CASE STUDY
A busy shop. A year that didn't add up.
Customers paid by card, by bank transfer and on account, and some suppliers were paid straight from the till. The till and the books had drifted apart, a year of sales had never gone in properly, and nobody could say which figure was right.
"The till says one thing, the bank says another, and the books say a third."
Card takings matched to the card providers' own reports.
"A whole year of sales has never gone into the books properly."
Every month's takings put through, month by month.
12 months rebuilt"Customers pay onto their accounts every way possible. We can't tell who's paid what."
Bank transfers matched to the right customer accounts, including single payments that cover several customers, and the balances agreed to the till's own list.
400+ customer accounts agreed"Some suppliers get paid from the till, and nobody knows if the books show it."
Every supplier paid through the till matched to a bill, so the till and the books show the same payment.
"We don't know if our VAT is right."
VAT checked against the returns already filed. VAT claimed on card fees that carry no VAT, put right on the next return.
Thousands of pounds of VAT put right"Our sales look higher than they feel."
Gift vouchers were being counted as sales twice: once when the voucher was sold, and again when it was spent. We took the voucher sales out before the accounts were finalised.
Tens of thousands of pounds of sales that never happened, kept out of the profit and the corporation taxFound along the way
- A supplier bill entered twice.
- A card payment taken but never credited to the customer's account.
- The previous year tied to the accountant's final figures. £0.00 difference
