Running a restaurant
End-of-day close for restaurants in Iceland: a checklist
What to count, compare and sign before you close the shift, which steps the rules require, and what goes to your accountant. A printable checklist for shift managers.
In this guide
The last guests have left, the kitchen is cleaning down, and someone has to close the day. A good close follows the same steps every night. It gives the bookkeeper clean numbers, and it gives the shift manager a calm end to the night.
This guide is for the person who closes tonight and for the bookkeeper who gets the papers tomorrow. It marks each step as either something the rules require or good practice. It describes the rules as of October 2026.
The guide What a POS must do under Icelandic rules explains the daily sales report (the Z report) and what it must show. This guide is about the routine around it.
What the rules ask for every day
Skatturinn’s page on recording sales sets out the daily routine for anyone who records sales on a POS.1
- You settle the sales at least once a day, from the POS’s daily sales report. You run the report at the end of each working day or shift.
- You move the figures to a settlement sheet (söluuppgjörsyfirlit). It shows cash sales, card sales, sales on credit, and any difference between the recorded sales and the counted cash, with an explanation.
- A manager or another responsible employee signs the documents for the day or shift. You keep them with the books.
- You back up the POS’s electronic journal at the end of each working day.
The Bookkeeping Act adds one more rule. Payments in and out of the cash must be recorded so that it is easy to compare the cash on hand with the cash book at the end of the working day or shift.2 In plain words, you count the cash and compare it with the record every day.
The checklist
Print this table and keep it next to the POS. “Rule” means that a source in the Sources list requires the step. “Good practice” means that the step makes the close easier and the numbers safer.
| # | Step | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Close or settle all open checks. | Good practice |
| 2 | Run the X report and read the voids, refunds, discounts and no-sale opens. | Good practice |
| 3 | Take out the float and count it to the fixed amount. | Good practice |
| 4 | Count the rest of the cash and write down the total. | Rule2 |
| 5 | Compare the counted cash with the cash sales on the POS. Write down the difference and the reason. | Rule1 |
| 6 | Compare the card total on the POS with the card terminal’s end-of-day total. | Good practice |
| 7 | Check card tips, gift cards sold and used, and deposits. | Good practice |
| 8 | Run the Z report to close the day. | Rule1 |
| 9 | Fill in the settlement sheet: cash, card, credit and the difference. | Rule1 |
| 10 | Sign the settlement sheet. | Rule1 |
| 11 | Check that the electronic journal is backed up. | Rule1 |
| 12 | Put the cash in the safe or bank it, and keep the deposit slip. | Good practice |
| 13 | Send the day’s documents to the bookkeeper, or file them. | Good practice |
Before you close: read the X report
The Z report closes the day, and after that the numbers do not change. So read the X report first. It shows the same figures without closing the day.
Look at the voids, refunds, discounts and the number of times the drawer opened without a sale. Skatturinn requires the no-sale count on the daily report.1 Compare the figures with a normal night. If something looks unusual, ask the person who worked that station tonight, while everyone still remembers. The guide Voids, comps and missing cash explains how to read these numbers fairly.
Count the cash
Start with the float, the change that stays in the drawer for tomorrow. Count it to the same fixed amount every night, for example 30.000 kr., and put it aside. Then count the rest by note and coin and write down the total.
If you can, let two people do the count: one counts and the other checks. Rotate the roles. This protects the person who closes as much as the business.
Compare the counted cash with the cash sales on the POS. Small differences happen on most nights. Common reasons are wrong change, a card payment entered as cash, or a tip paid out from the drawer. Write the difference and the reason on the settlement sheet. The rules require an explanation for every difference.1
When there is more cash than the report shows, the extra counts as sales. If you do not know which VAT rate the extra belongs to, Skatturinn says to split it by the average VAT mix of that day’s sales.1 For example, a surplus of 1.000 kr. on a day when all sales were food and drink at 11 % carries 1.000 × 11 ÷ 111 = 99 kr. of VAT. Skatturinn’s page does not describe how to record a shortage. Ask your accountant how to record one.
Card payments
The card total on the POS and the end-of-day total on the card terminal should match. If they do not, the usual reasons are a payment taken on the terminal without the POS, a payment entered twice, or a refund done in one place only. Find the payment while the night is fresh.
A few days later, your bookkeeper compares the card sales with the payout from your card acquirer in the bank. The payout is often lower than the sales, because many acquirers take their fees from the payout. The guide Card fees explained shows how those fees work.
Tips, gift cards and deposits
Tips paid by card. The tips come in through the terminal with the bill. Record them separately from sales, with the name of the person or the team that they belong to. How you pay them out and how they are taxed is a question for your accountant.
Gift cards. A gift card sold tonight goes into the sales record when the guest pays for it, and the guest gets a receipt.1 A gift card used tonight is a payment for the meal. Check that the gift card figures on the report match the cards that you sold and took in. The guide Gift cards at a restaurant in Iceland explains the VAT side.
Deposits. A payment before the meal, such as a deposit for a group booking, is recorded when you receive it.1 Check tonight’s deposits against the bookings that they belong to.
Close, sign and back up
Run the Z report and fill in the settlement sheet. Many POS systems make the settlement sheet for you from the Z report. You then add the counted cash and the explanation of any difference. Sign the sheet, or confirm it in the system if your accountant accepts an electronic sign-off.
Skatturinn asks for a backup of the electronic journal at the end of each working day.1 On a cloud POS, the seller usually takes care of this. Ask your seller to confirm it in writing.
In Resto, the Z report closes the day and then cannot change, and the back office keeps every Z report. You can read them on your phone the next morning.
What goes to the accountant, and how long to keep it
Agree with your accountant what they need each day or each week. Usually it is the Z report, the settlement sheet, the bank deposit slip and the card terminal’s end-of-day total. Many POS systems can send the day’s figures to an accounting system such as dk, Regla or Payday.
VAT in Iceland is normally settled every two months, and the due date is one month and five days after the period ends. For example, VAT for January and February is due on 5 April.3 Clean daily closes make that return quick to prepare.
Keep the daily documents with the books for seven years from the end of the financial year.2 A paper inner tape from an older cash register only has to be kept for three years, as long as the books are complete and the annual accounts are signed.2 The POS rules guide explains how this applies when you change POS.