The Importance of Integrating Your POS System & Accounting Software
Think of the multitude of processes your restaurant performs on a daily or weekly basis – Payroll. Payment processing. Vendor Payments. General accounting – and those are merely the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
Now, think about how seamless all these tasks would be with a streamlined, automated accounting system that integrates directly with your point of sale (POS) system. This connection would provide a centralized source of data to eliminate manual processes and significantly reduce or outright eliminate human errors (nothing personal against Nancy in accounting, we assure you). Moreover, it would increase your restaurant’s profitability through timely and accurate reporting and provide insights into greater areas of opportunity.
Integrated Accounting Systems and Payroll Processing
What is an integrated restaurant accounting software system, and how can it benefit your restaurant? An integrated accounting system is an accounting system that syncs with other types of software. In restaurants, these various integrations can range from point solutions like labor compliance, hiring and onboarding, marketing, and, most importantly, your POS System; This, in essence, creates your restaurant tech stack.
All operators understand that the point of sale system holds your restaurant’s most critical information, like sales and labor data. An integrated POS system directly connects to your accounting software, and all that data is pulled directly into your accounting platform. The source data from your POS then disseminates where appropriate and ultimately posts to your financial statements. This streamlined connection provides the insights to complete financial clarity into your business.
Let’s look at payroll processing as an example. Having an integrated system in accounting with auto-synced payroll data ensures:
- No exporting payroll files back and forth to reduce the chance of lost data
- Quick, accurate payroll reviews to ensure all employees are promptly paid
- All regulatory and compliance items are automatically accounted for (PTO, sick time, tip income, etc.)
- Elimination of errors due to manual data entry with payroll processing; everything is synchronized automatically
An integrated POS system syncing with your accounting software will save operators and their teams countless hours of data entry within payroll processing alone.
Integrated POS Systems and Operational Reporting
Operators who utilize real-time data to better manage their cash flow and improve the precision of their budgets and operational targets will always perform at a high level than those who do not. However, this high-level performance is only possible through an integrated POS system that directly syncs to your accounting software.
Integrated POS and accounting software offers the opportunity for operators to review operational KPIs and reporting covering labor, sales, and product, as well as Franchisor/Franchisee performance comparisons with exception-based reporting dependent upon tolerances.
This quick, accurate, and streamlined data consumption process enables operators to become proactive instead of reactive. This is most transparent through operational reporting, where owners can make data-driven decisions in real-time that will positively affect their bottom line.
Sales Reporting
Consuming data directly from your POS into your accounting system enables operators to view sales information more readily. Operators can view performance metrics like sales in comparison to labor, revenue by dayparts, gift card sales, comps, discounts, promos, and more. With access to such granular information, operators can better forecast sales and stick to their budgets more closely.
Labor Reporting
Operators can control labor costs and optimize labor dollars through KPI tracking with POS data; this enables operators to schedule more efficiently based on actual business trends. Labor dollars can be controlled through received data like a daily flash report with overtime warnings, time and attendance details, server productivity, employee tip information, and more!
Menu Metrics
Pertinent menu information is available using integrated POS and accounting software. Operators can view top and bottom sellers, product mix data, sales in relation to contribution margin, and quickly identify and communicate unit recipe, vendor, and item discrepancies. With this rich data, operators can learn how to engineer their menus for profitability.
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Integrated POS Systems and Financial Reporting
An integrated POS system helps operators keep their fingers on the financial pulse of their restaurant utilizing real-time data to create actionable financial insights. Automated, weekly financial reports are readily available to ensure operators can make business decisions quickly and accurately.
Single Unit Operators
Once your integrated POS and accounting software is up and running, all data subsets parse out into different types of reporting to provide custom snapshots of how your business is performing. This is especially important when you’re looking at the overall health of your business with the P&L, Balance Sheet, and Statement of Cash Flow.
Multi-Concept Operators
At an even more significant benefit, if an operator runs more than one unit, an integrated POS system will enable them to compare data performance with side-by-side financial reporting across multiple divisions. The operator can even drill down into meaningful KPIs within guest checks, inventory items, purchasing details, and general ledger distribution within this comprehensive reporting.
The Time to Integrate Was Yesterday – Get Moving on Your Integrated POS and Accounting Software Today!
RASI’s accounting software and POS integration offers unmatched protection, profitability, and simplicity for your complete restaurant financial needs.
- Protection – Our automated technology automatically accounts for regulatory and legislative updates.
- Profitability – Real-time reporting provides an accurate picture of your restaurant’s financial health, which assists in making profitable business decisions.
- Simplicity – Enjoy the benefits of no more manual data entry! Our accurate, error-free reporting offers custom balance sheets, chart of accounts, and more that are all automated and standardized for your business!
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Check out RASI’s case studies to see the positive, proactive results we’ve achieved for some of our clients, including a Multi-Unit Franchisee client who experienced a 14% decrease in labor costs across all units. A significant reason for these significant savings? Timely and accurate financial reporting received with labor details synced from the POS to our integrated accounting software system in accounting! Our client made proactive, educated decisions based on actual data and comparative labor reporting with actionable intelligence on the labor front.
Click here to request a demo and discover all the benefits of our comprehensive accounting services for your restaurant!
