Restaurant accounting can be daunting because there are a lot of moving pieces. Following are some essential tips for restaurant owners to follow to stay on track.

To ensure that your restaurant runs as smoothly as possible, you’re going to want to keep the bookkeeping quality airtight. Accounting and bookkeeping are two of the most essential aspects of how a restaurant functions and thrives as a business. It may seem a bit overwhelming at a glance, but luckily, you don’t have to be a mathematician or anything of the sort to keep your bookkeeping/accounting practices up to par.

Invest time into reporting

A well-run restaurant relies on monitoring the financial health of the business. This means you need to have quality information at your fingertips. Following are some essential reports you’ll need to run in order to keep a big picture view of your business.

Type of Report:                                                          

1. Daily Sales Report              

What this report shows                            

• How much you made that day
  
• How much you comped that day

2. Chart of Accounts                                           

What this report shows   

• An overview of your major financial reports, like your balance sheet, profit and loss statement, and cash flow report
• A high-level point of reference when comparing numbers to industry averages and keeping track of expenses

3. Profit & Loss (P&L) Statement                       

What this report shows    

• An overall profitability health check
• A guiding post to drive business decisions (cut costs, identify ways to increase revenue, or change business strategy)

4. Cash Flow Statement                                

What this report shows    

• How much money you have on hand, right now
• Operating cash flow: whether you’re able to generate enough positive cash flow to maintain or grow your operations or whether you should seek external financing

4. Balance Sheet 

What this report shows    

• Your actual financial position
• Your debt load

Use specialized software

There’s no need to do all of this math with a pen and paper. Don’t hesitate to take advantage of the specialized accounting software solutions available on the market that can help you streamline the process in every way. Instead of having to manually track each and every item down to the decimal point, you can use software to organize vital numbers regarding everything from transactions to inventory counts.

Know when to outsource

While it’s certainly possible to handle all the numbers of your operation by yourself, it can become exhaustive on top of all your other duties. By investing in the skills of a dependable accountant, you can maximize the effectiveness of how you use your time while keeping the financial figure tracking matters perfectly managed.

In short, proper bookkeeping will allow you to perfectly keep track of how much you’re spending, maintain constant awareness of your revenue flow, and always understand exactly where your money is being spent.

By keeping the tips above in mind, you can ensure that you’ll not only have all your financial metrics locked down with perfect accuracy but also guarantee yourself the best possible position to earn a profit. To learn more about accounting strategies that can help any small business succeed, such as more accounting tips for restaurant owners, contact us today and we’ll gladly answer any further questions you may have.

E&E Professional Accountants has years of experience in assisting businesses with their accounting needs. We are founded and managed by an experienced corporate auditor and a former CRA tax auditor. Feel free to contact us for assistance with all your accounting and bookkeeping needs.