The shift balanced. The bank did not. Collections are counted at the forecourt in one set of numbers and arrive in the bank in another: later, net of charges, and grouped differently. Reconciling the two is a daily habit, not a month-end project.
01 What arrives, and when
- Cash arrives when you deposit it. One deposit per day, with the slip kept against that day's shifts, is the simplest rule to audit.
- Card settlements arrive a day or two later, net of the acquirer's charges. The POS total for Monday will never equal Tuesday's bank credit; the difference is the charge, and it should be booked as an expense, not chased as a shortage.
- UPI usually settles the same or next day, in full, but often as one consolidated credit for the day rather than one line per sale.
- Fleet cards and coupons settle on the card company's cycle, sometimes weekly, always net of their fee.
02 Expected credits per day
For each day, write down what the bank should show and when: cash deposit, card net, UPI, fleet card. This expected list is the thing you reconcile against. Without it you are reading the bank statement looking for numbers you recognise, which is how items get matched to the wrong day.
03 The matching routine
Each morning, tick yesterday's expected credits against the statement. Match, or move the item to an unmatched list with a note: settlement pending, charge to confirm, holiday. Items should leave the unmatched list within a few days. Anything that lingers past a week is a real problem: a batch the terminal never settled, a deposit that went to the wrong account, a chargeback.
04 Where the gaps come from
- Acquirer charges booked nowhere, so every card day looks short.
- A terminal batch not settled at close, so two days' cards arrive together.
- Bank holidays shifting settlements by a day.
- A deposit slip written for one day's cash but containing two.
- A chargeback or reversal weeks after the sale.
05 How OCTYN does it
OCTYN records collections by payment mode at every shift close, so the expected credits per day exist automatically. Bank reconciliation matches those expectations to the statement, keeps the unmatched list, and posts the charges as expenses. Cash and bank balances update in the position on the owner dashboard, per station.
See it with your own statement: request a demo.