Half past five, and the totals are out again
The last customer has gone. The advisor prints the day's invoice report and the card machine's end-of-day receipt. They do not match. There is a card payment for an amount that does not appear on any invoice, which turns out to be two jobs paid together. There is an invoice marked paid that was actually paid by bank transfer, which has not arrived. There is some cash in the drawer that might be a deposit for tomorrow's tyres.
It takes twenty minutes to work out, on a good day. On a bad day the difference is left for the office manager, who finds it a week later when nobody remembers.
Payments come from too many places
A garage invoice might be paid by card at the counter, by a payment link sent by text, by bank transfer from an account customer or a warranty company, by cash, or partly by one and partly by another. Deposits are taken for parts before the job exists. Some customers pay two invoices with one card payment.
The garage management system records what was invoiced and what the advisor marked as paid. The card provider, the bank and the cash drawer each record what actually came in. Nothing joins them except a person at the end of a long day.
What daily mismatches turn into
| Mismatch | What it leads to |
|---|---|
| Invoice marked paid, money not received | A debt nobody chases because the system says it is settled |
| Payment received, invoice not found | Money sitting unallocated in the accounts |
| Deposits not linked to jobs | Customers charged twice, or deposits forgotten |
| Combined payments | Hours spent splitting them by hand |
| Cash differences | Uncomfortable conversations with no evidence either way |
The bigger risk is the first row. A job marked paid by mistake at the counter can go unnoticed for months.
How we build a daily takings check
- The day's invoices and payments recorded in your garage management system are read each evening.
- Card transactions come from your card provider's reports or connection, including payment links, and bank receipts come from your bank feed or accounts package, such as Xero or QuickBooks.
- Each payment is matched to an invoice by amount, time, reference and customer. Combined payments are split where the amounts add up exactly.
- Deposits taken before a job are recorded as deposits and linked to the job when it is invoiced.
- A short list shows only what did not match: invoices marked paid with no payment, payments with no invoice, and cash differences.
- The advisor or office manager resolves each item with a note, and the history is kept for month end.
We only read from the systems you already use. Where a card provider or bank offers no data link, a daily export can be dropped into a folder and read from there.
The end of the day, shorter
At half past five the advisor opens the takings screen. Everything that matched is already ticked. Two items remain: a card payment that covers two invoices, which the screen suggests, and an invoice marked paid by bank transfer that has not arrived. The first is confirmed in a click. The second gets a note and appears on tomorrow's list until the money comes in.
At month end, the office manager has a clean history rather than a stack of end-of-day receipts.
- Payments matched to invoices every day
- Only the exceptions shown to a person
- Deposits tied to the jobs they belong to
- Money marked paid but not received caught quickly
Do your takings drift?
- The card machine total rarely matches the invoice report.
- Invoices are marked paid before the money arrives.
- Deposits are kept on paper or in someone's head.
- Combined payments are split by hand.
- Differences are left for someone else to find later.