Cash rounding is the practice of rounding the total of a cash sale to the nearest five cents. Australia withdrew the one- and two-cent coins in 1992, so cash totals cannot be paid exactly when the amount ends in other digits.
Under the commonly used approach, the final total of a transaction is rounded down when it ends in 1, 2, 6 or 7 cents, and rounded up when it ends in 3, 4, 8 or 9 cents. Rounding applies to the total, not to individual items, and only to cash payments. Card and digital payments are charged to the exact cent. Because rounding only touches the final total, a customer buying several items at once is rounded once rather than item by item. Staff should be able to explain this simply if a customer asks why the cash total differs from the card total.
POS systems apply cash rounding automatically at tender, showing the rounding adjustment as a separate line on the receipt. Retailers and hospitality venues rely on this so the till and the end-of-day cash count agree.
Check that your POS rounds only on cash, that refunds and split tenders round consistently, and that rounding adjustments are reported so they do not look like variances in your reconciliation. Guidance is published by the Australian Government and the ACCC, so check current guidance for details.
Getting rounding right keeps till counts clean and avoids customer complaints about overcharging.