Beauty salon POS system: how to close every working day, from counting the till to your accountant
After your last treatment you want to go home, but first the till has to add up. A POS system for your beauty salon works out receipts, VAT and payment methods for you. What it does not do is check whether the cash drawer, the card terminal and your calendar tell the same story. That is the end-of-day close. In this guide you will learn how to keep it short and reliable: which steps to take every evening, what to do each week and each quarter, and how to stop a treatment without a receipt or an earlier deposit from skewing your figures.
Why the end-of-day close is the most important moment for your till
A point-of-sale system records every sale the moment it happens. Mistakes rarely happen at checkout itself, but in everything around it: a client who pays cash while the receipt says card, a treatment that was never checked out, a product that left the shelf without being rung up. The longer a difference like that sits there, the harder it is to work out what happened.
A fixed end-of-day routine catches those mistakes on the same day, while you still remember who was in the chair. Your accountant gets figures that already add up, and you do not have to dig through weeks of receipts when your VAT return is due. If you work with several VAT rates, such as the Dutch 21% on most treatments and products and 9% on hairdressing services, it helps when every receipt line already carries the right rate.
How to set up the checkout moment itself, with VAT-correct receipts and record-keeping rules, is covered in our guide to the checkout system for your beauty salon. This article is about what comes next: closing the day.
Step 1: settle today's appointments first
Do not start with the cash drawer, start with your calendar. By the end of the day, every appointment should have a clear status: paid, no-show or cancelled. An appointment that still says scheduled while the client left hours ago is often revenue that is not recorded anywhere.
In Salonnare you check out an appointment straight from the calendar. The receipt is then linked to that appointment, so you can always see which treatment belongs to which payment. Once an appointment's end time has passed and it is still open, it shows up as an 'Appointment to handle' task in your notifications. That way you know which appointments still need attention before you start counting.
Tip: deal with a no-show on the same day. If you leave it until tomorrow, you often no longer remember whether the client really stayed away or came in later and paid cash.
Step 2: count the till and compare per payment method
Once the calendar is right, compare what your system says with what actually came in. Do this per payment method, because each channel has its own check.
Cash. Count the drawer and subtract your fixed float. What is left should match the day's cash total. The Salonnare till rounds cash amounts to the nearest 5 cents, so that total matches what you can actually count.
Card. Put the card total from your POS system next to the day total on your payment terminal.
Online and iDEAL. Check online payments in your payment provider's dashboard, such as Mollie or Stripe. The money lands in your own bank account.
In Salonnare these figures sit together in the day report: the revenue for the chosen day, broken down by staff member and payment method, with the list of receipts below. Tips are shown separately, so they do not blur your revenue. The day report is part of reporting, which is included in Starter and Pro. On the free plan you can already take cash and card payments in the point-of-sale.
A cash discrepancy? Write it down the same evening, with the amount and your best explanation. A small difference you note straight away is a detail. The same difference discovered at quarter end costs you an afternoon of searching. If your salon is in the Netherlands, the Dutch government's Ondernemersplein explains which records you must keep and for how long.
Step 3: watch deposits and product sales
Two things easily skew a daily total: money that came in earlier, and products that went out the door.
Deposits. If you ask for a deposit at booking, part of the treatment is paid before the client walks in. That deposit is settled on the receipt. Salonnare's day report shows separately which part of the day's revenue already came in as a deposit, so you will not go looking for that amount in the drawer or on the terminal. Deposits are part of the Pro plan. Why and how to use them is explained in our guide to asking for a deposit in your salon.
Products. When you sell a day cream or serum at the desk, the till deducts it from your stock straight away. A sale is never blocked because stock is at zero, but you do get a warning when a product drops below your minimum. That way you see what to reorder while closing up. Inventory management is included from Starter. If you also want an easier annual count, read how to automate stocktaking in your salon.
Weekly and quarterly: from day report to accountant
The daily close is the foundation. Once a week, look a little further. Go through revenue per staff member and check whether there are days when a cash discrepancy keeps coming back, or when an unusual number of appointments were left without a receipt. Those are signs that a routine at the desk is not working. How to get from daily takings to a picture of your real profit is covered in our guide to salon revenue reporting.
Each quarter you hand over your figures for the VAT return. Salonnare creates export files for that, which you import into Moneybird, e-Boekhouden or Exact Online. It is an export, not a live connection: you decide when the data goes to your bookkeeping. The accounting export is included from Starter.
Include payment costs when you reconcile. Every online or card payment through Salonnare carries a transaction fee of 0.5%, with a minimum of €0.30 per payment. Your payment provider also charges its own costs. Book those amounts as expenses, and what lands in your account will match your revenue.
Who can do what at the till, and where do health details belong?
If more people work the front desk, you do not want everyone to be able to do everything. In Salonnare you set permissions per staff member, for example who may check out clients and who may only view the calendar. That keeps your daily close clear, because you know who can create or change a receipt.
Another common mistake: health information in a notes field on the till or client card. Allergies, medication and skin conditions are special category data under Article 9 of the GDPR. Salonnare stores them in a separate, encrypted vault, with the client's separate consent, visible only to the staff you choose. Read more in our guide to client records software for your salon.
How to start your end-of-day close in Salonnare
Salonnare is a young platform that brings calendar, online booking, POS and client management together in one system, in five languages and with your data in the EU. You work in the browser, on a tablet at the desk, your phone or your laptop. You pay a fixed monthly amount and nothing per appointment.
Free, €0 per month: one staff member, 50 appointments per month, an online booking page, the till for cash and card, client management and email reminders.
Starter, €29 per month: up to three staff members, unlimited appointments, online payments, reporting with the day report, inventory management and the accounting export.
Pro, €59 per month: unlimited staff, plus deposits and email campaigns, among other things.
Compare the current plans on the pricing page. Still at the start of your search? Read first how to choose a POS system for your beauty salon or how to compare salon software.
Want to see what your own daily close looks like? Start free with Salonnare and check out your first appointment today.
Close your day with figures that add up
Start with the free plan: €0 per month for one staff member and 50 appointments, with the till for cash and card. As your salon grows, move up to Starter (€29) or Pro (€59).
Start free with SalonnareFrequently asked questions
What should I check when closing the day in my beauty salon?
Three things: whether all of today's appointments are paid or otherwise handled, whether the counted cash and the card total match your till, and whether deposits and product sales were processed correctly. Write down any cash discrepancy the same evening, with the amount and an explanation.
Is the day report included in Salonnare's free plan?
On the free plan you take cash and card payments and manage your clients. The day report with revenue per staff member and payment method is part of reporting, which is included in Starter (€29 per month) and Pro (€59 per month).
What do I do if the till does not add up?
Count again first and check whether a payment was recorded under the wrong method, for example cash for a receipt that was checked out as card. If it still does not match, write down the difference with the date and an explanation, so your accountant can place it later.
Does Salonnare send my till data to my accounting software automatically?
No. Salonnare creates export files that you import yourself into Moneybird, e-Boekhouden or Exact Online. It is not a live connection. The accounting export is included in Starter and Pro.
What does checking out through Salonnare cost?
You pay a fixed plan of €0, €29 or €59 per month, with no cost per appointment and no marketplace commission on new clients. Every online or card payment does carry a transaction fee of 0.5%, with a minimum of €0.30 per payment. Your payment provider also charges its own costs.