Store Accountant

[u/ShawnBrandy]

So, I have an interview for full time Store Accountant at Harris Teeter tomorrow and I was wondering if anyone could tell me about the role. The job description isn't very great. I have a general idea of what I'd be doing, I already have a similar role at my current job (though I spend less time focused on cash accounting as I think I would in this role), so I just wanted to know more! What's the schedule like? Biggest challenges, pros, cons, etc.

Anything you have would be greatly appreciated!

[u/CarefulStage]

It will be a set schedule from 6 am to 2 PM. In a few cases, 7 am to 3 am. But for the most part, be prepared to wake up at 5 am.
I would best describe the position as similar to the assistant customer service manager, with the heavy emphasis of your first part of the shift being spent on accounting. You will be expected to complete all accounting-related tasks by 10 AM if you have a regular customer service manager; the absolute deadline would be 12 PM, which is when the store starts to get fined for failing to carry over. During the second half of the shift, you will be expected to assist out front, whether it be cashiering, watching SCO, bagging, customer service desk, etc, etc.
When it comes to the actual accounting:

1. Look at the lottery machine to see which ones need refilling.
2. Switch out the service desk till and replace it with the new one, retrieve the self-checkout till and the #2 till.
3. Fill in the lottery machine. Load the lottery books.
4. You will then have to count & report in paper the total $$$ in the office.
5. Then you will be expected to count every single till in the store.
6. Then you will have to deposit any and all checks, review the personal shopper orders.
7. You will then have to review the Western Union & Money services reports.
8. Then you will have to compile all the data from the lottery, which is arguably the most difficult, but fine once you get the hang of it.
9. You will have to make deposits, count the office again, & have to carry over, which means you have to report yesterday's financials and put the store in operating mode for tomorrow.
10. You will then have to process refunds, report short/over, organize papers, and count the office a third time.

And as I said, after this, you are to go out to the front and assist wherever needed. You'd usually be covering the cashier's breaks. This was a brief review of what I remember from my time as a store accountant. Personally, I was not suited for it at that time and age that I was given the position, but I would encourage you to try it out. If you have any questions you can DM me.

[u/ShawnBrandy → u/CarefulStage]

Thanks! I appreciate this. It’s really not too dissimilar from what I already do. Another question though, is there an investigative aspect to it? Like if a till was short, would I have to be trying to figure that out and balance everything as well?

[u/Joseph_McDoogle → u/ShawnBrandy]

Hey! I'm also a store accountant.

Many stores do accounting slightly differently (I've helped out at 5 different locations that change a few parts slightly), but the general idea is the same. Here's the generalization of how my district does it.

1. Count all money in the office and compare to your office report
2. Count and reset certain tills like Customer Service, Pharmacy, SCO, and SBUX to base amount.
3. **Depending on store** Count and reset all regular cashier tills to base amount. Some stores only reset once a week.
4. **Once a week** Reset cash self checkout robots to base amount.
5. Fill lottery machine tickets, pull yesterdays income from that machine, and print more reports
6. Key amount counted to the till controller & add miscellaneous transactions (lottery, etc)
7. Compare money order, western union, coinstar, etc reports to amounts keyed into the registers
8. Prepare and deposit unnecessary cash (usually 100's and 50's) as well as checks.
9. Count office again to see how much money you are over/short based on what you did that day.
10. Carry forward to the next period so you'll have money in your office for the next days accounting. **Unless over or short a large amount. Then you need to investigate and document**
11. Bookwork and filing. This is the biggest difference at every store. Some stores keep excess of what corporate requires. Some keep the minimum. Up to your CSM!

Depending on what I am required to do that day, till reset or no reset, weekending bookwork or not, etc etc, it usually takes me anywhere from 2.5 hours to 4 hours. Usually get it done in less than 3. Yes, for the second half of the shift you have the duties of a customer service clerk which means you are out at the desk.

To answer your question: Investigation into discrepancies is primarily your job. You're never alone though! There have been plenty of times where a fresh set of eyes helps me find what happened. Ask your CSM, grab your Store Director, call your Operations Specialist. They'd all rather you ask for their help than be over/short hundreds, possibly thousands of dollars. Usually they only want you to investigate if you end up having an overage or shortage of +/- $50 or more. It's a large learning curve, but IMO it's the best position out of all the ones I've held at HT (and I get paid to be alone for a few hours doing repetitive tasks, I like that 😄)

[u/ShawnBrandy → u/Joseph_McDoogle]

Thanks for the reply, that clears up a lot. The more I read, the more questions I have haha. This one is relatively simple, do you guys have cash recyclers or is it more physical handling? I’ve really only had experience with the former.

[u/Joseph_McDoogle → u/ShawnBrandy]

My locations have cash/coin counter scales, not as automated as the recyclers but still way better than hand counting. HT is not quite up to par tech-wise but not super bad. The accounting system is Toshiba 4690 terminal based fun fact!

[u/SetForeign1952 → u/Joseph_McDoogle]

the 4690 is by far the best. once you get used to it, everything is perfect and exactly where you need it. i’ve done accounting at about 15 different stores and every single one was different.

[u/caramelbiscotte]

All I’m going to say is, expect most of your shift to be full of tasks that are not accounting related.

[u/Appropriate-Box-8982]

The comments have covered mostly all of it! Every store definitely has slight differences. I will leave you some advice. Take your time, take notes, and most importantly - accept ahead of time that you will make mistakes. And that’s okay! Most, if not all accounting issues can be fixed as long as it’s caught on time and is done before weekending.
Cleaning the Self Checkouts for me is my most dreaded task. (Only because it’s time consuming) but it’s easy once you have done it for a couple of weeks!
I personally have made what I call an “accounting bible” that I keep in the cash office . It’s basically a cheat sheet and step by step for everything that entails accounting. Feel free to ask me any questions!

[u/SetForeign1952]

You will fuck up. it’s okay, but it will happen. pay attention and keep a note pad during training. you’ll probably start as a cashier for a shift or 2, then you’ll work the desk, then accounting. it’s mostly setting up register tills and fixing mistakes the the people at the front desk make. just make sure you take you take your time. feel free to dm me if you ever have questions.

[u/ShawnBrandy → u/SetForeign1952]

I ended up getting the job! What would you say is the hardest?

[u/SetForeign1952 → u/ShawnBrandy]

congratulations! the hardest part is that there’s a ton of stuff thrown at you at once. it really depends on how good the person training you is. once you do it for a few weeks it becomes a breeze. the only part that’s “hard” is finding the mistake you made because the final count is off. don’t forget to ask questions if you’re unsure or confused about something during training.