How can I verify a liquor store’s sales before buying?

Retail sales leave more trails than a bar’s tabs and event nights do. Every bottle arrives on a supplier invoice and leaves through a till, so the records can be matched against each other. Your job is to ask for them, line them up and note what does not fit. Have your accountant do the reconciliation with you, and treat each gap as a question rather than a conclusion.

Start with the till and the bank

Ask for point-of-sale exports for the full period the seller is relying on, not summaries. Then ask for the card-processor statements and the bank statements that show the deposits. Cash sales should reach the bank on a visible pattern. If deposits and till reports do not agree, ask the seller to walk you through each difference, and put the answers in writing.

Match purchases to what was sold

Wholesale invoices show what came in the door. Compare purchases and opening and closing stock with what the till says went out. Large differences may point to unrecorded sales, waste, theft or pricing errors. Ask how stock counts are done and who does them. The bar version of this check works from pours and tabs, but the idea is the same.

Read the mix, the peaks and the shrink

Ask for sales by category and by month. Look for holiday peaks, slow stretches, and any line that depends on one large customer or a single product. Ask how shrink is tracked, what is written off, and who approves it. A seller who counts carefully will have answers. Where a number matters to your decision, ask your accountant to confirm it from the source records.

• Point-of-sale exports, not summaries
• Card-processor and bank statements for the same period
• Wholesale invoices and stock counts
• Sales by category and by month
• Written-off stock and who approved it