit reference that carries the total into the bank and the ledger.

The habits that make it work

Same format every day, no gaps, no backfilling. Surprise counts on an irregular schedule. Variances explained in writing at the time, however small. Logs retained with the accounting records, not in a drawer at the store.

The chain this builds — POS to log to deposit to statement to ledger — is the spine of a defensible cash position. Every examination of a cash business walks that chain; a complete log makes the walk short.

This article is general information, not tax advice.