How to get a clean file out of your till or accounting system
Most point-of-sale and accounting systems can export to Excel or CSV. Look for "Export", "Reports" or "Download" next to your sales list.
Choose the detail level
Pick the export with one row per sale or per item sold, not a summary. Detail lets us find trends, top items and unusual sales.
Keep these columns
- Date
- Item or product
- Category or department
- Quantity and price, or the total amount
- Branch or till, if you have more than one
Leave out personal details you don't need
Customer phone numbers and ID numbers aren't needed for a sales report. Leaving them out keeps everyone's information safer.
Check before you upload
Headings in the first row, one row per record, no totals rows at the bottom. That's it.