A closing-time routine for customer payments

Collect the day’s evidence

Use the business bank transaction list, cash receipts and payment records for the period you are checking. Agree a cut-off time so two colleagues are not comparing different periods. Keep personal transactions out of the business total.

Separate incoming payments from refunds and reversals. A deposit appearing in the bank is not automatically a customer payment; it might be the owner adding money or a transfer between business accounts.

Match before you total

For each confirmed receipt, find the sale reference and compare the recorded amount. Investigate transfers without a matching sale, payments entered twice and cash receipts without a corresponding record.

When names are similar, use the transaction reference and customer confirmation rather than guessing. If you cannot identify a transfer, keep it on an unmatched list instead of reducing whichever debt happens to have the same amount.

Explain differences

A ₦75,000 transfer may have been recorded as ₦7,500. Two cash receipts may belong to yesterday’s cut-off. Record the reason for each difference and the correction made. The goal is not to make totals match by entering an unexplained adjustment.

For a reversal, check both the bank evidence and the original receipt. If money has been returned, the customer’s payable balance may need to be restored through the authorised process. Keep the link between the two entries.

Leave a short handover

A handover should say what needs doing and who owns it. “Payments checked” is not enough when two transfers remain unidentified.

• Receipts confirmed and matched today.
• Unmatched transfers, with the reference and person checking them.
• Reported payments still awaiting confirmation.
• Corrections or reversals requiring approval.