Books overview
Books is OrderUp's built-in accounting. It is a full double-entry general ledger fed by what happens in the restaurant, rather than a report you export into someone else's accounting package.
What it covers
| Area | What it does |
|---|---|
| General ledger | Double-entry ledger; every posting balances |
| Sales | Restaurant sales post automatically from the till |
| Accounts receivable | Invoices, estimates, customers, credit memos |
| Accounts payable | Vendor bills and payments |
| Banking | Connected bank and card feeds, matching, reconciliation |
| Payroll | Where connected, payroll posts to the ledger |
| Settlement | Card receipts matched to the deposits that actually landed |
Where sales come from
You do not enter restaurant sales into Books. They post from the till as orders settle. What you do enter is everything the restaurant does not generate on its own — bills from suppliers, invoices to catering customers, bank transactions that are not card settlements.
Card money and bank deposits are not the same number
A day's card sales and the deposit that arrives in the bank differ by the processor's fee and by the processor's own settlement timing. Books matches them rather than assuming they agree, and derives the fee from the bank line rather than from an assumption.
This is why a deposit can appear a day or more after the sales it covers, and why matching is a real step rather than a formality.
Getting started
- Connect your bank so transactions flow in.
- Review the chart of accounts. A default is provided; adjust it to how you actually want to see your business.
- Set your fiscal periods, so closing a month means something.
- Match your first settlement, so you can see the whole loop.
This page is an orientation. Per-area guides — bills, job costing, retainage, settlement, the editable ledger — are being published section by section. In the meantime, the in-app help in Management → Books is current.