ATM balancing and teller balancing that explain every shortage the same day, with the records that prove it and two people on every correction
Every shortage explained the same day, with the records that prove it attached.
See one case, screen by screen ↓ATM & Teller Balancing is ATM balancing and teller balancing for branch and cash operations teams, done with agents. At every drawer close and every ATM settlement, agents tie the cash to its records, explain each difference in one sentence with the journal, recycler log or slip that supports it, and test every explanation against the records. The Teller Supervisor recounts under dual control, and a second person approves every correction.
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ATM balancing and teller balancing are still a sheet and a stack of printouts. When a drawer closes short, the teller supervisor prints the drawer's transactions, the cash recycler log and the journal and reads them line by line after close, looking for the one entry that accounts for the difference. At the ATMs, a settlement analyst ties every machine's terminal journal to the switch settlement, the general ledger and the carrier's count each morning, and a machine that is over is somebody's missing cash, nobody yet knows whose.
What is not found by the posting goes to a suspense account and ages, and the aged items are what internal audit and the examiner write up. Small shorts under the recount threshold are posted to cash over and short one at a time, so a drawer that is short six times in a month, each time by $35.00 to $48.00, never looks like a pattern. And many differences are a customer's money: a withdrawal keyed low, a deposit keyed low, or an ATM that took notes back and never sent the reversal. The dual-control count that is supposed to settle it is two signatures on a paper sheet in a drawer.
Estimated split of the people's working minutes on one teller difference of $50.00 or more, by hand and with the solution, from the sample case: close at 17:46, recount at 18:06, correction proposed at 18:14 and approved at 18:20, customer called at 18:31.
Six agents balance, trace, test and draft every difference; two named people count, correct and approve.
Tessaly Community Bank, a community bank with 41 branches, 260 teller drawers and 58 ATMs, on Wednesday, October 21, 2026. Drawer T07 at the Millbrook branch, run by teller Jordan Ellery, closes at 17:46.
The Balancing agent ties the close: expected $8,412.60 from the teller platform, counted $8,322.60, recycler $7,640.00 plus $682.60 of loose cash. It raises the difference with its policy tier, a recount by two people for $50.00 or more, and the same-day clock of 21:00. T07 joins today's list of 17 differences across the bank, each with what the agents found, its status and its owner.
The Trace agent pulls the 63 transactions on T07, lines up every cash movement with the recycler log and reads the slips. The Test agent looks for the record that could prove each explanation wrong. The Pattern agent looks back 90 days and finds one difference on T07, over $5.00 on September 2: no pattern. Each step shows its plan, the records it read, its confidence and who it hands to.
Renata opens the difference. The leading explanation, at 96 % and tested: at 11:42 a $100.00 cash withdrawal on checking ending 8820 was keyed as $10.00, and the recycler paid out five $20 notes. It opens to the teller journal, the recycler log and the customer's slip side by side, with the arithmetic underneath. Two weaker explanations, cash handed over without a transaction and a miscount at close, are marked not tested.
“Drawer T07 at the Millbrook branch is $90.00 short on October 21”
She clicks the recycler citation. The log for recycler TCR-2 opens read-only at the cited lines: a dispense request of $100.00 at 11:42:31, five $20 notes dispensed at 11:42:32, notes taken at 11:42:33. The customer's slip says $100.00, signed G. Ashby. Account numbers stay masked to the last four digits.
Two explanations are shown struck through. A $90.00 withdrawal at 15:16 reversed on screen whose reversal never posted: the void came before any cash left the drawer, and the recycler never dispensed on that reference. Notes presented and not taken: all 41 presentations were taken and none was retracted.
“Below 80 % confidence nothing is called the leading explanation.”
The recycler's machine count is $7,640.00. Renata counts the loose cash, then Ama Fenwick signs in with her own credentials and counts it separately: $682.60 both times. The recount matches the close at $8,322.60, so the miscount is ruled out, cash without a transaction is not supported, and the 11:42 keying error is confirmed.
