Cash Control

How to know if money is missing from your shop

Updated 7 May 2026 · Featured guide
A shop owner can check for missing money by comparing expected Cash, M-PESA and Bank balances with the real balances.

A shop can lose money without the owner noticing immediately. The problem may not always be theft. It may be a forgotten expense, a sale entered under the wrong account, a transfer not recorded, wrong change, missing stock, or a simple counting mistake.

The important question at the end of the day is: does the money you actually have match what should have happened during the day?

If the answer is no, the owner needs a way to investigate the difference quickly before the details are forgotten.

Simple missing-money check

  • Start with opening Cash, M-PESA and Bank balances.
  • Add sales received into each account.
  • Subtract expenses paid from each account.
  • Add or subtract transfers between accounts.
  • Compare the expected balance with the actual counted or checked balance.

Example

  • Opening Cash is KSh 5,000.
  • Cash sales are KSh 10,000.
  • Cash expenses are KSh 2,000.
  • Cash moved to Bank is KSh 4,000.
  • Expected Cash is KSh 9,000.
  • If counted Cash is KSh 8,300, the shop is KSh 700 short and the owner should investigate.

What to investigate first

  • Cash sales for the day.
  • Cash expenses for the day.
  • Transfers from Cash to Bank or M-PESA.
  • Sales entered as M-PESA but paid in Cash.
  • Opening balance and closing count.
  • Staff handling of the till.

How Bizwazi helps

  • Bizwazi helps separate Cash, M-PESA and Bank records so the owner can see which account has a difference.
  • This makes it easier to spot missing money, wrong entries and forgotten transactions.

How Bizwazi helps

Bizwazi gives small businesses a simple way to record sales, expenses, invoices, inventory, supplier bills, transfers, daily balances and reports in one place.