On the Menu: Restaurant Accounting

Anyone who has ever thought about opening a restaurant has heard the statistic: 60 percent. Sixty percent of new restaurants fail in their first five years. (An even more sobering figure of ninety percent has been thrown around but has since been debunked.) Like many new businesses, undercapitalization is one of the primary reasons for restaurant failure. Another is the inability to control costs, or worse, account for costs.

Payroll, tax accounting, daily deposit verification, bank reconciliations—the number of, well, numbers involved in the daily operations of a restaurant can be overwhelming to you as a new restaurant owner. While vital to the financial health of your business, your time and concern is better spent attending to the core fundamentals such as building your menu, staffing, and fostering better customer service. This can be very difficult as your first inclination—it’s only natural—is to try to micro-manage the financial details. This is better left to an experienced accounting service.

An accounting service can provide the financials associated with the restaurant business. These include:
• Entering daily sales details
• Daily deposit verification
• Entering bills
• Preparation of checks to be printed and mailed by the client
• Entering payroll information
• Monthly bank reconciliations
• Entering credit card expenses
• Maintenance of fixed asset register and depreciation
• Maintenance of loan amortization schedule
• Preparation of monthly financial statements by the 15th of the following month

This can be delivered at a nominal fee that is far more economical than hiring a permanent staff accountant. It’s another task taken off your plate and ensures that you have someone schooled and trained in accounting, sometimes restaurant accounting in particular, keeping track of costs.
If you are planning on opening a restaurant or already have an established enterprise, the wisdom of hiring an accounting service to maintain your books is clear.