How to reconcile Mobile Money payments at the end of the day

Mobile Money has made selling easier, but it has also created a new kind of gap: the sale that was "paid by MoMo" but never actually arrived. Sometimes it is an honest mistake, such as a payment sent to the wrong number or a failed transfer. Sometimes it is a fake payment message. Either way, you only find out if you check.

The good news is that checking takes a few minutes a day once you have a routine.

Why do MoMo payments go missing?

Most gaps come from a handful of causes:

• Fake confirmation messages. A customer shows an SMS that looks like a MoMo confirmation, but it was typed or forwarded, not sent by the network.
• Wrong number. The customer sends the money to a similar number, or to an old wallet you no longer use.
• Failed or pending transfers. The customer saw "pending", assumed it went through, and left.
• Staff mistakes. A cash sale gets recorded as MoMo, or the other way round, so the drawer and the wallet both look wrong.
• Theft. A staff member records a cash sale as MoMo and keeps the cash.

Rule one: the SMS is not the payment

The only proof that you have been paid is the money in your wallet. A message on the customer's phone, or even on yours, can be faked. For bigger amounts especially, check your MoMo balance or your transaction history before handing over goods.

Train every cashier on this. Put a short note by the till: "Check the wallet, not the message."

Rule two: record the transaction ID

Every MoMo payment has a transaction ID. Write it down on the sale, every time. With the ID recorded, matching becomes a quick tick-list instead of guesswork. Without it, all you have is a list of amounts, and two GH₵50 payments look exactly the same.

What is a good closing routine?

1. Close the till. Count the cash and compare it to what the system says should be there.
2. Open your MoMo statement for the day: the app or the statement from your network.
3. Go down the list of MoMo sales and tick each transaction ID you find on the statement.
4. Look at what is left. A sale with no matching payment needs chasing today, while the cashier still remembers the customer.
5. Look the other way too. A payment on the statement with no matching sale may be a sale that was never recorded.

Done daily, this takes minutes. Done once a month, it takes an afternoon and you will never recover some of the money.

Keep wallets separate

If you can, use a merchant account or a wallet only for the business. Mixing personal and business MoMo makes every reconciliation harder, and makes it impossible to see what the business really earned.

If you have several wallets (for example MTN MoMo and Telecel Cash), record which one each payment went to.

How does ManuelPOS help?

ManuelPOS shows your own MoMo numbers at the till so customers pay the right wallet. The cashier records the transaction ID with each payment, and the money goes straight to you, with no payment company in the middle. When you close the till, cash and MoMo are counted separately, and the monthly report lists every MoMo payment with its ID so you can tick them off against your statement.

Every void and change is also recorded against the person who made it, so you can see who did what.

Try it free for 14 days, or read how to choose a POS system.