Q - In QuickBooks Point of Sale how do I properly show a payout when I pay for expenses out of the cash drawer?
A - This is a great question and is actually quite easy if you follow a few simple steps. It's important to know good internal controls are imperative if the cash drawer is going to be used on a regular basis for minor expenses. These controls will allow you to properly account for the drawer's activity at the end of the day.
Click on Point of Sale > New Payout. A window will pop up as shown below.
In this case I completed the Cashier field, entered the amount of $20 and chose the correct General Ledger account from the drop down menus. Comments are a required field or the "OK" button will not illuminate. As an internal control you want the cashier that initiated this payout transaction to put the cash receipt in the cash box for reconciliation purposes later on. If the cashier is not familiar with the general ledger accounting he or she can just leave the default "Cash Drawer Payouts" and the bookkeeper can clean this up later.
Below you can see the result of the Z-Out Drawer Count Report. You can clearly see the $20 payout and this would not be expected to be part of the cash count at the end of the day.
Next let's look at the Z-Out Store Close Report. Here you can clearly see the Payout amount and at the bottom of this report will be a listing of all payouts for the day plus appropriate comments. In this case when the next Financial Exchange takes place (normally as part of the End of Day routine, Postage and Delivery will be debited for this $20 expense on your Profit & Loss Statement.
