Restaurant Accounting Services
Restaurant Accounting Services
Accurate, GAAP-compliant financials you can use to run your restaurant — not just file taxes at year-end.
Restaurant accounting is the practice of recording, classifying and reporting a restaurant's financial activity — sales, food and labor cost, and cash flow — under GAAP. FORCS delivers monthly financial statements, profit-and-loss by location, and the KPIs owners actually need to run a profitable restaurant.
What's included
Monthly financial statements
A clean income statement, balance sheet and cash-flow statement, closed on a predictable schedule.
P&L by location
Per-unit profit and loss so you can see exactly which restaurants are winning and which are leaking.
Prime cost tracking
Food cost and labor cost tracked together as prime cost — the number that makes or breaks a restaurant.
Bank & card reconciliation
Every bank and credit card account reconciled so your numbers tie out and nothing slips through.
Cash-flow management
Visibility into what's coming in and going out so you're never surprised by payroll or rent.
KPI & flash reporting
Weekly flash reports and dashboards on the metrics that matter, not a pile of raw data.
How it works
- 01
Onboard & assess
We learn your concept, connect your POS and banks, and assess the current state of your books.
- 02
Clean up & set up
We fix historical errors, structure your chart of accounts for restaurants, and set up class tracking by location.
- 03
Monthly close & report
We close the books each period and deliver financials plus a plain-English review of what changed.
- 04
Ongoing partnership
You get a restaurant financial expert on call for the decisions that move profit.
Restaurant accounting is different — and most firms treat it like any other business
A restaurant runs on razor-thin margins, daily cash, perishable inventory and a labor model unlike almost any other industry. A generalist accountant who books your sales as one line and calls it a day will never surface the problems that actually cost you money. Restaurant accounting means understanding prime cost, daily sales reconciliation, third-party delivery deposits, tip liabilities, comps and voids, and how a POS system like Toast, Square or Restaurant365 actually feeds your books.
At FORCS, restaurants are all we do. Our founder serves as outsourced Controller for a 60+ unit, $120M+ franchise group — so the reporting you get is built from real, multi-unit restaurant experience, not adapted from a template meant for a law firm.
What you actually get each month
We close your books on a predictable schedule and deliver a clean income statement, balance sheet and cash-flow statement — plus a profit-and-loss statement broken out by location so multi-unit operators can see exactly where money is made and lost. Every bank and credit card account is reconciled, accounts payable is managed, and daily POS sales are tied out to your deposits.
Most importantly, we translate the numbers. You get a short, plain-English review of what changed, what it means, and what to watch — the kind of guidance you’d expect from an in-house controller.
Prime cost, not just profit
The number that makes or breaks a restaurant is prime cost — food plus labor as a percentage of sales. We track it every period and pair it with our operations support so you’re not just reporting a bad food-cost month after it happens; you’re catching it while there’s still time to fix it. That combination of clean accounting and hands-on operations is what sets FORCS apart from a traditional CPA firm.
GAAP-compliant books your CPA will love
We keep accrual, GAAP-compliant books all year, then hand your CPA tidy year-end financials so they can focus on tax strategy instead of cleaning up your ledger. Pair this service with bookkeeping and payroll & tax for a complete back office — wherever your restaurant operates, from New York City to Los Angeles.
Who this is for
From single independent restaurants to 60+ unit franchise groups — any operator who wants financials they can trust and actually use to make decisions.
Related services
Round out your restaurant's finances
Bookkeeping
Clean, POS-integrated books, reconciled and delivered on time every period.
Learn more Our DifferenceOperations
Inventory, recipes and item-level mapping most accountants simply cannot do.
Learn morePayroll & Tax
Tip-compliant payroll, sales tax and clean year-end prep for your CPA.
Learn more
Accounting — frequently asked questions
What does restaurant accounting include?
Restaurant accounting includes recording daily sales from your POS, tracking food and labor cost, reconciling bank and credit card accounts, managing accounts payable, and producing monthly financial statements and a P&L — ideally by location for multi-unit operators.
Do you use cash or accrual accounting for restaurants?
We keep GAAP-compliant accrual books, which match expenses to the period they belong in and give a far more accurate picture of profitability than cash accounting. We can still report cash position separately so you always know your bank reality.
What is prime cost and why does it matter?
Prime cost is food cost plus labor cost, usually expressed as a percentage of sales. It's the single most important restaurant metric because it's the biggest, most controllable chunk of your expenses. We track it every period so you can act before it erodes your margin.
How often will I get financial reports?
We deliver weekly flash reporting plus a full monthly close, so you never wait until tax time to understand how your restaurant is performing.
Ready to Increase Profit and Take Control of Your Business?
Let's build a stronger, more profitable restaurant — together.