Running a dual-currency cash drawer in Cambodia
How Cambodian shops take dollars, give riel change, set a shift float, and still reconcile the drawer at closing without a spreadsheet.
Why one drawer holds two currencies
Most Cambodian counters price in dollars but give change in riel, because small denominations below one dollar circulate as riel. That means a single sale can be tendered in USD and settled with KHR change — and the drawer ends the day holding both. Any till that treats currency as a single field will not reconcile.
Set the opening float in both currencies
- Count and record the USD float and the KHR float separately
- Keep enough small riel to cover a normal day of change
- Tie the float to a named cashier and a shift, not to the shop
- Record the exchange rate in force when the shift opens
Decide the rounding rule before you trade
Riel change is normally rounded to the nearest 100 KHR, because smaller notes are impractical at a counter. Fix that rule once, apply it in the till, and print it on the receipt. If each cashier rounds by judgement, the drawer drifts by a small amount on every transaction and the variance is impossible to explain at closing.
Close the shift against a Z-report
- Count USD and KHR in the drawer separately at close
- Compare counted cash to the system Z-report for that shift
- Explain any variance before the next shift opens, not at month-end
- Keep voids, discounts, and returns visible per cashier
What good looks like
A healthy counter can answer three questions in under a minute: what did we sell this shift, how much cash should be in the drawer in each currency, and who approved every discount, void, and return. If answering those needs a spreadsheet rebuilt from receipts, the till is not doing its job.