Eric Kuvykin

Reviewed October 17, 2026. This operational guide replaces an earlier general overview. The original publication date and URL are retained.

At shift change, responsibility for an open sale can move while the payment record stays the same. A structured handover helps the next employee finish the work without inheriting another person’s login.

Define what changes hands

List open orders, unpaid balances, pending refunds and unresolved payment results. Attach each item to its order reference, status, next action and responsible role. Do not copy complete payment credentials into a shift note. PCI’s small-merchant security guidance supplies the payment-data context; this handover worksheet translates it into a counter workflow.

Use individual access and defined authority

Ask the provider how staff sign in, end a session and receive permission to perform a refund, void or price adjustment. Distinguish a cashier handover from a manager approval. Determine how a backup manager is reached without sharing the primary manager’s password. Check whether unattended terminals lock and whether a reopened order identifies the employee who made the new change.

Rehearse a partially paid order

Use an approved test in which an order totals $120 and $40 has already been received. The arriving employee should see an $80 outstanding balance, the earlier payment reference and any restrictions on completing the order. A verbal instruction that ‘this customer still owes money’ does not establish which payment was recorded. Verify that the completed receipt and closeout retain the correct attribution.

Close both the register and the exceptions

Have the outgoing and incoming employee acknowledge the unresolved list, including an escalation time for ambiguous results. Review voids and refunds separately from cash drawer totals. An apparently balanced drawer does not prove every order has the correct payment status. After the next shift, sample the carried-over cases and remove stale items only when evidence shows they are resolved. The output is an accountable handover record, not a shared account.

Sources and related reading

Primary reference: PCI SSC’s Guide to Safe Payments. Examples and worksheets are illustrative operational analysis, not reported client results.

Continue with the AMS New York merchant reading path and merchant technology decision worksheet.