Start from the day's sales total
Begin with the point of sale total for the day, not with your memory. This figure is the reference: every other count tonight is compared with it. Note the date, the shift and who is closing. If you run two tills or two shifts, close each separately, so that a difference can be traced to a person and a time and not just to the whole day.
Count the cash
Take out the opening float, the money kept in the drawer to give change, and count what remains. Count twice or ask a second person to count. Compare the result with the cash sales shown by the point of sale. Write down any difference with the date, even a small one, because small differences that repeat often point to a habit worth fixing.
If the drawer is short or over, resist the urge to fix it by adjusting the totals. Record the difference as it is and look for the cause: a wrong amount of change given, a sale taken but not rung up, or cash taken out of the drawer without a note. An honest record of a difference is more useful than a perfect-looking one.
Match the card payments
The card terminal produces its own total for the day. Compare it with the card sales in the point of sale. If the two differ, look for a payment taken on the terminal but not entered at the till, or the other way round. Settle it tonight while the staff remember the transaction, since tomorrow it is much harder to reconstruct.
Check the VAT in the till total
If your menu prices include VAT, the till total holds both the sale and the 5% VAT inside it. Check that your prices are set up the way you intend and that the receipt shows VAT clearly. Ask your accountant how to treat anything unusual, such as a discount or a charge added at the table.
For example, a meal that totals AED 105.00 with VAT included is a sale of AED 100.00 plus AED 5.00 VAT. Dividing the inclusive total by 1.05 gives the sale before VAT, and the difference is the VAT. This is an illustrative figure, not a menu price, and the same division works for any VAT-inclusive total.
Receipts, voids and refunds
Keep the day's receipts together and review any voided items, discounts and refunds. Ask who approved each one and why. A refund should leave a record, not simply a smaller total. If a company customer asks for an invoice instead of a till receipt, issue it the same day while the details are fresh, and check with the FTA or your accountant what it must show.
Ask your accountant how long receipts and daily totals should be kept, and store them in one labelled place where whoever closes next can find them. A tidy folder makes a bad night easy to investigate the following week, when nobody remembers who served which table, and it is the first thing a reviewer will ask to see.
A five-minute closing checklist
Do the routine in the same order every night and keep the notes in one place. After a few weeks the pattern of differences tells you where to look. TAQNIX ERP includes a point of sale for shops and cafes with Arabic and English receipts, so the figures you compare come from one source.
- Day's sales total saved or printed
- Cash counted, float removed, difference noted
- Card terminal total matched to the till
- Voids, discounts and refunds reviewed
- Receipts filed and tomorrow's float prepared
General information, not legal or tax advice. Confirm rules with the authority or your accountant.
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