Teller Skills Customer Service Fundamentals

Teller Money Handling and Balancing Tips
Errors in Transferring Cash
These mistakes occur when you transfer money into or out of your teller drawer
to the vault or head teller. Errors here include forgetting to fill out the appropriate
debit or credit slip, fifing out the wrong slip, and miscounting the money
transferred. These errors are usually easy to find because both parties will be off
by the same amount. For example, if you “sell” $5,000 to the vault during the day
and forget to record the transaction, your drawer will be short $5,000 and the
vault will be over $5,000.
Counting Errors
These errors occur when cash is miscounted or packaged incorrectly. This can
happen when you are counting your ending cash, during a customer transaction,
or when packaging currency during the day. This type of error can be difficult to
identify because there is no specific amount or calculation that will tell you a
counting error was made.
Recounting your ending cash and any cash you packaged during the day may
uncover your mistake. To avoid mistakes, ask your supervisor to show you how
to use your teller machine to verify your count for each transaction.
Machine Entry Errors
Improperly using your teller terminal or adding machine can also result in a
balancing problem. You can make this error by typing in the wrong number,
hitting the totals key too soon or failing to clear out previous transactions. The
best way to find this type of mistake is to meticulously go over your teller or
adding machine tape to identify errors. Again, there is no specific formula here..,
just carefully examine each entry for errors.
Finding Balancing Errors
Some of these errors are easy to identify... others require a little work. When you don’t
balance and the reason isn’t obvious, try these steps:
o Add up your blotter totals again (see if you simply made a mistake in
addition).
o If that doesn’t help, determine the amount you’re off
o If the difference is evenly divisible by nine, you may have misplaced a
decimal point or transposed a number.
o If the difference is evenly divisible by two, you may have run a cash-in as a
cash-out or vice versa.
o Recount your cash (make sure there are no loose coins in your work area). It
should be obvious, but if you are off by less than $1, don’t bother recounting
your currency.
o Double check to make sure you recorded any fees collected and any cash
bought from or sold to the vault.
o Look under your drawer, on the floor and in the trash (more than one teller
has accidentally thrown away a cash-in ticket or other important document).
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