Your first hour
Six steps, in this order, and the money side is correct from the start.
8 minute read
Order matters here. Tax and inventory affect how every later number is computed. A later schedule row will not reprice stamped sales; a cabinet jurisdiction rate will restate un-remitted history. Doing these six things before your first busy day saves reconciling later.
- 1. Confirm your machines are on the fleet
Every serial you own should appear with its location and status. A machine that is not here cannot book revenue.
Machines → - 2. Put your sales tax rate on file
With an effective date. A later schedule row will not reprice stamped sales. If a cabinet sits in a different jurisdiction, set that rate on the cabinet — that does restate un-remitted history.
Tax → - 3. Receive your open purchase orders
Product, quantity, unit cost. Without this, cost of goods reads zero and your margin looks better than it is.
Warehouse → - 4. Record each site and its host deal
Serial, how the host is paid, any monthly minimum, any referrer, and the account's last four. This is the only place host pay is defined.
Venues → - 5. Add your crew and their rates
Skip this if you fill the machines yourself.
Payroll → - 6. Open P&L once
That first pass accrues the current month's host statements and gives you the identity to check everything else against.
P&L →
- Gross charged minus sales tax equals net revenue on P&L
- Cost of goods is greater than zero after your first restock
- Every placed machine appears on exactly one venue
- Each host's statement shows the deal you actually signed
- Operator net matches the identity when you add the rows up by hand
Bring venues and their commission deals over first, then open purchase orders, then leads. Historical sales stay where they are — Operator X computes from the sales it sees, and a duplicated month of history would double-accrue every host.