The reports every dry cleaning owner should check daily and monthly

Many shop owners either check nothing until month end or scroll through everything without acting on it. Neither helps. A report is useful only when you know the question it answers and what you will do with the answer.

The routine below needs a few minutes a day, a little longer once a week and about an hour a month. It works on paper or in a spreadsheet as well. The report names used here are the ones in KIWIKIT.

If a manager runs the counter, hand the daily checks to them and keep the weekly and monthly review for yourself. Agree in advance what they must tell you about the same day, for example a cash gap above a set amount or an order more than two days overdue.

Orders taken today

The counter dashboard shows today's orders and collections against yesterday, with a 7-day trend. A quiet Tuesday is normal. A quiet Saturday in wedding season is not. If the number is lower than you expect, first check whether orders were taken on paper and never entered.

Collections by payment mode

The daily receipt summary splits the day's collections by mode: cash, UPI, card, bank transfer, cheque and other. Match cash with the drawer and UPI with your bank or UPI app at closing. A gap found the same evening is usually a slip. A gap found at month end is a mystery.

Orders by stage

How many orders are received, in cleaning, on hold and ready for pickup. A growing In Cleaning count means the floor is falling behind. A growing Ready count means customers aren't collecting, so message them before rack space runs out.

Overdue orders

The overdue filter on the order list shows orders past their promised delivery date. Contact those customers before they arrive, with a new time you can keep.

Outstanding

Total dues are on the dashboard. You don't need to act on this every day, but a sudden jump usually means a large order went out unpaid, and someone should know why.

• Repeat problems. Filter the operations report to On Hold or Cancelled orders and read each order's step history. If the same reason keeps appearing, for example customers not replying to approval requests or one fabric coming back with marks, it is a process problem, not bad luck.
• Top services. The dashboard lists your top services. If Wash & Iron is growing while Dry Clean is flat, plan staff and machine time to match, and check that the rates still make sense.
• Old ready orders. Orders that have been ready for more than a week take up rack space and often carry unpaid balances. List them and send a message.
• Rate changes. The rate-change history shows who changed which price and when. A weekly look catches a wrong rate before it reaches many bills.

Once a month, open the period summary grouped by month. For each month it shows orders, pieces, amount billed, amount collected against those bills, what is still outstanding and the average order value.

• Orders and pieces show volume. If orders rise but pieces don't, customers are bringing smaller loads.
• Billed against collected shows whether work is turning into cash. A widening gap means dues are piling up.
• Average order value is the billed amount divided by the number of orders. It moves with your rates and your service mix, so watch it after a price revision.
• Receivables ageing groups dues into 0–30, 30–60, 60–90 and 90+ days. The two oldest groups need personal follow-up, because the longer a balance sits, the harder it is to collect.

The period summary counts orders by bill date, so its collected figure is what has been paid against bills raised in that period. Money received during the month, including old dues and advances, is in the cash book. Both are correct; they answer different questions. Most reports export to Excel, which makes it easy to share figures with your accountant.

Keep this table near the counter or on the owner's phone.

1. At opening, 5 minutes: orders by stage, the overdue list and today's promised deliveries.
2. At closing, 5 minutes: the daily receipt summary against the cash drawer and UPI app, and today's orders against yesterday.
3. Every Monday, 30 minutes: on-hold and cancelled orders, top services, old ready orders and rate changes.
4. First of the month, about an hour: last month's period summary, receivables ageing, reminders and calls for old dues, and exports for your accountant.

Write the routine on a card at the counter and tick it off for the first month, until it becomes a habit. Collecting the dues it uncovers is covered in managing customer records and dues.

Reports are only as good as the entries behind them. Three habits keep them honest:

• Enter orders when they come in, not at the end of the day from paper slips.
• Record payments under the right mode. A UPI payment entered as cash breaks the drawer count.
• Mark garments done as they are finished. If staff mark everything at once at the end of the day, the stage counts and overdue list are wrong all day.

You can see these reports on the reports features page, and how receipts feed them on the billing software page.