Skip to content

Guide

Part of: Daily operation

Honesty box: members pay in cash themselves

With the honesty box, members top up their account without a cashier: they put cash in a box next to the kiosk tablet and credit the amount to themselves. This guide shows how to set up the honesty box, how members pay in and how the treasurer counts and reconciles the box – and it says openly where the limits are.

6 min read

What is the honesty box?

Next to the kiosk tablet there is a cash box – ideally a lockable box with a slot. A member puts cash in and credits the amount to themselves at the kiosk. That way the account can be topped up even when no cashier is around.

Nobody checks whether the money really is in the box. That only shows at the cash count, which the treasurer or a manager does regularly. So read the section "Drawbacks and limits" before switching it on. For guests without an account there is something else: "Guests pay cash at the kiosk" in the bar operation guide.

Setup (manager)

  1. Open /admin, choose the list on the left, then "Operations" → "Kiosk". There you find the block "Honesty box (self top-up)". The honesty box is off by default.
  2. Tick "Members may credit a cash deposit to themselves at the kiosk". If the checkbox is locked and a yellow notice appears, the club has an active TSE – then the honesty box cannot be switched on.
  3. Under "Amounts to tap", enter the amounts separated by spaces. By default they are 0.50 1 2 5 10 20; a single amount may be at most 1,000. Best leave "Free amount allowed" unticked.
  4. Under "Limit per member and day (empty = none)", set how much a member may credit to themselves per day at most, and under "Note at the kiosk" for example "Please put the money in the red cash box". Every change is saved at once.
  5. Then restart the app on the kiosk (or reload the WebApp) so that the "Paid in cash" button appears. How to set up the tablet as a kiosk is described in the bar operation guide.

Paying in at the kiosk (member)

  1. The member puts the money in the box, taps their account on the kiosk tablet and signs in with their PIN.
  2. The "Paid in cash" button appears at the top. The member taps it and picks one of the amounts – or "Other amount" if a free amount is allowed.
  3. They confirm "I have put … in the cash box." with "Confirm". The credit is booked at once and the tablet shows the new balance.
  4. In the account statement the booking appears as "Bar eingezahlt (Vertrauenskasse)". If the daily limit has been reached, the tablet books nothing and asks the member to pay at the bar.
  5. Guests, accounts without a PIN and sign-ins without a PIN do not see the button. There is no "Paid in cash" in the member's own app or WebApp on their phone – only at the kiosk.

Cash count and reconciliation (treasurer)

  1. In /admin open "Operations" → "Honesty box" – or "Honesty box" in the admin area of the WebApp or app. The treasurer and managers can see this page.
  2. At the top you see the period since the last reconciliation with "Expected": the total of all deposits since then. Below, every deposit is listed with time, receipt number, account and amount.
  3. Count the box, enter the amount under "Counted" and read the "Difference" – red if money is missing, green if there is more. Under "Note" you record anything unusual.
  4. Take the money out and tap "Close reconciliation". The period then appears under "Earlier reconciliations" and a new one begins. If a deposit came in while you were counting, the page reloads – then count again.
  5. You reverse a wrong deposit in its row with "Reverse top-up" and a "Reason for reversal". The credit is deducted again; if it has already been spent, the amount is then outstanding.

How it is booked

  • Every deposit is a top-up like "Top up credit" – with the payment method "Cash (honesty box)" and its own receipt number.
  • In the payment journal, the cash book, the export and the DATEV export it appears as cash income with this payment method.
  • It belongs to no cash session and does not appear on the Z report. It is checked only through the reconciliation on the "Honesty box" page.

Drawbacks and limits

  • It is a matter of trust: when paying in, nobody checks whether money really went into the box – or how much.
  • If money is missing, you only notice at the cash count. Only the period since the last reconciliation can be narrowed down; it cannot be proven which person put in too little.
  • The cash sits unattended in the box and can be stolen. A lockable, fixed box and emptying it often reduce the risk.
  • If the club has an active TSE, the honesty box cannot be switched on: the deposits run outside the cash session and the Z report.
  • Whether and how you must issue receipts and keep the cash records, please clarify with your tax adviser. This guide does not replace tax or legal advice.
  • Paying in only works on the kiosk tablet, not in the app or WebApp on the member's own phone.
  • The limit per member and day only limits the possible damage. If the same member pays in on two devices at almost the same moment, it can be exceeded slightly.
  • When the limit is reached, the treasurer gets no notification – they only see it on the "Honesty box" page.

Our recommendations

  • Fixed amounts to tap instead of a free amount – this prevents typing errors and makes the cash count easier.
  • A low limit per member and day, for example 20 or 30.
  • Count the box and "Close reconciliation" at least once a week – the shorter the period, the better a difference can be narrowed down.
  • Larger amounts are better topped up with the cashier, by bank transfer or by direct debit than through the honesty box.

Still stuck?

If a guide leaves a question open, or something looks different from the description: open a ticket and we will reply inside it. Support runs through tickets only, not by email.

Open a ticket All guides Frequently asked questions