Vet Clinic Pre-Accounting: Till, Accounts and Collections

Pre-accounting in a clinic means recording the day's money movements in an orderly way: what was sold, what was collected, who owes, whom you owe. Official bookkeeping and tax returns are the accountant's job; the clinic-side pre-accounting is making sure the till balances at the end of the day and clean data reaches your accountant. VetBis runs this part in its cash desk and collections and billing screens. VetBis is not an official accounting program and does not offer a ready-made accounting software integration.

Pre-accounting versus official accounting

	Pre-accounting in the clinic	Official accounting at the accountant
Goal	Record daily money movement correctly	Statutory books, returns, tax
Who does it	Reception, till, clinic manager	Accountant
Frequency	Every day	Monthly and periodic
Output	Till closing, account statements, reports	Returns, balance sheet

Keeping this split clear prevents two things: the clinic leaving accounting to "the software", and the accountant getting half the data every month.

The income side

Every exam, vaccination, procedure and product sale enters the record as a line item. Items turn into an invoice or a sales record. Set the VAT rate per item with your accountant; the rate can differ by product and service, and this article is not tax advice.

Ways of collecting

• Cash, card, bank transfer
• Part payment and open account (credit)
• Separating immediate and deferred collection

Record the payment method on each collection. Seeing cash and card totals separately at the end of the day is the shortest route to finding where a difference arose.

Till session and end-of-day closing

A till session opens at the start of the day, and at the end the counted money is compared with the amount in the system. If there is a difference, write down the cause that day: a missing entry, the wrong payment type, a refund. If closing is skipped, the difference surfaces weeks later and its cause cannot be found. For the step-by-step flow, see the till and end-of-day closing article.

Customer accounts and debt tracking

Each pet owner has a customer account: debit, credit and the account statement in one place. A reminder list is produced for overdue balances. You can make the reminders by phone; messaging channels are waiting for an external provider connection, so nothing is sent automatically right now. If you plan to send messages, see the communication permission rules.

One small rule helps with open accounts: when an owner with a balance returns, the desk mentions it politely and the note is written to the account. That way a receivable stops being a forgotten receivable.

Ageing the open accounts

Group receivables by age: 0-30 days, 31-60 days, 61-90 days and older. Assign a different action to each group, such as a polite reminder for the first and a manager conversation for the oldest. The thresholds and actions are the clinic's decision.

Expenses and suppliers

Sort regular expenses into categories: drugs and consumables, payroll, rent, equipment maintenance. When goods are bought from a supplier, the purchase record creates the payable, and entering the payment closes it; part payments can be recorded too. Stock and finance are then fed by the same movement; see the inventory article. For payroll cost and commission, see shifts, leave and commission.

Handing off to the accountant

VetBis does not offer a ready-made accounting software connection. That leaves two routes: export reports and documents at period end and send them to the accountant, or prepare a regular list the accountant can key into their own system. What matters is that the monthly close goes in the same format on the same date.

The monthly pack should contain:

1. Period income summary (by day and month)
2. Breakdown by payment type
3. List of invoices and sales records issued
4. Open account list
5. Supplier purchases and payments
6. Till closing records

For official e-document status, see the e-invoice article; in VetBis, e-document sending is waiting for an integrator connection.

Financial reports

For monthly and yearly tracking, these reports are enough:

• Income by day and month
• Breakdown by payment type
• Open account ageing
• Income by service and product
• Branch summary (for multi-site clinics)

See the reporting page for the report types, and the 10 essential reports article for which ones come first.

Common mistakes

1. Closing the till every two or three days in bulk.
2. Entering every payment as "cash".
3. Writing credit in a notebook and never in the system.
4. Putting supplier goods on the shelf without recording the purchase.
5. Sending the accountant data in a different format each month.

Monthly pre-accounting checklist

• All till sessions closed
• Open account list pulled
• Supplier payables and due dates reviewed
• Invoice and sales records checked for completeness
• Month-end report sent to the accountant

Frequently asked questions

Does VetBis replace official accounting software? No. It keeps the clinic's internal till, account and collection records; official books and returns stay with the accountant.

Is there an automatic export to accounting software? There is no ready-made accounting integration; reports and documents are exported and sent to the accountant.

Can part payments and credit be recorded? Yes; open accounts and part collections appear in the customer account.

Who sets the VAT rate? You set it per product and service together with your accountant; the software applies the rate you define.

Conclusion

Pre-accounting discipline rests on the same three jobs every day: till closing, account follow-up and complete records. Once those are in place, the month-end conversation with your accountant gets shorter. For plan and pricing details, see the pricing page.