Six o'clock, and it is out again
The last patient has gone. Reception prints the day's takings from the card terminal, counts the small amount of cash, and compares it with the day sheet from the clinic software. It is out. Was it the package bought this morning, which shows as a large payment against a single visit? The insured patient who paid nothing today? The membership visit? The patient who paid for last week's missed appointment?
Half an hour later it is either explained or written off as 'probably the package'. The same thing happens most days.
Why the numbers never line up
- A package sale is one large payment that covers visits spread over weeks.
- Membership and insured visits take no money on the day.
- Fees for missed appointments arrive days after the appointment.
- Some patients pay online before arriving, through a different provider from the card terminal.
- The day sheet in clinic software lists invoices, not what actually hit the terminal.
The cash-up treats 'visits today' and 'money today' as if they should match, when in a chiropractic clinic they often legitimately do not.
The cost of a cash-up nobody trusts
Reception spends time on it every day, and still leaves with doubt. Genuine errors, such as a payment taken on the wrong patient or a visit not charged, are hidden among the expected differences and never found. At month end, the bookkeeper finds the same confusion multiplied by thirty days.
| Difference | Expected? | What the reconciliation does |
|---|---|---|
| Package visit, no payment today | Yes | Matched to the package, cleared |
| Package sold today | Yes | Matched to the package sale, cleared |
| Insured or membership visit | Yes | Matched to the account, cleared |
| Self-pay visit, no payment | No | Flagged for reception |
| Terminal payment with no invoice | No | Flagged for reception |
How we build the reconciliation
- We read the day's appointments and invoices from your clinic software.
- We read the day's payments from each source: the card terminal provider's reports or API, Stripe or other online payments, and a cash figure entered by reception.
- Each appointment is classified using your rules: self-pay, package, membership, insured or third-party account.
- Expected payments are worked out and matched to actual payments by patient, amount and time.
- Everything that matches is cleared. Only genuine differences are shown, each with a likely explanation to confirm or correct.
- Reception adds a note to each difference, and the day is closed.
- Closed days feed a monthly summary for your bookkeeper, with totals that already agree with your accounts package, such as Xero.
End of day, afterwards
The cash-up becomes a short check of a handful of real differences rather than a daily puzzle. Errors are caught the same day, while the patient can still be asked. The bookkeeper receives reconciled days rather than a month of loose ends. And reception goes home on time more often.
Owners also get a clearer view of the business: money received today versus care delivered today, which are both useful and are finally shown separately.
We usually run the new reconciliation alongside the old cash-up for a couple of weeks. Reception sees the differences it finds, confirms whether the explanations make sense, and we tune the rules until the list only contains things that really need a person. After that, the old sheet can go.
Does this happen at your clinic?
- The end-of-day cash-up is regularly out.
- Differences are explained away as 'probably a package'.
- Package, membership and insured visits confuse the day sheet.
- Online payments are reconciled separately from the terminal.
- Your bookkeeper queries the takings every month.