Café and restaurant bookkeeping: reconciling daily sales and payouts

Start with the daily records

Save the till or point-of-sale close report for each trading day. Keep the payment summary showing cash and card totals, together with any separate reports for refunds, voids, discounts or service charges. If you use a system such as Square, its UK support pages describe reports for sales, payment methods, fees, service charges, cash drawers and transfers. The reports available depend on the system and its setup, so use the records your own account provides.

Keep delivery-platform statements for the same period. They may show orders, adjustments, charges and transfers in a format that differs from your till report. Check whether delivery orders already appear in the till or POS total, so you do not count those sales twice. Retain the platform statement and the bank entry so you can trace the amount between them. A bank payment on Tuesday may relate to orders from an earlier trading day; record the date and period shown by each source rather than forcing them into one date.

For cash, keep the till close and a record of the amount counted and deposited. Note any difference between the count and the report, and record when the deposit appears in the bank. For card receipts, compare the till’s card total with the relevant processor report and settlement. Where several processors are used, keep their records separate until each transfer has been matched.

Reconcile each route to the bank

First compare the till’s daily sales summary with its payment breakdown. Check that cash, card and any other payment methods account for the reported sales. Review refunds, voids and discounts against their supporting records. If a figure does not agree, leave it as an item to investigate and note what evidence is missing.

Next, follow each payment route to the bank. Match cash deposits to the counted cash, card settlements to processor reports, and delivery transfers to the platform statement. Record any fees and refunds shown in the settlement detail so the difference from the sales total is visible. Do not enter the net transfer as though it were the full amount of sales: that can leave income understated and fees or refunds unexplained.

For example, imagine a hypothetical day with £1,200 in sales: £1,000 recorded through the café’s till, split between cash and card, plus £200 in delivery orders shown separately by a platform and not already included in the till total. The platform statement lists £30 in charges and a £170 transfer to the bank. The £200 of delivery sales is still part of the £1,200 total; the £30 explains why that platform transfer is £170. The till’s cash and card records, the platform statement and the bank entries each support a different part of the reconciliation.

Keep a short list of exceptions

A settlement may arrive after the trading day, a refund may appear in a later statement, or a cash deposit may not match the till close. Keep an exceptions list with the date, amount, record checked and next action. Clear each item when you find the supporting detail, and retain a note explaining any timing difference that remains at the period end.

Review tips, service charges and gratuities separately in the records. The same applies to gift vouchers, refunds and food or drink categories where VAT treatment may need checking. Do not assume these items all follow the same accounting or VAT treatment. HMRC’s guidance on catering and takeaway food covers how circumstances affect food and drink supplies. For a VAT-registered business, HMRC also explains the records to keep, including sales, invoices, credit notes and till rolls, in its guide to keeping VAT records.

Records to keep together

For each day or reporting period, make sure you can find:

• the till close and payment-method summary
• supporting reports for refunds, voids, discounts and relevant service charges
• cash counts and paying-in or deposit records
• card-processor and delivery-platform statements, including settlement details
• bank statements showing the related deposits and transfers
• a note of unresolved differences and when they were cleared

Square provides one example of a system with sales and transfer reports, including matching transfers to sales. Check the reports and timing that apply to your own provider.

Discuss your bookkeeping

Swift’s Bookkeeping and VAT Returns service covers transaction records and reconciliations, with VAT returns where included in the agreed scope. Tell us which records you receive, how you take payments and what needs reconciling. We can discuss the work and information needed for your business.