How to make a cash report when receiving cash payments (2024)

How to make a cash report when receiving cash payments

In this blog, we discuss how to make a cash report when receiving cash payments.

In Denmark, you are required by law to make a cash report when receiving cash from your customers.

This is typically relevant for retail shops, cafés and restaurants.

The cash report should be made daily or in intervals that fit the intensity of your business.

Many modern POS systems (“Point Of Sales”) or cash registers include a cash report.

If your POS system or cash register does not include a cash report, you will need to prepare the report manually.

Here we show how to make a manual cash report.

Mandatory digital cash registers from 2024

Also, be aware of the new rules in 2024 that makes it mandatory to have a digital cash register.

Learn about the new rules for digital cash registers starting in 2024

What is a cash report?

A cash report is not to be confused with the sales report you print from the POS or sales register.

The cash report documents how much cash you had in the morning, the flow of cash during the day (incoming and outgoing payments) and the cash retained in the evening.

How do you make a cash report manually using Excel?

We have made an instructional video for you here:

Gather all cash transaction documentation

To create your cash report, gather all the daily receipts that involve either cash payments from your customers or cash payments made to customers, suppliers or cash deposits made into your bank.

This will allow you to document your daily cash flow.

Download our templates here

Cash at the “start of day”

If you start the day with 500 DKK in your register, you note this on the relevant space in the cash report, under “cash at the start of day”.

Calculate incoming cash

Once the working day is finished, calculate your cash sales during the day and write the amount in the incoming column.

Sometimes sales are a combination of cash and credit card payments.

If this is the case, include the credit card sales with the cash sales in the incoming column as a total amount.

As per our example, if you have 1.000 DKK in cash sales and 1.000 DKK in credit card sales, write 2.000 DKK in the incoming column.

Any other incoming cash should also be included here.

For instance, if you deposited cash from your private funds into the cash register of the business at some point during the day, write in the incoming column of the cash report, “Cash deposit from private funds,” along with the amount you deposited into the cash register.

Specify credit card sales

The cash balance will be corrected in the following line, where you will specify that the 1.000 DKK in credit card sales was “transferred to the bank”.

The document we use for this transaction is called a transaction total, which is printed from your credit card terminal.

You now add the 1.000 DKK transferred to the bank to the outgoing column, which will correct your cash total.

List the cash expenses

Next, you’ll list all the cash expenses you’ve had during the day.

As per our example, maybe you had to make a trip to the supermarket to pick up some items you ran out of during the day.

If you buy these items in cash, you will list this receipt on your cash report; if you paid with a credit card, don’t list it in the cash column.

Larger costs – like rent, utilities, your telephone bill, and things that you pay with your internet bank – are not part of the cash report.

Only items paid in cash must be listed, not items paid through your bank account.

Calculate the cash retained in the cash register at the end of the day

After you’ve listed all cash expenses in the outgoing column, calculating your cash retained in the cash register at the end of the day is quite simple:

With our example, you had 500 DKK in the morning.

You must add the money deposited into your cash register during the day.

You had 2.000 DKK in sales (total cash and credit card sales), so you are now at 2.500 DKK.

If you didn’t have any additional cash added to the cash register, then you subtract the 1.000 DKK in credit card sales which were transferred to the bank.

Now, you have 1.500 DKK left in cash.

Next, let’s say you had three expense receipts at 100 DKK each, paid in cash.

Subtract 300 DKK from your 1.500 DKK; you’re now at 1.200 DKK in cash.

This is the amount of cash you ended the day with.

You must now declare this 1.200 DKK on the line “cash in the evening”.

Count and document the cash

For the Danish Tax Agency, it’s essential to document that you actually have the 1.200 DKK.

And to do that, you must physically count the money.

Open the cash register, count the cash, and record this on the spreadsheet, noting how many 100 DKK bills you have, how many 50 DKK bills, 20 DKK coins, etc.

Cash differences

Sometimes you’ll have a little more or less than what your cash report indicates you should.

For instance, our cash report totals 1.200 DKK, but we counted 1.205 DKK in actual cash.

This is called a “cash difference” and usually occurs if a client pays a little extra or you return too much by mistake or if lacking coins.

Counting the money will reveal these cash differences.

If you have a cash difference, you write on the first line of tomorrow’s cash report, “Cash difference from yesterday,” and on the incoming section of the cash register, the amount of 5 DKK (if it’s a negative cash difference, you will write this in the outgoing column).

The next morning, when you write the cash report, under “cash in the morning,” it will read 1.200 DKK, and on the first line under “cash differences from yesterday,” 5 DKK will be listed in the incoming column; so you will start the day with 1.205 DKK in the cash report.

And this would also match the amount of cash you have in the register.

Continue this daily.

The cash report and the spreadsheet used for calculating your actual cash are part of your accounting and should be submitted with all your invoices and sales to your accountant.

When we make accounting, we’ll reconcile your cash transactions.

NB: Be aware that preparing a cash report is a legal requirement if you receive cash from your clients

Consequences for not making a cash report

We can do the accounting without a cash report, but the consequences for not completing your daily cash reports can be pretty severe.

If you have a tax inspection – for instance, if the Danish Tax Agency suspects you neglected to report some sales – then without a cash report, they can dismiss all of your accounting and estimate your sales as they see fit.

(This blog was updated last time: 2.4.2024)