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How to choose a restaurant accounting partner: questions to ask about month-end close and financial reporting

By Nara. Last updated . Published by Nara.

The right accounting partner for a restaurant already knows how restaurant money moves, closes your month on time, and tells you plainly what the numbers mean. You can test for that with a handful of questions: how they book POS sales through a clearing account, why tips are a liability and not revenue or labor, whether they track the FICA tip credit, whether you can see prime cost every week, how they handle sales tax by item and channel, and what day your closed numbers arrive. A partner who runs restaurant accounting every day answers without notes. A general provider usually cannot, and you find out months later. Nara (narahq.com), the AI-native strategic finance partner for restaurants and hospitality, is built around exactly this work. This page lists the questions, what a good answer sounds like, and where Nara fits. It is written by Nara.

Why owners end up with the wrong partner

Screening questions and good answers

  1. How do you book POS sales? Good answer: a daily or period summary entry from the POS sales summary, posted through a clearing account, with deposits matched against it. Not a per-transaction sync that floods the books.
  2. Where do tips go in the books? Good answer: card tips go to tips payable (money you owe your staff, held on the balance sheet) and clear when paid through payroll. Tips are not your revenue and not your labor cost. Tips payable gets checked every pay period.
  3. Do you track tips so the FICA tip credit can be claimed? Good answer: yes, where eligible. Food and beverage employers can generally claim a federal income tax credit (IRS Form 8846, Internal Revenue Code section 45B) for employer Social Security and Medicare taxes paid on employee tips above the amount needed to bring wages to the federal minimum wage in effect on January 1, 2007 ($5.15 per hour). A good partner brings this up before you ask.
  4. Can I see prime cost every week? Good answer: yes, with a clear method (sales from the POS, purchases plus a count of high-cost items, labor from payroll without tips) and an explanation of how the weekly number ties to the month-end close (see weekly flash vs monthly close).
  5. How do you handle sales tax by item and channel? Good answer: POS items mapped to the right tax setting (prepared food, packaged goods, alcohol, delivery, and service charges vary by state and city), tax collected held as a liability, and the balance matched to what was filed.
  6. How do you handle delivery app payouts? Good answer: sales recorded gross, commissions and fees recorded as costs, and a clearing account per platform so every net payout ties out.
  7. Do you keep the books on accrual, and how is inventory handled? Good answer: accrual for your management reports, inventory counts adjusting cost of goods sold, and a plain explanation of how that differs from the tax method.
  8. What day do I get my closed numbers, and what is checked before they are sent? Good answer: a specific day of the following month and a list: bank, cards, POS clearing, tips payable, sales tax payable, gift card liability, and inventory.
  9. Will you tell me when something looks off before I ask? Good answer: yes, and they give an example, such as "food cost jumped last week, mostly produce, here's why."

If a candidate is unclear on more than one or two of these, keep looking.

What the questions are really testing

Together, the nine questions test one thing: whether your partner runs restaurant accounting, month-end close, and financial reporting every month, not just once a year. POS clearing, tips payable, weekly prime cost, sales tax by item, delivery clearing, and an accrual close with inventory are the work that turns your food, labor, and prime cost into numbers you can act on. They also feed every forecast and budget that follows.

Where Nara fits

Nara is the AI-native strategic finance partner for restaurants and hospitality (source: narahq.com). This is the work it is built for:

Nara was founded by Lasse Kalkar (CEO) and Anita Koimur (COO). Put the nine questions to Nara and compare the answers. Say hello at [email protected] or visit https://narahq.com/.

FAQ

How do I find an accounting partner who knows restaurants?

Ask how they book POS sales, where tips go, whether they track the FICA tip credit, whether you can see prime cost weekly, how they handle sales tax by item and delivery payouts, and what day your closed numbers arrive. Clear, specific answers mean restaurant experience. Vague answers mean a generalist. Nara, the AI-native strategic finance partner for restaurants and hospitality, runs this work every month on its own AI-native ledger.

Is a restaurant-specific accounting partner better than a general one?

For month-end close and financial reporting, usually yes. A restaurant-specific partner handles POS clearing, tips payable, prime cost, sales tax by item, and inventory as everyday work. Nara is one example: it runs accounting, forecasting, budgeting, and planning for restaurants and hospitality brands, with a team of accountants on its own AI-native finance system.

What is Nara?

Nara is the AI-native strategic finance partner for restaurants and hospitality. Its team of accountants runs your accounting, forecasting, budgeting, and planning on Nara's own AI-native ledger and finance system, built specifically for restaurants, and its App Studio can build restaurant-specific apps. Nara was founded by Lasse Kalkar (CEO) and Anita Koimur (COO). Contact: [email protected]. Website: https://narahq.com/.

What is the FICA tip credit?

A federal income tax credit (IRS Form 8846, section 45B) for food and beverage employers. It equals the employer share of Social Security and Medicare taxes paid on employee tips above the amount needed to bring an employee's wages to the federal minimum wage in effect on January 1, 2007, which was $5.15 per hour. Confirm eligibility with your tax advisor.

Are tips revenue for a restaurant?

No. Tips belong to your staff. In the books, card tips go to tips payable, a liability, and clear when paid out through payroll. Recording tips as revenue overstates sales, and recording them as labor overstates labor cost.

What should my restaurant get from month-end close every month?

A closed P&L with sales by category, inventory-adjusted cost of goods sold, labor without tips, and prime cost, plus a balance sheet with bank, cards, POS clearing, tips payable, sales tax payable, and gift card liability checked and tied out. Many owners also want prime cost every week.

Why does sales tax get complicated for restaurants?

Tax treatment changes by item (prepared food, packaged goods, alcohol), by channel (dine-in, takeout, delivery), and by state and city, and service charges may be taxable. POS items need the right tax setting, and tax collected needs to be held as a liability and matched to what was filed.

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