How money moves: where your money sits and what each event does

Every place your money sits in Otura — each drawer, the safe, the bank, card takings, what customers and suppliers owe, staff, VAT and your own capital — and what each everyday event moves, with the accounts for your accountant.

Checked against the product on 25 October 2026

Otura keeps your books in dollars. Every place money can sit is an account in your chart of accounts, and the cash you can count — a drawer, the safe, the bank — is also a box on FinanceAccountingCash & BankTreasury, which shows what each one holds. Each sale, drop, payout, transfer and count moves money from one place to another, and Otura writes that move in the books by itself. This page says where the money sits, and what each event moves. When to do what is in Your money routine.

Where your money sits

Place	What it is	Account
Each till’s drawer	The dollars in that till. Made for each register when the chart is seeded, or when a register is added later.	5100NN, named after the register (Register 1 drawer). A register set to Shared cash account (Cash Register) uses 5100 Cash Register.
Each till’s lira drawer	The lira in that till, kept apart from the dollars. Only for a business in dollars that takes lira.	5105NN (Register 1 drawer - LBP), or 5105 Cash Register - LBP
The safe	Where drops go and pay ins come from. A box you add yourself.	5110 Safe / Vault; 5115 Safe / Vault - LBP for lira
The bank	Your bank accounts. A box you add yourself.	5120 Bank Account - USD, 5130 Bank Account - LBP
Card takings	Card sales, until the card processor pays them into the bank.	5300 Card Receivable; 5305 Card Receivable - LBP for card sales charged in lira
Payouts waiting	Cash paid out of a drawer at the till, until someone says what it was for.	5140 Cash Payouts - Unclassified
What customers owe	Sales on account; cash on delivery and web orders not yet collected; credit a customer holds after an exchange.	4110 Accounts Receivable, 4111 COD Receivable, 4190 Customer Exchange Credits (owed to the customer)
What you owe suppliers	Bills not yet paid; stock received whose bill has not come.	4210 Accounts Payable, 4215 Goods Received Not Invoiced
What you owe staff	Approved payroll not yet paid, and what it holds back for NSSF, salary tax and end of service.	4520 Net Salaries Payable, 4510 NSSF Payable, 4440 Payroll Tax Payable (R10), 4530 End-of-Service Indemnity Payable
VAT	VAT charged on sales, less VAT paid on purchases you recover.	4420 VAT Output / Payable, 4410 VAT Input
Your own money in the business	What the owners put in, and the profit the business has kept.	1110 Paid-in Capital, 1120 Opening Balance Equity, 1210 Retained Earnings, 1220 Current Year Earnings

Finance › Accounting › Cash & Bank › Treasury: Bank (Bank, USD, Head office, $0.00, 5120 · Bank Account - USD); Register 1, 2 and 3 drawer - LBP (Cash box, LBP, at their branches, Register 1 holding LBP 8,055,000 shown as $90.00, on 510503, 510501 and 510502); Register 1 drawer (Cash box, USD, $100.00, 510003), Register 2 and 3 drawer ($0.00); Lira safe (Vault, LBP, Head office, LBP 0, 5115 · Safe / Vault - LBP); Safe (Vault, USD, Head office, $544.98, 5110 · Safe / Vault); Held in the books $734.98; with Revalue lira and Add treasury account. — Treasury at the end of a day: each drawer, the safe and the bank, and what the books say each holds.

Seeding the chart makes each till's drawer boxes, at the register's branch. It makes no safe and no bank box: add them with Add treasury account, choosing the Kind (Vault for a safe, Bank for a bank account), the Currency, the GL account and the Branch. Put your dollar safe on 5110 · Safe / Vault and your lira safe on 5115 · Safe / Vault - LBP, so the drops that already landed there are in it (see Cash and bank).

The New treasury account dialog over Treasury: Name Safe, Kind Vault, Currency USD, GL account 5110 · Safe / Vault, Branch Head office with the hint Which branch counts this box at the end of the day. Head-office boxes are counted when the whole business is closed., Default for this kind and currency on, Can receive customer receipts off, Can make supplier payments on, and Create. — The safe, on 5110, at head office: where every drop goes.

What each everyday event does

In the table, the money moves from the place on the right to the place on the left. The last two columns are the entry Otura posts, for your accountant. "The drawer" is that till's drawer in the currency the money was in; "the safe" is the safe of the drawer's branch, or your default safe if the branch has none.

At the till

Event	What happens to your money	Debit	Credit
Open Shift	Nothing moves. The float you type is what the shift expects to start with.	—	—
The float check: Record it	The float came from the safe (or went back to it).	The drawer	The safe
A cash sale	The drawer gains what the customer paid, less any change.	The drawer (the lira drawer for lira)	7010 Sales Revenue - POS, 4420 VAT Output / Payable
A card sale	Card takings grow until the processor pays out.	5300 (5305 when charged in lira)	The same
A sale on account or cash on delivery	The customer owes it.	4110, or 4111 for cash on delivery	The same
The goods that left	Stock goes down by what they cost.	6010 Cost of Goods Sold	3100 Merchandise Inventory
Loyalty points used	The points pay part of the sale.	7910 Sales Discounts	The sale
A return	The money goes back the way the sale was paid, or becomes the customer’s credit.	7900 Sales Returns, 4420	The drawer, card, 4110, or 4190 for an exchange credit
A void	The sale is undone, on the day of the void; the cash leaves the drawer of the till that voided it.	The sale’s entry, reversed
Cash Drop	Cash goes from the drawer to the safe.	The safe	The drawer
Pay In	Cash comes from the safe into the drawer.	The drawer	The safe
Payout	Cash leaves the drawer for an expense. It is not an expense yet: see below.	5140 Cash Payouts - Unclassified	The drawer
A driver hands in cash	What the driver collected, less the fee they kept, comes into the drawer.	The drawer, in dollars	4111
Shift close, drawer short	The missing cash is a cost.	6700 Cash Shortage	The drawer
Shift close, drawer over	The extra cash is income.	The drawer	7700 Cash Overage

A shift that closes exactly posts nothing. A dollar difference and a lira difference are booked each on their own drawer.

