The bank says one thing, the till says another
Saturday was a busy day. The card terminal report says one figure. On Monday the bank shows a payout that is lower, because fees have come off. On Tuesday there is another payout that seems to be Sunday and part of Saturday together. The booking app pays its prepayments weekly, less its own fees, in a single lump. A refund from last week came off one of the payouts.
The owner, or the bookkeeper, or the owner's partner who does the books on Thursdays, sits with the bank statement and three reports and tries to make it add up.
Payouts are not the same as takings
- Card providers pay out net of fees, so a payout is always less than the day's sales.
- Payout timing depends on the provider, the day of the week and bank holidays.
- Several days can be combined into one payout, especially over weekends.
- Refunds and chargebacks are deducted from future payouts, not shown as separate lines in the bank.
- Booking apps, card terminals and online shops each pay out on different schedules.
None of this is an error, but it means the bank statement cannot be read against the till directly. Somebody has to rebuild the link each time.
Barbershops add a few twists of their own. Barbers ring up a cut and beard as one sale on one day and two sales on another. A customer who paid online through the booking app for a cut then pays the difference for a beard trim on the terminal, so one visit is split across two providers with two sets of fees. Chair renters sometimes put a customer through the shop terminal as a favour and are paid back in cash, which leaves a sale in the shop's payouts that was never the shop's money.
Hours of matching and missing money nobody notices
Reconciling by hand is the kind of job that gets pushed to the end of the month, and then to the end of the quarter. By then the question of whether one Tuesday payout was short is almost impossible to answer, because the terminal provider wants a date and reference and nobody has either.
If a payout is short, or never arrives, the only way to notice is to reconcile, and when reconciliation is a monthly chore that often happens too late to query. Fees creep without anyone seeing how much the shop pays. Your accountant bills for time spent untangling it.
Sale to payout to bank, matched automatically
- We connect to your card terminal provider, such as Square, SumUp or Zettle, and your booking app's payments, through their APIs, to read every sale, fee, refund and payout.
- Your bank feed comes in through your accounting software, such as Xero or QuickBooks, or through open banking where appropriate.
- Each payout is broken down into the sales it contains, the fees deducted and any refunds or chargebacks netted off.
- Each bank line is matched to its payout. Anything expected that has not arrived after the provider's usual timing is flagged.
- A daily summary shows gross takings, fees, refunds and cash received, so fees are visible by provider.
- Matched payouts are posted to your accounting software with fees split out, so your bookkeeper is not doing it by hand.
| Line in the bank | What it actually is | Shown as |
|---|---|---|
| Card payout Monday | Saturday sales less fees | Gross, fee, net |
| Card payout Tuesday | Sunday plus late Saturday | Split by day |
| App payout Friday | Week's prepayments less app fees | Per booking |
| Short payout | Refund netted off | Refund linked to original sale |
| Nothing arrived | Delayed or held payout | Flagged to check |
Knowing the money arrived, every day
On a normal Tuesday the owner glances at the summary on their phone: Saturday's and Sunday's card takings have landed, fees are shown, one booking app payout is due Friday. On a bad week the summary says a Thursday payout has not arrived and gives the terminal provider's reference, so the question to them is specific. Your bookkeeper's job becomes checking, not rebuilding.
Could this be your books?
- Card payouts never match the day's takings and you are not sure why.
- You take payments through more than one provider or app.
- You do not know how much you paid in card fees last month.
- Reconciliation happens monthly or not at all.
- Your accountant charges for untangling payouts.