The Entry drafter has drafted it: debit checking ending 8820 $90.00, credit the teller over and short suspense account $90.00, reason TOS-02, amount miskeyed, customer under-debited, posting October 23 after the customer is told. Renata signs and proposes; she cannot approve her own. Marcus Oyelaran, the Branch Manager, approves with a signature whose meaning is recorded.
The Contact drafter has written the call in plain words: Mr. Ashby was given $100.00 at the counter at 11:42, matching the slip he signed, but it was recorded as $10.00, and the other $90.00 will be taken from his checking account on October 23. Tomas calls, and Mr. Ashby confirms he received $100.00. A letter, approved by the Branch Manager, was ready in case the call went unanswered.
“The call and the letter say nothing about any review.”
The morning settlement had tied 58 ATMs: 53 balanced, 5 differences. A-22 at the Harbor Street drive-up was $200.00 over: another bank's cardholder's withdrawal timed out the evening before, the machine took the ten notes back, and the reversal was never sent. The terminal journal, the switch settlement and the carrier count agree. Hollis proposes a network adjustment returning $200.00 to the card issuer; Delia Strand, the Cash Operations Manager, approves.
The difference is explained, corrected and closed before the 21:00 posting. The audit trail lists the evening in order, people and agents alike, each with the records it used, kept five years from the item's close. Ines can read all of it, change none of it, and export packs for internal audit, the examiner, Branch Operations and the BSA Officer.
The same day at Tessaly Community Bank, seen by the four people it passes through: what their day looked like, and what it looks like now.
Six agents balance, trace, test and draft every difference; two named people count, correct and approve.
Ties every drawer close, the teller platform's expected cash against the recycler and loose cash, and every ATM settlement, the terminal journal, the switch settlement and the general ledger cash against the carrier count, and raises each difference with its policy tier and clock.
Lines up every cash movement with the recycler or terminal log, reads the slip images, and writes each explanation that fits the amount exactly, as one sentence naming the record that supports it.
Finds the record that could prove each explanation wrong, discards what fails and says why, marks what cannot be tested yet and what would test it, and ranks the rest.
Looks back 30 and 90 days on the drawer, teller, branch, machine and cassette, normalized by volume, and drafts a referral to Branch Operations, the ATM service desk or a customer credit review.
Drafts the correcting entry, write-off or network adjustment with its accounts, reason code and records, routed to the maker and the checker the policy names.
Drafts the banker's call script and the customer letter in plain words: what happened, the amount, when it posts and who to call.
Recounts with a second person; the Branch Manager approves. The agents propose; a named person decides.
Ask in plain words, or ask for a change. Every answer points at the record it came from, and a change is proposed to the person who may approve it, never applied.
Why is drawer T07 $90.00 short?
Most likely the 11:42 withdrawal on checking ending 8820. The teller journal records it as $10.00, but the recycler dispensed five $20 notes, $100.00, and the customer wrote $100.00 on the slip. That is exactly $90.00. Two other explanations were discarded: the 15:16 void never dispensed cash, and no notes were left untaken. The policy still needs a dual-control recount before the correction.
Which differences still need a person today?
Four of the 17 today: T14 Rivergate, $500.00 short, with the recount booked and the Security Officer told; T03 Cedar Fork, $40.00 short, the sixth short in 30 days, with a referral drafted; T08 Quarry Hill, $15.00 over, a change order outside the recycler; and A-37 Millbrook lobby, $20.00 short, waiting for the carrier to count the reject bin.
Is any ATM overage a customer's missing cash?
Yes. A-09 at Elmstead Commons is $60.00 over, and its journal shows a $100.00 withdrawal on October 19 that dispensed only two $20 notes. Nadia Ferreira reported exactly that the next day. Her Regulation E decision is due November 3. The evidence is ready to send to Disputes; Hollis Branagh sends it.
Raise the recount threshold to $75
Proposed, not applied. Over the last 90 days, a $75.00 threshold would have meant 41 fewer recounts, and 3 of the 11 shorts that stayed unexplained after a recount would not have been recounted at all, including two on drawer T03 at Cedar Fork. A threshold change needs Gail Mercer, Head of Branch Operations, so it has gone to her with those three items attached.
