Originally published in March 2019. Updated in April 2022.
Overview
This white paper describes how Micros Outstanding Checks affect the Net Sales shown in the reports we generate and the Journal Entries we deliver to your accounting system.
Logic Forte collects a detailed snapshot of your daily sales activity from each of your Sonic Drive-In locations. We display this information in your Logic Forte web portal and deliver this information in your daily email reporting. Many customers also rely on us to deliver daily or monthly Journal Entries with this information into their accounting systems.
When we began supporting Micros Point of Sale years ago, we found that the daily Journal Entries would occasionally be out of balance by the Outstanding Checks amount shown on the Daily Summary Report (DSR). We initially added Outstanding Checks to the store’s Cash Short/Long adjustment so that the daily Journal Entry would balance.
Franchisees began seeing quite a few of these Outstanding Checks in late 2018 due to a change within the Micros POS system. After discussing this issue with customers, it became clear that these checks were related to orders that had never been paid in most cases and that the Outstanding Checks amount was offset with a reversing entry on a future Daily Summary Report (DSR) when each Outstanding Check was later cancelled/removed. In early 2019, Logic Forte stopped adding the Outstanding Checks amount to Cash Short/Long adjustment and instead began deducting Outstanding Checks from Net Sales to provide our customers with a more accurate Net Sales amounts and more accurate Net Sales growth rates for given days or weeks.
We now deduct the new Outstanding Checks from the Net Sales each day. We ignore any Carry Over amounts. Most stores are not affected by this adjustment because they correct Outstanding Checks every day and show an Outstanding amount of zero dollars ($0.00). Stores that allow Outstanding Checks to carry over for multiple days would find that their Journal Entries were out of balance by this Carry Over amount. Prior to this change, the original Outstanding Check was incorrectly being deducted from Net Sales multiple days in a row.
Tables
Table 1. Original Net Sales vs Adjusted Net Sales
The table above shows Original Net Sales (as shown in Daily Summary Report), Outstanding Checks (also shown in Daily Summary Report), and our Adjusted Net Sales (Original Net Sales minus Outstanding Checks). The table also shows Prior Year Net Sales, Sales Growth vs Original Net Sales, and Sales Growth vs Adjusted Net Sales.
The table above provides the following observations:
- Original Net Sales for Thursday are inflated by $1,050.40 due to new Outstanding Checks (e.g. checks that were recorded, but never collected/paid).
- Original Net Sales for Friday are deflated by $1,005.13 due to corrected Outstanding Checks (e.g. unpaid checks that were removed from sales).
- According to Original Net Sales, Year-Over-Year Growth for Thursday and Friday are +53.88% and -4.17% respectively, due to the artificially inflated sales on Thursday and the artificially deflated sales on Friday.
- According to our Adjusted Net Sales, Year-Over-Year Growth for Thursday and Friday are +23.59% and +26.51% respectively, which more accurately represents this location's actual growth each day.
- This location Carried Over $55.03 worth of Outstanding Checks into the following week. Keep in mind this $55.03 amount represents checks that were never collected and will be corrected/removed from Net Sales at some point. By deducting this Outstanding Checks amount of $55.03 from Net Sales for the Current Week, we are able to provide a more accurate Year-Over-Year Weekly Growth amount (Growth +12.24% instead of Growth +12.46%).
Examples
The following examples demonstrate how to calculate net Outstanding Checks using the Carried Over and Outstanding amounts in several different scenarios.
Example 1. Outstanding Checks with no Carried Over amount
Micros Daily Summary Report (DSR) shows a Net Sales amount of $5,335.51 and an Outstanding Checks amount of $1,050.40. There is no Carry Over amount. ($1,050.40 Total - $0.00 Carried Over = $1,050.40 New Outstanding Checks)
Logic Forte calculates Adjusted Net Sales of $4,285.11 by subtracting $1,050.40 Outstanding Checks from Original Net Sales of $5,335.51.
Note: We have not seen an example where the Carry Over amount is greater than the Outstanding Checks amount. If this occurs, our system will increase Net Sales by the difference.
Example 2. Outstanding Checks with Carried Over amount greater than Outstanding amount.
Micros Daily Sales Report (DSR) shows a Net Sales amount of $3,139.34 and an Outstanding Checks amount of $32.69 and a Carried Over amount of $1,037.82. The Outstanding Checks amount is reduced by $1,005.13. ($32.69 Outstanding - $1,037.82 Carried Over = -$1,005.13 New Outstanding Checks)
Logic Forte calculates Adjusted Net Sales of $4,114.47 by adding $1,005.13 Outstanding Checks to Original Net Sales of $3,139.34.
Example 3. Outstanding Checks with equal Carry Over and Outstanding amounts
Micros Daily Sales Report (DSR) shows a Net Sales amount of $2,796.89 and an Outstanding Checks amount of $39.84 and a Carry Over amount of $39.84. There are no new Outstanding Checks. ($39.84 Total - $39.84 Carried Over = $0.00 New Outstanding Checks)
Logic Forte does not adjust the Net Sales. Our reports show Net Sales amount of $2,796.89.
Example 4. Outstanding Checks with Carried Over amount less than Outstanding amount
Micros Daily Sales Report (DSR) shows a Net Sales amount of $7,010.14 and an Outstanding Checks amount of $87.71 and a Carry Over amount of $85.32. There are $2.39 in new Outstanding Checks. ($87.71 Total - $85.32 Carried Over = $2.39 New Outstanding Checks)
Logic Forte calculates Net Sales of $7,007.75 by subtracting $2.39 new Outstanding Checks from $7,010.14 Net Sales.
