Most books fail at one moment: closing time, when the total in the book is not the money in the box. The fix is not more writing. It is three money columns (cash, MoMo, credit), a costs list, and two checks at night. Below is a whole week filled in, including the day that is GH₵ 20 short and how it is found.
Updated 8 October 2026. The layout follows the printable daily sales sheet. The week is an illustration, not a real shop; the legal points are sourced to TaxLawGH and GRA, both read on 8 Oct 2026. Free, no signup.
Credit is a sale but not money. Keep it in its own column and the box and the wallet will match your book. Mix it in and you will hunt for missing cedis that were never missing.
One page per day. For each sale write what and how many, then put the cedis in one of three columns. Costs go on a separate list. This is the same layout as the daily sales sheet you can print.
| Column | What goes in | At night |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Cash | Sales paid in notes and coins | Should match the cash you add to the box |
| 2. MoMo | Sales paid to your MoMo number | Should match the rise in your MoMo balance |
| 3. Credit | Sales taken on trust, with the name | Not money. Goes in the customer book |
| 4. Costs | Stock, transport, airtime, rent, each marked paid in cash or paid by MoMo | Taken from money in |
Example (made-up numbers, replace with yours). A provision shop, Monday to Saturday. "Paid back" is credit from an earlier day that arrived in cash. "Cash expected" is cash sales plus paid back minus cash costs; "cash counted" is what the owner actually added to the box.
| Day | Cash sales | MoMo sales | Credit sales | Costs cash | Costs MoMo | Paid back (cash) | Money in | Left | Cash expected | Cash counted | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | 240 | 85 | 120 | 60 | 0 | 0 | 325 | 265 | 180 | 180 | 0 |
| Tue | 180 | 150 | 0 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 330 | 295 | 145 | 145 | 0 |
| Wed | 210 | 60 | 45 | 20 | 120 | 0 | 270 | 130 | 190 | 170 | −20 |
| Thu | 150 | 200 | 0 | 40 | 0 | 0 | 350 | 310 | 110 | 110 | 0 |
| Fri | 300 | 120 | 80 | 55 | 0 | 120 | 420 | 365 | 365 | 365 | 0 |
| Sat | 320 | 90 | 60 | 70 | 0 | 0 | 410 | 340 | 250 | 250 | 0 |
| Week | 1400 | 705 | 305 | 280 | 120 | 120 | 2105 | 1705 | 1240 | 1220 | −20 |
Read the bottom line. All sales for the week, the way GRA would ask for them, are GH₵ 1,400 + 705 + 305 = GH₵ 2,410. The money that actually came in is GH₵ 1,400 + 705 = GH₵ 2,105. After costs of GH₵ 400 (GH₵ 280 cash, GH₵ 120 by MoMo) GH₵ 1,705 was left. Of the GH₵ 305 sold on credit, GH₵ 120 has come back, so GH₵ 185 is still owed. Four numbers for the same week, none of them wrong, each answering a different question.
A note on stock: the sheet's costs list includes stock bought, so a day you restock will look like a bad day. Mark those lines "stock" and read "left" twice, with and without them. The customer book guide covers the credit side.
The MoMo column is easy to check because your phone keeps its own record. The cash column is only as good as your book, so it needs the nightly count. Two things to keep in mind, with the details on their own pages: MoMo cash-outs and transfers carry charges, which you can work out in the MoMo charges calculator, and the 0.75% MoMo-to-bank fee announced in 2026 is currently suspended, as this guide with dates sets out. If a charge hits your wallet, it is a cost: write it. If you are a MoMo agent, a cash-out is not a sale; see the agent commission guide.
GRA's scheme page for small businesses (the Modified Taxation Scheme) says the simplified return declares your actual sales for the year. That is why the book keeps all three sales columns: add them however the tax officer asks. The scheme page we read gave no daily-book rule and no record-keeping period, so we do not claim one from it; the thresholds are explained on our scheme guide, which is updated for the 2026 Act. On records, TaxLawGH summarises the Revenue Administration Act, 2016 (Act 915) as requiring records to be kept for at least six years from the statutory date, longer while an objection, appeal, refund or investigation is open, in paper or electronic form (TaxLawGH, read 8 Oct 2026). Paying: how to pay tax as a small business. A taxi or trotro owner also has the VIT sticker.
Writing every line is why most books stop after two weeks. Say each sale as it happens instead:
| You say | CountMy writes |
|---|---|
| "Sold 3 bowls of waakye, 60 cedis" | Sale, waakye, 3 × 20, GH₵ 60 |
| "Sold oil 85, MoMo" | Sale, oil, GH₵ 85, MoMo |
| "Kofi dey owe me 50" | Kofi owes you GH₵ 50 |
| "Chop money 20" | Taken home GH₵ 20, kept apart from costs |
| "Trotro fare 5" | Cost, transport, GH₵ 5 |
| "Who owes me?" | It answers out loud |
It works in English, Twi and Pidgin, on an ordinary Android in Chrome. At night it tells you if today was better than yesterday, and the record can be sent to your own WhatsApp.
Start today's record: press and talkFree. No password, no MoMo PIN, no Ghana Card.
Rule a page per day with three money columns: cash, MoMo, credit. Write each sale in the column it was paid in. At night add each column, subtract costs, then count the cash box and read the MoMo balance. If they fit the columns, the day is right.
Write each sale as it happens, not at closing, and tick how it was paid. Closing from memory is the main reason the book and the cash box disagree.
Three columns for sales (cash, MoMo, credit), one list for costs, and one line for the cash you counted. The printable daily sales sheet on this site is laid out exactly like that.
Sales go in the three columns by how they were paid; expenses go on their own list, split into paid in cash and paid by MoMo. Money in (cash plus MoMo sales) minus costs is what is left. Chop money you take home goes on its own line, not in costs.
Write it in the credit column with the customer's name. It counts as a sale but not as money in the box. When she pays, write it as paid back, not as a new sale, or the same cedis are counted twice. The customer book keeps the names.
Cash plus MoMo sales, minus the day's costs, is what is left that day. It is not final profit: credit not yet paid, stock you bought and your own chop money change the picture, so give each its own line.
For each day: sales by cash, MoMo and credit; costs by how they were paid; the cash you counted; your MoMo balance; and who owes you. With those, you can check the day against the box and the wallet.
At least six years from the statutory date, according to TaxLawGH's summary of the Revenue Administration Act, 2016 (Act 915), and longer while an objection, appeal, refund or investigation is open. Paper and electronic records both count, so a phone record you can still open counts.
The week above is an illustration in ordinary prices, not a real shop's record. Sources: gra.gov.gh and TaxLawGH, read 8 Oct 2026. General information, not tax advice. Questions: message us on WhatsApp.