Cash Over and Shortnoun

Cash over and short records the gap between what a till or petty cash box should hold and what is actually counted. A shortage is a debit to cash over and short and a credit to cash; an overage is the reverse. Over a period the account nets to a small figure, and a balance that keeps growing in one direction is the signal worth investigating.

Small differences are normal — wrong change, rounding, a miscount. What matters is that each one is posted, with the drawer and the people behind it, rather than absorbed into the next day's float where it can never be traced.