End-of-Day Sales Reconciliation Checklist

Nightly close-out workflow for the manager on duty: count the drawer, reconcile card batches, audit voids and comps, distribute tips, and generate the day's sales report. Run after the last table is paid out and the POS is closed for the...

Use this workflow
1

Cash Drawer Close-Out

  1. Pull the Z-report from the POS
  2. Count the drawer in the office
  3. Record cash variance against the Z-report

    • Subtract the starting bank from the counted drawer total and compare to the cash sales line on the Z-report. Anything beyond +/- $5 is a flag in most concepts; log the actual variance regardless of size so the trend is visible at the weekly review.

    Collects number
  4. Investigate the variance with the cashier

    • Check the most common causes first: missed change drops, voided sales rung as cash, and tip-out cash pulled from the wrong till. Walk the shift back with the cashier and record the explanation in the variance log.

    Collects paragraph Collects text
  5. Drop the deposit in the safe

    • Bag the deposit, sign the slip, and witness-drop into the safe. Reset the starting bank for tomorrow's open per the standard bank amount.

    Collects image
2

Card Batch Reconciliation

  1. Settle the card batch in the POS

    • Trigger the end-of-day batch in Toast / Square / Clover. Confirm the processor returns a successful settlement message — open batches roll into next-day funding and corrupt the reconciliation.

  2. Match POS card totals to the processor batch

    • Compare the POS card sales line to the processor's batch report (Toast Payments, Square Dashboard, Stripe). Note the totals split by Visa/MC/Amex/Discover — Amex often batches separately and is a frequent mismatch source.

    Collects list
  3. Document the batch mismatch

    • Pull the processor's transaction-level export and find the missing or extra auths. Common causes: a tip adjustment that didn't capture before settlement, a refund processed after batch cut-off, or an offline auth that never uploaded. Email the processor's merchant support if the gap exceeds $25.

    Collects number Collects paragraph
  4. Review open chargebacks and disputes

    • Check the processor portal for new disputes posted today. Most processors give 7-10 days to respond with the signed receipt, itemized check, and (if available) the security camera timestamp — miss the window and the chargeback auto-loses.

3

Sales and Comp Audit

  1. Pull the voids and comps report

    • Filter for voids, comps, and manager-discounts greater than $10. Confirm each has a manager-card swipe and a reason code attached — unauthorized comps are the most common back-of-house theft pattern.

    Collects list
  2. Review every comp ticket with the GM

    • Walk the comp report line by line with the GM or AGM. For each comp, confirm the reason code matches the situation (re-fire, allergen re-cook, manager promo) and that the comping manager is not the same person ringing the order.

  3. Verify promo and discount application

    • Spot-check happy-hour, loyalty, and third-party promos (DoorDash promo codes, Resy credits) against the menu rules. A promo applied to an ineligible item is a sales-mix accuracy problem and inflates theoretical food cost.

  4. Reconcile third-party delivery sales

    • Pull DoorDash, UberEats, and Grubhub tablets and confirm the order count and gross sales match what posted to the POS. Phantom tickets — orders that fired in the kitchen but never landed in POS — are a recurring tablet-integration failure.

    Collects number
4

Tip Pool and Payout

  1. Calculate the card-tip pool

    • Total card tips from the POS tip report. Apply the house tip-out rules: bar percentage of liquor sales, busser/runner percentage of food sales, host share if applicable. Document the formula used so the math is reproducible at payroll review.

    Collects number
  2. Pay out cash tips to tipped staff

    • Pay tipped employees from the tip pool per the posted tip-out sheet. Note that the FLSA bars employers from keeping any portion of tips, and several states (CA, OR, WA, NV) ban the tip credit entirely — confirm your tip-out is consistent with state rules before paying out.

  3. Collect signed tip-out acknowledgments

    • Each tipped employee signs the tip-out sheet acknowledging the amount received. The signed sheet is the audit trail if a wage-and-hour claim arises later — without it, the employer carries the burden of proof.

    Collects signature
5

Daily Sales Report

  1. Generate the daily sales summary

    • Run the daily sales summary out of the POS or R365 / MarginEdge if integrated. Include net sales, tax, tips, comps, voids, guest count, and average check (PPA).

    Collects file
  2. Break out sales by revenue center

    • Split sales by dining room, bar, patio, private events, and off-premise. Revenue-center variance — bar trending down while dining room is flat — is what surfaces a problem (slow well, missing bartender) before the weekly P&L.

  3. Email the close-out packet to ownership

    • Send the consolidated packet — sales summary, cash variance, comp report, tip-out sheet — to the GM and ownership. This becomes the daily artifact bookkeeping pulls from at week-end.

    Collects signature