Multi-Location Restaurant Cleanup & Ongoing Accounting - 9 Popeyes Franchise Locations, Iowa

Client Background

A 9-location Popeyes franchisee operating across Iowa on QuickBooks Online, with books backlogged for two years. Our team performed a full multi-location, multi-class cleanup followed by ongoing outsourced accounting support.

Part 1 - Sales, Cash & Vendor Cleanup

Before

• Location-wise sales not reconciled with Data Central (Popeyes POS).
• No system to ensure completeness of sales - significant cash shortages with no way to match daily counter sales to next-day bank deposits.
• Duplicate expenses: bills uploaded and the same expenses also categorized through bank feeds.
• Inter-location balances not matching.
• Bank and credit card accounts not reconciled since 2021.
• Third-party sales (DoorDash, Grubhub, Uber Eats) recorded on a cash basis, never reconciled with the portals.
• High operational risk - cash leakage with no documentation trail.

After

• Data Central access obtained; full sales reconciliation performed and daily cash sales tracking set up to prevent shortages.
• Third-party sales reconciled against DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber Eats reports - revenue booked at gross, with commissions, marketing fees, delivery fees, refunds and chargebacks broken out separately for channel-level profitability.
• Duplicate bills and expenses identified and removed; vendor statements cross-verified for completeness.
• All bank and credit card accounts fully reconciled.

Part 2 - Royalty, Inventory, CapEx & Payroll

Before

• Royalty payments to the Popeyes franchisor unreconciled for 3 years.
• Inventory adjustment entries never recorded - purchases booked without adjusting opening/closing inventory, distorting COGS.
• Capital asset purchases incorrectly debited to the P&L.
• Payroll for 80-90 employees never journalized - payments simply categorized on a cash basis.
• Years of unreconciled royalty payments and no visibility into true cost structure.

After

• Royalty reconciliation completed using the Popeyes portal - approximately $50,000 in overpayments identified and acknowledged by Popeyes.
• Inventory adjustment entries recorded to derive correct inventory balances and accurate COGS.
• Capital purchases reclassified out of the P&L to the balance sheet.
• Paylocity access obtained; custom payroll reports built, payroll journal entries prepared, and government payroll taxes and employee benefits fully reconciled.

Result

• 3 Months: to fully clean up a 2-year backlog across 9 locations
• $50,000: royalty overpayment identified and acknowledged by Popeyes

Ongoing Support

Following the cleanup, we now manage day-to-day accounting for all 9 locations:

• Team Involved: Senior Accountant and Junior Accountant, with oversight of a Certified Accountant.
• AP: End-to-end accounts payable management, including deep experience with Sysco, the primary Popeyes vendor.
• AR: Daily sales reconciliation with Data Central, matching cash collections to bank deposits and reconciling multiple merchant processors.
• Payroll: Bi-weekly payroll processing through QuickBooks Online Payroll.
• Royalty Verification: Weekly franchise royalty calculation and verification, flagging discrepancies and coordinating recoveries with the franchisor.
• Month-End Close: Bank/credit card reconciliations, third-party refund and commission adjustments, delivery platform receivables, inventory adjustments, rent and utility accruals, intercompany balances, and P&L/Balance Sheet preparation for owner review and bank submission.
• Cash Flow Management: Bi-weekly cash flow analysis with a rolling 15-day liquidity forecast.
• Process Improvement: SOPs developed to standardize accounting workflows.
• Tax Support: Reconciliations and documentation provided to support the CPA's tax filings.
• Franchise Reporting: Monthly profitability reports and quarterly franchise health reports for Popeyes.
• Ad-hoc Support: Additional financial analysis and accounting support as needed.

Complete Financial Control

Complete financial control. Franchise-ready reporting. Zero disruption to operations.