13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
The bank's teller over and short policy ships as settings, with its tiers, clocks and approval limits. A threshold change is proposed and goes to the Head of Branch Operations before it takes effect.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| Under $5.00 | Post with the teller's note | Supervisor reviews |
| $5.00 to $49.99 | Supervisor reviews | Reviews the agents' explanation before posting |
| $50.00 or more | Recount by two people | Before any correction; $500.00 or more tells the Branch Manager and Security Officer at once |
| Same-day target | 21:00 | Explain every difference the same business day, before the evening posting |
| Suspense clocks | 15 · 30 · 45 days | Warn the owner · escalate to the Head of Branch Operations · propose a write-off |
| Write-off approvers | $250 · $2,500 | Branch Manager · Head of Branch Operations · CFO above |
| Confidence to lead | 80 % | Pattern agent 75 %; below it, a person decides |
| Records kept | 5 years | From each item's close |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample drawers, ATMs and differences · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate of where one supervisor's minutes go, from the sample case · “typical” = published figures (Regulation E, 12 CFR 1005.11, on notices of error and their 10- and 45-day clocks; the Federal Reserve's 2026 Diary of Consumer Payment Choice on the cash share of US consumer payments; 31 CFR 1010.430 on keeping records five years; 31 CFR 1020.320(e) on SAR confidentiality). People, banks, branches, machines, accounts and claims named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.
ATM & Teller Balancing is ATM balancing and teller balancing for branch and cash operations teams, done with agents. At every drawer close and every ATM settlement, agents tie the cash to its records, explain each difference in one sentence with the journal, recycler log or slip that supports it, and test every explanation against the records. The Teller Supervisor recounts under dual control, and a second person approves every correction.
The Trace agent pulls every transaction on the drawer, lines up each cash movement with the cash recycler log and reads the slip images, then writes every explanation that fits the amount exactly: a miskeyed amount, cash given without a transaction, a reversal never posted, notes presented and not taken. The Test agent tries to break each one against the records and shows what it discarded and why. In the sample case, a $100.00 withdrawal keyed as $10.00 explains the whole $90.00.
Each morning the Balancing agent ties every ATM's terminal journal to the switch settlement, the general ledger cash and the carrier's count. Each difference is traced and tested like a teller difference: a retracted withdrawal whose reversal was never sent, a cassette pick failure, a replenishment keyed wrong. The ATM Settlement Analyst proposes the network adjustment or ledger correction, and the Cash Operations Manager approves it.
The agents match a machine that is over to the customer behind it. In the sample, a $100.00 withdrawal dispensed only two $20 notes, the machine came up $60.00 over, and the customer's Regulation E notice of error was already open with a decision due in 10 business days. The evidence is ready for Disputes on the first day of the clock.
The Pattern agent looks back 30 and 90 days, normalized by volume, and finds a drawer that is short six times in a month even when each short is under the $50.00 recount threshold. It drafts a referral to Branch Operations that the teller never sees; a named person accepts it. It never infers intent and never disciplines anyone.
They stay in suspense in the open, each with its age, owner and records. The owner is warned at 15 days, the Head of Branch Operations is told at 30, and at 45 days a write-off is proposed to the approver whose limit covers it: the Branch Manager up to $250, the Head of Branch Operations up to $2,500.
Yes. The agents trace, test and draft; they never post an entry, approve anything, close a drawer, contact a customer, name a person as the cause or read security video. Recounts of $50.00 or more take two people, and every correction, write-off, adjustment and customer letter takes a maker and a different checker. Any agent finding can be rejected with a reason code.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements, your documents and your rules: your over and short policy tiers, clocks, approval limits, reason codes, letters and roles, connected to your teller platform, cash recyclers, ATM journals and switch, general ledger and core. It goes live once every quality gate has passed.
Quarterly branch reviews with photo evidence, and every exception closed by a named owner.
1-min demoVulnerable Customer SupportSupport needs recorded once, with consent, and followed on every channel.
1-min demoPolicy & Procedure ManagementEvery procedure a rule change touches is found and fixed before the rule takes effect.
1-min demoWe'll run ATM & Teller Balancing on a sample of your own past drawer closes, recycler logs and ATM settlements.