In recent years, vending machines have become increasingly complex. Now, a large variety of products at a variety of prices can be dispensed by a single vending machine. In addition to coins, banknotes and credit cards can be used to obtain credit for a purchase in some systems. As an aid in the management of such machines, vending machine accountability apparatus has been developed to monitor and record electronically cash transactions and other events occurring within the machine. However, many older machines do not have such apparatus, and, where such apparatus does exist, they are inflexible in that the particular transactions or events monitored within the vending machine are fixed. Thus, vending machine managers are prohibited from temporarily or permanently varying the information recorded by this apparatus.