Why doesn't my restaurant POS match my bank?

The usual reasons, in order of how often they cause trouble

1. Settlement timing

Card sales from Friday, Saturday and Sunday often arrive together on Monday or Tuesday. Look at one day and the numbers never match. Look at the batch and they usually do.

2. Fees taken before deposit

Many processors deposit the net amount and take their fees on the way. Your POS shows $10,000 of card sales, the bank shows less, and the difference is a cost that needs to be recorded, not ignored.

3. Card tips

Tips added on cards are in the deposit, but they belong to your staff. If they're paid out in cash at the end of the shift, the cash drawer is short by the same amount.

4. Refunds, voids and chargebacks

A refund processed days later, or a disputed charge pulled back by the card company, changes the money without changing the night's POS report.

5. Cash

Cash sales are deposited when someone takes them to the bank, sometimes days later and sometimes combined. Cash paid out of the drawer for small purchases or tips makes the deposit smaller than cash sales.

6. Gift cards and delivery platforms

Gift card redemptions are sales with no new money. Delivery and online orders may be paid by a different company on a different schedule. Both show in the POS and arrive in the bank another way, or not at all.

How to reconcile it

1. Start from the POS sales summary for each day, split by tender type: card, cash, gift card, delivery and online.
2. For each tender, work out what should have been deposited and when: card batches by settlement date, cash by deposit slip, platforms by payout.
3. Record the fees, tips and refunds that explain the gap between the sale and the expected deposit.
4. Match each expected deposit to the bank. Anything left over gets a name and a follow-up.
5. Do it weekly. A missing deposit found in a week is a phone call. Found at year-end, it's a mystery.