Closing a POS Session

When selling on the point of sale is finished, the POS session is closed, then validated by entering the amounts actually received and choosing the treasuries they’re delivered to. This guide explains the steps to close and validate the session, the journal entries created for cash or card sales (mada or cards), and the sides of each entry.

Closing the POS session

1. From the main menu, click POS, then POS Sessions.
2. Open the session you want to close, and click Close Session.
3. Set the Close Date and Close Time, and add Notes if you want.
4. Click Save. A message appears that the session was closed successfully, and its status changes to Closed.

Validating the session close

Closing the session only stops selling on it, while validation is the step where the received amounts are recorded and the journal entries are created. If you have the validation permission, you go to the validation page automatically after closing, or click Validate Session from the session page.

1. Review the session summary, then click Confirm.
2. A window appears with a row for each payment method used in the session (such as cash, mada and cards), containing:
   • Expected: what you should have from this method, based on the session’s sales, refunds and cash movements.
   • Counted: enter the amount you actually received after counting.
   • Difference: the difference between the two amounts (shortage or overage).
   • Delivered To: for cash only. Choose Treasury or Staff, then choose the treasury or staff member who receives the cash. If you choose another staff member, they’re asked to enter their password.
3. Click Confirm. The session status changes to Validated and its journal entries are created.

To cancel the validation and edit the amounts, click Unvalidate Session. The validation journal entries are deleted, and the session goes back to Closed.

Changing the treasury that received a previous session’s amounts

If you validated a previous session (for example, the August 29 session) and delivered the cash to the wrong treasury or staff member, and you want to direct it to another treasury (such as the cash box), you don’t need to reopen the session for selling; just unvalidate it, then validate it again:

1. From POS Sessions, open the session you need.
2. Click Unvalidate Session. The session’s validation journal entries are deleted, and the session goes back to Closed. (If the cash was delivered to another staff member, their password is required.)
3. Click Validate Session, then Confirm.
4. In the cash row, choose Treasury in Delivered To, then choose the correct treasury (such as the cash box), and enter the Counted amount.
5. Click Confirm. The validation journal entry is created again with the new treasury, and with the same session close date.

Account	Debit	Credit
Cash box (the new treasury)	115.00
Staff petty cash (cashier)		115.00
Total	115.00	115.00

• You only need Reopen Session if you want to add sales or edit invoices in it; after that, close and validate it again.
• If the session close date is inside a closed period, open the period temporarily before unvalidating.
• Unvalidating and validating require the session validation permission (all sessions or your own sessions).
• You can’t open a new session with an earlier date; the change is made on the original session itself.

When are POS journal entries created?

It depends on the Journal Entry Per Invoice setting in Point of Sale Settings:

Setting	When the journal entries are created	The journal entries created
Off (the default)	Once, when the session close is validated. No journal entries are created during selling or when closing.	The session sales entry, the session refunds entry (if any), the session validation entry, and the cost of sales entry from the requisition.
On	With every sale and payment, then one entry at validation.	An entry for each invoice, an entry for each payment, and a cost entry for each invoice, then the session validation entry.

Journal entry sides for cash or card sales

Example: during a POS session, products worth 300 + 15% VAT (45) = 345 were sold, of which 115 in cash and 230 by card (mada), and the cost of the products sold is 200. (Default setting: one entry per session.)

1. The session sales entry

It combines everything sold in the session, and the collected amount is charged to the Staff Petty Cash account (the cashier), whatever the payment method, because the cashier is responsible for the amounts until they’re delivered:

Account	Debit	Credit
Staff petty cash (cashier)	345.00
Sales		300.00
VAT account (sales)		45.00
Total	345.00	345.00

• If the session has an unpaid (deferred) invoice, its amount is charged to the client’s account instead of the staff petty cash.
• If routing the discount to Discount Allowed is on, the discount appears as a debit in the discount allowed account, and sales appear at the total before discount.
• Shipping and adjustment (rounding) accounts may also appear if they’re in the invoices.

2. The session validation entry

It moves the amount from the cashier’s petty cash to the treasuries by payment method: cash to the treasury (or staff member) chosen in Delivered To, and card payments to the bank account linked to the payment method:

Account	Debit	Credit
Treasury (cash)	115.00
Bank linked to the mada payment method	230.00
Staff petty cash (cashier)		345.00
Total	345.00	345.00

• If the payment method has fees, the fee amount is deducted from the bank and appears as a debit in the Payment Fees account (and its tax, if any).
• If there’s a shortage (the received amount is less than expected), the difference appears as a debit in the Loss Account. If there’s an overage, the difference appears as a credit in the Profit Account.

Shortage example: if you received 110 in cash instead of 115:

Account	Debit	Credit
Treasury (cash)	110.00
Bank linked to the mada payment method	230.00
Loss account (Cash Over & Short)	5.00
Staff petty cash (cashier)		345.00
Total	345.00	345.00

3. The cost of sales entry

An outbound requisition with the products sold is created for the session, and its journal entry is:

Account	Debit	Credit
Cost of sales	200.00
Inventory (warehouse account)		200.00
Total	200.00	200.00

4. The session refunds entry

If the session has refunds, a reverse entry is created: debit Returns and the tax account, and credit the staff petty cash (or the client’s account if the amount wasn’t refunded in cash). An inbound requisition is also created for the returned products.

Cash in and cash out journal entries

When you add Cash In for the cashier during the session (such as change at the start of the day): debit the staff petty cash, and credit the source treasury or staff member. For Cash Out, the opposite happens. These journal entries are created as soon as the movement is recorded.

Journal entries when a journal entry per invoice is on

When the setting is on, two journal entries are created for each invoice during selling. Example: an invoice worth 100 + 15 tax = 115, paid in cash or by card:

Invoice entry:

Account	Debit	Credit
Client	115.00
Sales		100.00
VAT account (sales)		15.00
Total	115.00	115.00

Payment entry:

Account	Debit	Credit
Staff petty cash (cashier)	115.00
Client		115.00
Total	115.00	115.00

Plus a cost of sales entry for each invoice. Then, when the session is validated, only the session validation entry is created, in the same way as above, to move the amounts from the cashier’s petty cash to the treasury and bank.

Where do I find the session’s journal entries?

• From the session page: links to the session’s journal entries (sales, refunds and validation) appear at the top of the page; click Open Full Entry to view any of them. This requires the accounting app to be enabled and the permission to view journal entries.
• From Journals: use the Source filter and choose the POS session sources.
• From the session page tabs: Summary, Cash Movements, Invoices, Requisitions, Refunds, and Client Payment.

Notes

• With the default setting, session sales don’t appear in accounting reports (such as the trial balance and income statement) until the session close is validated, because their journal entries aren’t created before that.
• The session’s journal entries are dated with the session’s close date and time.
• Cash sales and card sales are recorded the same way in the sales entry (on the cashier’s petty cash); the difference between them appears only in the validation entry, where each amount goes to its payment method’s treasury.
• If the cashier doesn’t have permission to deposit in the treasury linked to the payment method, their own primary treasury is used instead.