How (and why) to test money handling before you hire

Between tap-to-pay, mobile wallets, self-checkout, online banking, and QR-code menus, it's easy to assume that counting bills and making change are becoming relics of another era. But Federal Reserve data tells a more complicated story.

In 2024, cash still accounted for 14% of all U.S. consumer payments, making it the third-most-used payment method behind credit and debit cards. Consumers averaged seven cash payments per month — a figure that has remained steady since 2020. More than 90% of consumers also said they expect to keep using cash either for payments or as a store of value.

And somebody still has to handle all that money correctly.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics counted more than 3.1 million cashier jobs in 2025. Although cashier employment is projected to decline 6% through 2035 as self-checkout and online sales expand, employers are still expected to fill roughly 521,300 cashier openings every year, mostly because workers leave the occupation or the labor force.

And while cash handling may be a relatively basic skill, "basic" doesn't mean universal.

While a candidate may claim to have "cash-handling experience" in an interview, that doesn’t necessarily tell you whether they can make change accurately, recognize parts of a check, reconcile a drawer, or figure out what went wrong when the numbers don't add up.

That's where a money handling test can add useful information to the hiring process.

Cash is declining, but cash-handling skills are sticking around

Americans may be using less cash, but it’s still around — and that means frontline employees are operating primarily in mixed-payment environments.

According to the Federal Reserve's 2025 Diary of Consumer Payment Choice, Americans averaged 48 payments per month in 2024, with credit cards accounting for 35%, debit cards 30%, and cash 14%. Mobile-phone payments have also grown substantially, reaching an average of 11 payments per consumer per month.

Technology may reduce some of the arithmetic involved in a transaction, but it doesn't eliminate the need for employees to know what should be happening.

A register can tell someone that a customer is owed $17.46. The employee still needs to collect the right amount, count the change correctly, recognize an error, and finish the shift with a drawer that reconciles. When something unusual happens — the wrong amount was entered, a customer changes the cash they're handing over midway through the transaction, or the drawer comes up short — procedural knowledge matters.

Returns add another layer. The National Retail Federation estimated that retailers would process $849.9 billion in merchandise returns in 2025, representing 15.8% of annual sales. Nine percent of all returns were estimated to be fraudulent.

Not every return involves cash, of course. But high transaction volumes, refunds, exchanges, and increasingly varied payment methods make accuracy at the point of sale no less relevant simply because cash represents a smaller slice of the payment pie.

The jobs are changing — but the fundamentals still matter

Bank tellers illustrate the point particularly well.

Teller employment is projected to fall 13% between 2025 and 2035 as mobile banking, enhanced ATMs, and other technologies continue absorbing routine transactions. Yet the Bureau of Labor Statistics still projects 26,800 teller openings each year over that period.

And the teller role itself has gotten broader: modern tellers increasingly combine traditional transaction processing with customer service, digital literacy, fraud awareness, and other responsibilities.

But the new skills don't make the old ones irrelevant.

Bank tellers still receive and pay out money, process transactions, verify information, and maintain financial records. Cashiers still accept payments, provide change and receipts, and count registers at the beginning and end of shifts.

A candidate who can navigate software but routinely loses track of a drawer isn't exactly the digital transformation most employers had in mind.

Why can't employers just ask about cash handling in an interview?

They can — and they should.

The problem is that an interview measures something different.

"Tell me about your cash-handling experience" can reveal where someone has worked, which responsibilities they've had, how comfortable they are talking about their experience, and perhaps how they respond to an error.

It doesn't directly show whether they can perform the underlying tasks.

That's particularly relevant for entry-level and high-volume roles where candidates' backgrounds may vary widely. One applicant may have spent two years at a grocery register, while another may have handled money at a family business without ever holding the title "cashier." A third may have little formal experience but already possess strong numerical skills and be highly trainable.

A standardized assessment gives each candidate another way to demonstrate what they know instead of making employers infer ability from job titles alone.

Ideal industries and jobs for a money handling test

The eSkill Money Handling (U.S.) assessment can be useful anywhere employees regularly collect, count, distribute, or reconcile money.

Retail trade

Few use cases are more obvious. Retail employees may accept payments, provide change, process transactions, and balance registers across hundreds of customer interactions.

Representative roles include:

• Cashier
• Sales Associate
• Grocery Retail Associate
• Cash Room Representative

Hospitality, entertainment, and casinos

A hotel desk, theater box office, parking operation, or casino cage may handle substantial transaction volume while requiring careful reconciliation.