In the back office

Event	What happens to your money	Debit	Credit
A Cash Transfer	Money moves between two boxes of one currency: drawer to safe, safe to bank.	The box it went into	The box it came out of
An Exchange	Lira for dollars, or dollars for lira, between two boxes.	The box it went into	The box it came out of; the difference to 6600 Exchange Loss or 7600 Exchange Gain
End of Day, a box short	The count is less than the books.	6700, one line for the day	Each short box
End of Day, a box over	The count is more than the books.	Each over box	7700, one line for the day
The card processor pays out	Card takings reach the bank, less the fee.	The bank, and 6250 Bank Charges for the fee	5300 or 5305
A supplier bill	You owe the supplier.	4215 for received goods (6015 for a bill with no stock), 4410 when you recover VAT	4210 Accounts Payable
A supplier payment	Money leaves the safe or the bank.	4210	The box paid from
A customer pays what they owe	Money comes into a box.	The box	4110
The VAT return is remitted	VAT is paid to the Ministry of Finance.	4420	4410, and the box paid from for the rest
Payroll is approved	The month’s pay becomes a cost and a debt to staff.	6310 Wages & Salaries, 6320 Employer NSSF Contributions, 6330 End-of-Service Indemnity Expense	4520, 4510, 4440, 4530
A month is closed	Lira boxes are brought to that month’s last rate.	Each lira box that gained, or 6600	7600, or each lira box that lost
The year is closed	The year’s profit or loss moves into your equity.	Every income account	Every expense account; the difference to 1210 Retained Earnings

End of Day books shortages and overages separately: a box $5 short and another $5 over is $5 in Cash Shortage and $5 in Cash Overage, not nothing. A day where every box is exact posts nothing. How a transfer, an exchange and the count work is in Cash and bank.

Payouts

A payout at the till takes cash out of the drawer, and the shift expects that much less. In the books it waits on 5140 Cash Payouts - Unclassified, an asset, because Otura does not know what it bought. The till asks for a reason so that someone can later say: the reasons are in the shift report's Cash moved in and out and the till's Drawer Event Log.

What Otura does not book

Some money leaves or enters the business with no screen that books it. Each needs a journal entry from you, with New Entry, until Otura does it.

What happened	What Otura does	The entry to post yourself
You paid the salaries	Payroll › Mark Paid changes the run’s status only. 4520 keeps growing.	Debit 4520 Net Salaries Payable, credit the box paid from
You paid NSSF or an end-of-service indemnity	Nothing: no screen takes them off 4510 or 4530.	Debit 4510 (or 4530), credit the box paid from
You paid commission	Commissions › Approve and Mark as Paid change statuses only. Commission is never in the books.	Debit an expense account you add for commission, credit the box paid from
You put money into the business	Nothing: there is no screen for capital.	Debit the box it went into, credit 1110 Paid-in Capital
You took money out for yourself	Nothing: there is no screen, and no drawings account.	Debit 1210 Retained Earnings, or an equity account you add for drawings; credit the box it came out of

New Entry on Journal Entries: Date 25/10/2026, Description Owner puts opening cash in the safe, Fiscal Year FY 2026, Fiscal Period October 2026; Lines: 5110 - Safe / Vault, Debit 500.00 USD; 1110 - Paid-in Capital, Credit 500.00 USD; totals $500.00 and $500.00, Balanced. — The owner puts $500 into the safe: the only way today is a journal entry.

Dollars and lira

The books are in dollars. A lira account — a lira drawer, the lira safe, a lira bank account — also keeps the lira that actually changed hands, so its lira balance is what you should find when you count it. The dollar value of lira depends on which rate was used:

What	The rate it is valued at
A sale, its return and its void	The rate the sale was rung at, kept with the sale. Changing the rate never changes a past sale.
A lira drop, payout or pay in, and a shift’s lira difference	Today’s rate when it is recorded
End of Day	Today’s rate
A month close	Each lira box is brought to the rate at the end of the month’s last day; the difference is 7600 Exchange Gain or 6600 Exchange Loss. Revalue lira on Treasury does the same at today’s rate, at any time.

So the same lira can be worth different dollars in two places, and the month close brings the boxes back in line. How to set the rate is in Exchange rates.

Cash rounding

When cash is rounded, the sale is booked at what was actually paid. A $62.50 sale paid in lira at 89,500 is LBP 5,593,750; rounded to the nearest 5,000, the customer pays LBP 5,595,000, which is $62.51. The sale is a $62.51 sale, its VAT is worked out on $62.51, and the lira drawer gains LBP 5,595,000. There is no rounding account: the cent is in the sale's revenue and VAT. The setting is in Cash rounding.

Where to see it

What each box holds: FinanceAccountingCash & BankTreasury.
Every entry on one account: the General Ledger in Financial reports.
A shift's cash: the shift report (Closing a shift); a day's: End of Day (Cash and bank).