Today’s businesses operate in a rapidly evolving payment landscape, with an increasing range of payment options available to customers. While this variety offers greater convenience and flexibility, it can also create operational challenges for business owners. This quick-fire resource is designed to help you navigate the expanding world of payment methods — highlighting both the opportunities and potential pitfalls of integrating new options into your business.

Transactions – Various options

While it’s a benefit for business owners to operate in an environment with a wide range of payment options, this also comes with its own set of challenges.

Typical payment types include:

• Cash
• Eftpos/Credit Card
• Vouchers
• Bank Transactions (popularity rose in the COVID pandemic, where customers would manually transfer payments via bank transactions to maintain contactless payments).
• External payment resources (Credit systems/After-pay etc)

Managing Payments

Cash handling procedures varies between businesses. However, consistency and clarity are key to maintaining trust and accuracy in your daily operations.

• Establish systems for every type of transaction that is made through your business. Staff should be trained on these processes so they can carry them out confidently and correctly. This can be further enforced and maintained through a staff policy (the Association has a resource on how to create an effective staff policy if you do not have one).
• While EFTPOS, debit, and credit card payments are the most common in New Zealand, staff should be ready to accept alternate payment types, including cash, which are still regularly used by some customers.
• While most businesses regularly manage their accounts and transactions, it’s also worthwhile to carry out simple daily checks. These don’t need to be time-consuming — small routines like checking the till balance at the end of each day can help quickly identify and address any discrepancies.

Additional points to be aware of

With the extra payment options noted above in mind, please be aware of the following:

• Bank transaction payments are sometimes used by fraudsters to appear as though a payment has been made, only to later reverse or cancel the transaction.
• It can be difficult to maintain transaction records when there are multiple types of payment options being utilized by customers. To keep your bookkeeping accurate and efficient, implement a reliable system that captures every transaction, regardless of payment type.
• Be wary of security issues in relation to cash theft/burglary. Ensure that cash is routinely removed from the till and stored safely. Enough floating cash should be available for your business to function but not to an excessive amount.

Related information:

• Guide: Cash Handling Procedures
• What every restaurant manager should know about managing cash flow
• Cash up form template