Why Are My Sales and Takings Different?

Summary

In the OrderMate system, sales and takings are both separate concepts and they can be different from time to time. A difference can be caused by a range of events, so it is important to understand what each concept is used for and the things to be aware of when reviewing or analysing OrderMate reports.

What are Sales?

As soon as an item is ordered, either in WaiterMate or Online, it is recorded as a sale and will be included on sales reports. Any 'Sales' reports in WaiterMate, OfficeMate or the MyControl Centre App will immediately include these sales, regardless if they have been paid for or not.

In the OrderMate reports, sales may be Including or Excluding Tax, Discounts, Surcharges etc. This usually depends on the type of report or how the analytics would be used, but some of our reports are also configurable to suit customer preferences.

What are Takings?

Takings are reported any time that a payment is received in the POS. Some examples of what would be reported to 'Takings include;

Paying for a table, phone order, bar tab etc.
Processing a function deposit
Making a payment to a debtor
Selling a Gift Voucher

Takings are reported as the total payment received. Takings values do not differentiate GST, Discounts etc like sales reports do, as it is not necessary. The main purpose of a takings report is to reconcile either the cash drawer at the end of a shift/trading day or to reconcile the amount that is deposited into the actual bank account.

What can cause differences between Sales and Takings?

Below are some examples of events that will result in these differences;

Examples	Description
Normal Causes
Debtor Sale	Accounts that are added to debtors This is a SALE Sales would be higher than takings
Debtor Payment	Payments made to a debtor This is TAKINGS Takings would be higher than sales
Refund from a previous Day	When a refund is made to a closed account from a previous day This is both SALES and TAKINGS The takings would be reported today as a (-) negative takings in the current day The sale from the day the account was opened would be reported as a (-) negative sale
Applied Previous Transactions	When a payment is moved from a debtor and applied to an account This is not a SALE or TAKINGS The sales will be higher than takings on this day An example of this would be a deposit received on a previous day used to pay off the items ordered on this day
Gift Voucher Topup	Voucher 'Topup' is a payment made to a Gift Voucher This is TAKINGS Takings would be higher than sales
Gift Voucher Redeem	Gift Voucher used to pay for an account This is not a SALE or TAKINGS Sales would be higher than takings
Loyalty Points Redeem	Loyalty points used to purchase items This is not a SALE or TAKINGS This is actually a discount, so takings are not received and the sales will be reduced just like a normal discount
Other Common Causes (usually not best practice)
Stale Accounts	A 'Stale Account' is an account that was created in one shift or trading day, that was not closed in the same shift or trading day Best practice would be to make sure that at the end of every day, all accounts are either paid off, or added to a debtor
Items added to a Stale Account	Item/s added to an account opened on a previous shift The sales for this account would be on the previous shift The SALES on the previous day would be higher
Payments made to a Stale Account	Payment/s made to an account that was opened in a previous shift The takings would be in the shift the payment was made The TAKINGS would be higher in this shift

Note: The guide about our Sales to Takings report is a great troubleshooting recourse

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