If there’s one habit that makes the biggest difference to a café or restaurant’s books, it’s reconciling daily takings properly — every day, not once a month when the BAS is due. It sounds simple, but with EFTPOS, cash, delivery platforms and gift cards all landing in different places, it’s easy for takings to become the messiest part of the books. Here’s a routine that actually works.
Know your sources before you start
Most cafes and restaurants have at least three or four income sources: EFTPOS terminal sales, cash, third-party delivery platforms (which usually pay out days later, minus commission), and sometimes gift cards or vouchers. Each one needs to be recorded and reconciled separately — lumping them all into “sales” makes it impossible to tell if your EFTPOS settlement is actually correct.
Reconcile the POS report against the bank, not the other way around
Your point-of-sale system’s daily sales report is the source of truth for what was actually sold. The bank feed shows what settled and when — which, because of EFTPOS batching and delivery platform payout schedules, is rarely the same day. Start from the POS report and match it to the eventual bank deposit, rather than trying to guess what a bank deposit represents.
Handle delivery platform payouts separately
UberEats, Menulog and similar platforms typically pay out weekly, after deducting commission, refunds and marketing fees. That net payout needs to be reconciled against the gross sales reported through the platform, with commission and fees coded to their own expense accounts — not netted off against sales, which understates your actual turnover.
Do it daily, or at worst weekly
The further behind daily reconciliation gets, the harder it is to catch a till discrepancy, a missed EFTPOS batch or a data entry error while it’s still fixable. A five-minute daily check, or a slightly longer weekly one if daily genuinely isn’t realistic, keeps small errors small.
Let your bookkeeping reflect what actually happened in service
Getting this right isn’t just tidy record-keeping — it’s what tells you your real margin after cost of goods and wages, and it’s what makes BAS time a formality rather than a scramble. Our cafe and restaurant bookkeeping service builds this daily reconciliation routine in for you, along with payroll and BAS-ready records. Get in touch if your takings have gotten away from you.