Representative roles include:

• Front Desk Representative
• Cash Cage Cashier
• Parking Associate
• Ticket Agent
• Count Room Operator

Food service

Speed matters in food service, but so does getting the transaction right — especially during a lunch rush when employees may be juggling orders, customers, and payments simultaneously.

Representative roles include:

• Cashier
• Barista
• Shift Supervisor

Healthcare

Patient-facing administrative employees may collect copays and other payments while maintaining accurate records.

Representative roles include:

• Cash & Payment Specialist
• Medical Office Receptionist

Education

Money handling may also appear in administrative roles that collect fees, process payments, or support financial operations.

Representative roles include:

• Receptionist
• Administrative Assistant
• Financial Aid Officer

Banking and financial services

For banks and credit unions, cash handling remains one component of a role that increasingly combines transactional accuracy with customer service and more complex financial responsibilities.

Representative roles include:

• Bank Teller
• Money Processing Associate

What does the Money Handling (U.S.) assessment cover?

Employers generally need to know whether a candidate understands the sequence of everyday money-handling tasks: identifying currency, counting it accurately, completing transactions, resolving common mistakes, and determining whether the drawer balances when the shift is over.

The eSkill Money Handling (U.S.) assessment covers five topic areas:

• Counting – Coins and Bills
• Handling Common Errors
• Reconciling and Balancing a Cash Drawer
• Collecting Cash and Making Change
• Recognizing Parts of Coins, Bills, and Checks

Those topics map closely to situations employees encounter at a register, bank window, reception desk, cash cage, or payment counter.

What does the money handling test look like?

The Money Handling (U.S.) assessment asks candidates to demonstrate knowledge of U.S. money-handling practices across the five subject areas above through a combination of multiple choice, select-all-that-apply, and true/false questions.

Complementary questions to build a role-specific assessment

Of course, almost nobody is hired solely to count money.

A grocery cashier deals with customers. A bank teller uses computers and communicates financial information. A medical receptionist may collect payments while entering patient information. A cash room employee may need exceptional numerical accuracy.

That's why employers can customize eSkill assessments by combining subjects to better reflect the actual requirements of a position.

Depending on the job, useful complementary subjects may include:

• Basic Math — particularly relevant when numerical accuracy extends beyond counting money into arithmetic or other calculations.
• Attention to Detail — useful for positions where employees need to identify discrepancies, numerical errors, or inconsistencies.
• Customer Service — a natural pairing for cashiers, tellers, front desk representatives, baristas, and other customer-facing employees.
• Business Communication — relevant for employees who must explain transactions, policies, or payment issues clearly.
• 10-Key Data Entry — useful for roles that involve entering significant amounts of numerical information.
• General Typing — relevant for administrative and front-desk positions that combine payments with clerical work.
• Microsoft Excel — a stronger fit for administrative, cash-room, or financial positions where employees work with spreadsheets or transaction data.
• Bookkeeping — useful when cash handling is part of a wider set of financial record-keeping responsibilities.
• Financial Accounting — potentially relevant for more financially focused roles involving accounts, transactions, and financial procedures.

For example, a retailer hiring a cashier could combine questions from the Money Handling, Customer Service, Attention to Detail, and Basic Math assessments.

A bank hiring a teller might put more emphasis on Money Handling, Customer Service, Attention to Detail, and Business Communication, then layer in additional job-specific knowledge depending on the responsibilities of that particular branch.

Why use a money handling test before hiring?

Money handling is a good example of a skill that's easy to claim and surprisingly awkward to verify during a conventional hiring process.

Employers could wait until someone's first few shifts to find out whether they're comfortable making change and balancing a register. That's technically one way to do it, but a pre-employment assessment gives hiring teams an opportunity to collect that information earlier.

Used alongside structured interviews, experience, references, and other job-relevant selection criteria, a cashier test or money handling assessment can help employers:

• verify practical knowledge before hiring;
• compare applicants using a consistent job-related measure;
• identify candidates whose abilities may not be obvious from their previous job titles;
• distinguish between skills that are already present and skills that may require training;
• focus interview time on candidates who have demonstrated relevant knowledge; and
• identify areas where a promising new hire may need additional onboarding.

For banking employers, the same principle applies to a bank test. The modern teller may need customer-service judgment, digital fluency, and fraud awareness — but none of those requirements erase the need to process money accurately.

Cash may no longer be king. It's apparently not ready to abdicate, either.