Best practice for cash sales using Pastel point of sale

[Raene]

Hi there

It seems I have more questions than answers these days but I hope to be able to return the favour someday soon.

A new client that I do bookkeeping for is using Pastel point of sale (which I have no experience with) and I would just like to know the best practice in terms of processing cash sales in Pastel Express when it is used in conjunction with Pastel Point of sale. They do the sales processing at the shop and I do the bookkeeping at my office.

The cash sales and credit card payments are invoiced and processed through point of sale. The previous bookkeeper would capture the total cash sales for each day in the petty cash receipts cash book from the POS sales report as the cash income is not banked, and the total credit card payments for each day in the bank receipts cash book from the bank statement.

As the cash income doesn't reflect on the bank statement, what is the most correct way (which entry type?) to capture the cash income - capturing income in a petty cash cash book is surely not the norm?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Regards
Raene

[Neville Bailey]

Hi Raene,

Pastel's POS system generates all accounting entries automatically in Pastel, so there should be no need for you to capture any transactions in Xpress, unless the POS computer and the Xpress computer are not networked.

Here are the entries that are/should be generated:

When a sale is made, the cash sales account in the customer ledger is debited and the sales account in the income statement is credited.

When payment is tendered, the POS Cash Control account in the balance sheet is debited and the cash sales debtor account is credited. The POS Cash Control account represents money in the till that has not yet been banked.

When you bank takings, you will process an entry in the cashbook receipts journal for the bank, allocating it to the POS Cash Control account, thereby reducing the balance in that account.

The above entries apply for both cash and credit card takings.

If you use some of the cash in the till for sundry expenses, there is an option in the POS system for that, which will debit the relevant expense account and credit the POS Cash Control account.

[Raene]

Thanks Neville. I now have a better understanding of how POS works.

The thing is, I need to process the company books in my copy of pastel express so that I can do the bank recon, vat etc. In other words, I will have to duplicate all the sales/income processed through POS.

I will capture the daily credit card total from the Daily Sales report and the EFT's from the Daily Sales Report /bank statement - in the Bank CRJ.
I will capture the account customer invoices from the Daily Sales report - in the Customer Sales Journal - so that I can allocated payments accordingly when it comes through the bank.
All cash sales will be captured as receipt in a new cash book which I have created and any cash out will be captured as a payment in the same cash book.

Does this sound correct?

Thank you

[Neville Bailey]

That sounds fine to me.

So, you are creating the new cash book to represent the POS Cash Control account? And if any of that cash gets banked, then you will process a CPJ in the new cash book, allocated to a inter-cashbook transfer account, and then process a CRJ in the regular cash book, allocated to the same inter-cashbook transfer account.

[Raene]

Ok thank you, that's sorted then.

I have a few more questions relating to POS.

I see that the cash out can be paid to a supplier, customer or GL account. I assume then the GL expense account would be for items such as cleaning and staff welfare etc. Is it a problem if a supplier account has been created for all cash out payments including items that would usually be allocated to a GL account. E.g. the client has Pick n Pay set up as a supplier and allocates all staff welfare and cleaning purchases etc to that supplier account. I would however just allocate it directly to the respective GL accounts, can it be done either way?

When a supplier pays their account (eft, cash or c/c), does one open the cash in tab and capture the payment once off like that or does one also have to process the same supplier payment in the CRJ (assuming the cash in allocation goes to the POS control account)?

Thank you for your help. I am trying to order a POS manual from Pastel as I think I am going to need it.

Regards
Raene

[Neville Bailey]

I assume then the GL expense account would be for items such as cleaning and staff welfare etc.

Correct.

Is it a problem if a supplier account has been created for all cash out payments including items that would usually be allocated to a GL account. E.g. the client has Pick n Pay set up as a supplier and allocates all staff welfare and cleaning purchases etc to that supplier account. I would however just allocate it directly to the respective GL accounts, can it be done either way?

It can be done either way. In fact, it would be better to do it the supplier account way, from a VAT point of view, as the POS system does not have the facility of accounting for input VAT when making payments to GL accounts out of the till.

When a supplier pays their account (eft, cash or c/c), does one open the cash in tab and capture the payment once off like that or does one also have to process the same supplier payment in the CRJ (assuming the cash in allocation goes to the POS control account)?

I think you meant to say "customer" instead of "supplier". If the customer pays their account in cash or cheque, and you place the cash or cheque in the till (not immediately banked), then it is preferable to process that in the POS system as "Cash In''. However, if they pay by EFT, it is better to process a CRJ in Xpress and allocate the receipt to the customer account, not to the POS Cash Control account. POS handles On-Account sales differently to Cash sales, in that the POS Cash Control account is not immediately debited when the sale is made, as no payment has been tendered at that stage.

I am trying to order a POS manual from Pastel as I think I am going to need it.

You can download an extract from the POS help file by clicking here.