The evening report says INR 2,000 of completed orders, the payment report shows INR 1,700 of new receipts, and the bank deposit is different again. Those figures may describe different events. A daily close starts by naming each event and its cutoff, then tracing the records that connect them.
This guide checks the customer amounts on one completed-order cohort against recorded payment allocations and documented unpaid balances. It is an operational close, not a definition of revenue, profit or tax. The worked example is original fiction in INR; it is not a real café’s results or a payment-provider example.
Fix the order cohort and the amount basis
Choose one outlet, currency and business-day window, including its timezone and closing cutoff. A service continuing after midnight needs an explicit boundary. Here, completed means the order was fulfilled within that window; it does not automatically mean fully paid. Keep open, unfulfilled and cancelled orders outside this cohort, with their own references and reasons.
Use each order’s final customer charge after order-level discounts and comps, before separately tracked refunds after fulfilment. State whether the charge includes tax, service charges or tips and apply exactly the same contents to its allocations. This example excludes tips, stored-value sales and redemptions, and currency conversion; it has no order-level discounts, comps or tax detail to calculate. If your records combine those items, reconcile the basis first or use a more suitable model.
Retain the source report, its filters and extraction cutoff. Record the source cohort’s independent order count and total customer charge before entering the worksheet. Those controls help reveal a missing or duplicated order; a tidy list that balances internally is not proof the list is complete.
Allocate the amount without creating another sale
For each unique order, enter cash retained after change, confirmed cashless payments allocated to it during the window, any earlier prepayment applied, and a documented unpaid balance. The check is allocations plus that balance minus the final customer charge. A non-zero difference needs explanation. An unsupported gap must remain a difference; do not label it credit or a prepayment to make the row agree.
A split payment still belongs to one order. Keep every payment reference and amount in supporting records, then total each route once for that order. If one payment covers several orders, its allocations across them must not exceed the amount actually received. A pending attempt or an authorisation is not a confirmed payment.
An earlier deposit applied today is part of how the order was covered, but it is not money newly received today. Check the original receipt, the authorised application and the remaining balance so the same deposit cannot be applied again. A recorded unpaid balance also needs evidence and an owner; a balanced row does not mean it has been collected.
Worked example: three orders, four new payments
In this fictional cohort, O-101 has a charge of 700, paid with 500 cash and 200 cashless. O-102 is 800, paid cashless. O-103 is 500, covered by 200 cashless today and a 300 deposit received earlier. There are three orders and four new payment transactions: one cash transaction and three cashless transactions. Applying the prior deposit is a separate allocation, not a fifth new receipt.
The order charges total 2,000. Today’s payments allocated to those orders total 1,700, and the earlier deposit explains the remaining 300. Every order’s difference is zero, the entered count matches the independent source count of three, and the entered charges match the independent source total of 2,000. Those checks establish agreement on this stated basis, not that every supporting record is correct.
| Fictional order | Charge (INR) | Cash today | Cashless today | Prior deposit applied | Documented unpaid | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| O-101 | 700.00 | 500.00 | 200.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| O-102 | 800.00 | 0.00 | 800.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| O-103 | 500.00 | 0.00 | 200.00 | 300.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Total | 2,000.00 | 500.00 | 1,200.00 | 300.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Keep the payment-day view separate
Today’s payment report can include money unrelated to the completed-order cohort: a deposit for a future event, collection of an earlier unpaid bill, or a refund relating to an older order. Keep those items separately identified rather than adding them to today’s completed orders.
In the fictional example, there are no other new receipts, but a 100 refund for an older order was confirmed paid today. The payment-day view is therefore 1,700 new receipts minus 100 confirmed refunds, or 1,600 before any provider deductions. The completed-order charges remain 2,000 on the stated before-refund basis. The older refund does not become a fourth completed order.
For a refund relating to a cohort order, retain that order and its original payment allocations on this before-refund basis, and link the refund separately. Do not subtract it from both the charge and the allocated payment without checking how the source records treat it. Pending and failed refund attempts remain separate from confirmed money returned.
A bank deposit answers another question
The cashless allocation of 1,200 is not an expected bank deposit for this day. A provider may combine activity from several days and include refunds, fees or other adjustments. Use the actual identified payout records and the bank receipt for that reconciliation, with their own dates and references.
Likewise, counting a drawer checks physical money against drawer movements, including its opening float and cash moved in or out. It does not count orders. Link the daily close to those separate records without replacing them or adding their totals together.
Investigate differences at the order level
Two incorrect allocations can cancel out in a total. Review every non-zero order difference as well as the overall difference and the independent source controls. A missing cashless reference, duplicate order, wrong business-day boundary or unapplied deposit each needs its own evidence.
Keep the original close and a correction history showing the order, previous entry, corrected entry, reason, evidence, person and time. Assign unresolved items an owner and next check date. Agreement is a reconciliation result, not approval to collect, refund, write off or change accounting treatment.
Why report definitions matter
Square’s sales-summary documentation explains that report totals can differ because of calculation methods and timing, and that open-check inclusion affects the scope. It also distinguishes payment counts, payment amounts and refunds. These are reminders to read your own report definitions; the guide does not apply Square’s gross or net formulas, software steps, settings or subscription rules. The cohort, allocation check and fictional examples here are original.
Put it into practice
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From reading to doing
Daily sales and payment allocation close
Open Daily Sales Close for up to ten completed orders under one outlet, currency, cutoff and recorded charge basis. Enter a unique order ID, final customer charge, current cash, current cashless payments, prior prepayments applied, documented unpaid balance and an evidence reference. Explicit zero is required for unused monetary categories. The sheet shows each order’s difference, category totals, the number of non-zero order differences, and count and charge differences against independently entered source controls. Invalid or incomplete inputs withhold summaries; an unexplained numeric difference stays visible. Manual sections preserve the cohort definition, payment and deposit allocations, items outside the cohort, refund and settlement references, corrections and follow-up. It does not count payment transactions, verify the evidence, reconcile the cash drawer or bank deposits, approve actions or determine revenue or tax. For a larger cohort, use a fuller register rather than omitting orders to fit the sheet.
Open the Daily Sales Close tab in the launch workbook. Keep a copy for your own business.
Download the free workbook See what’s inside the toolkit →Sources & further reading
- View sales summary, sales trends and payment methods reports (Square Support) ↗
Retrieved 8 November 2026. Used for the general need to distinguish report definitions, timing, open checks, payment counts and refunds. Vendor gross/net equations, software steps, pricing, settings, accounting recognition and tax treatment are not adopted. All order and payment examples and the allocation worksheet are original.
Published by Keystonne Grow. Product links connect to the Keystonne ecosystem; check the linked product or service for its current scope.