In industries, such as gaming or vending, a host machine is manufactured to include a printed circuit board (PCB) that uses hardware and software interfaces developed by the manufacturer of the host machine. A host machine may be coupled to a compatible bill acceptor. The bill acceptor must be manufactured to be compatible with that host machine's hardware and software interfaces. Because most host machine manufacturers use different hardware and software interfaces, in order to increase market share, manufacturers of bill acceptors must produce a plurality of models to ensure compatibility with each type of host machine.