Accounting

We are ALL Numbers. And unless you're really into numbers (in which case you probably wouldn't even be here, but you'd be messing with your calculator) I say, leave the numbers to the "numbers people". Accountants and CPA's who can handle all of your taxes (payroll, unemployment, real estate (or in leasing, property tax w/ triple net lease; check Real Estate listings in Classifieds) sales tax, etc. and paperwork, forms, and filing, as well as profit and loss statements for your corporate meetings. Of course, you will have to pull together the appropriate information and documentation regarding this.

If you have no POS (point of service Computer System) or Personal Computer Programs for Accountings procedures, you will have to manually figure out your Guest Checks for Total Sales. A simple formula is
Total Sales - Total Discounts = Total Owed to the House.
Total Discounts can range from Gift Certificates, to Deposites, Cash Paid Out (for cash purchases of the day) to Credit Cards and/or Coupons. As of last writing, sales tax can only be applied to Total AFTER a coupon discount has been applied. Credit Card deduction is simple if you use the total amount with the tip. (the receipt is money in your servers hands)
Then you use that formula for all the sales staff for the day, and taking all of the staff's sales. You can even break down the above formula into:
Total Food Sales + Total Beverage (bar) = Sub Total - Total Credit Cards - Total Diner Programs - Total Coupons = Total Amount Due House.
At the end of the month you can use the formula of: Total Sales - Total Debt = Total Profits. Of course you can break down Total Debt as done above w/ end of night report.
I reccomend you get a large binder with monthly tabs as well as individual tabs (for purveyor and bills due) as well as 4 column ledger sheets that can be itemized as Debit, Credit, Notes and Balance for each and every expenditure listing as well as seperate ones for bank balance. Break it down by Food, Beverage, Utilities, Taxes, Lease, Rental, Equipment, Payroll & Taxes, Other Taxes, CPO (Cash Paid Out, make sure you add it accordingly to its proper heading to get true %'s) Liscences/Permits/Certificates/, Legal, Repairs & Maintenance, Office Supplies, Advertising, Accounting, Credit Cards, Uniforms & Linen, Insurance, etc. You can add up these figures and figure out your own profit and loss statements inserted in the monthly tabs. KNOW YOUR INDUSTRY STANDARDS.