Not every sale needs an invoice. A customer pays by card after a session, taps their phone, or sends a quick bank transfer — the money simply turns up. Cash sale lets you record that in a few seconds, with almost everything filled in for you.
When to use it: the customer has already paid and you never sent them an invoice. If you need to send the customer a document, or they haven't paid yet, create an invoice instead.
There are two places to record one, depending on how your bank transactions get into Joy Pilot:
You have a bank feed (or you upload statements) → use the Bank Reconcile page.
No bank feed, or you only add the transactions that relate to your business → use the Quick reconcile page.
From the Bank Reconcile page
Go to your Bank Reconcile page. Click Accounting in the top menu, then Banking, and open the bank account the money arrived in.
Find the money that came in, then click
+ Create Newon that row and chooseCash sale.
Check the details. Joy Pilot has already filled in:
To — a customer called Cash sales. Know who paid? Choose them instead. Changed your mind? Click
Back to Cash salesunderneath.Date — the date the money arrived.
What did you sell? — taken from your bank line. Leave it as it is, or just start typing to replace it with something clearer, e.g. "Private yoga session".
How many, price and VAT — worked out from the money you received, so the total always matches.
Click
[ Save as final ]. The window closes and your new sale appears next to the bank line as its match.Click the tick in the middle of the row to reconcile it, just as you would for any other match.
💡 You never have to make the numbers add up. If you change How many? — say it was 2 sessions, not 1 — the price of each is adjusted so the total still equals what you were paid.
From the Quick reconcile page
Go to Quick reconcile. Click Accounting → Banking, open the bank account, then choose Actions → Quick reconcile. You'll land on the Sales tab.
Fill in the
Cash salerow at the top:Date paid — when the money went into your bank account.
What did you sell? — this starts with whatever you put last time, so if you usually sell the same thing there's nothing to type. To change it, just start typing.
How many? — leave it at 1 unless you sold more.
Amount received — the full amount you were paid, including VAT if you charge it.
Click
Submit(or press Enter).
That's it — the sale is recorded and marked as paid into that bank account, all in one go. The date stays filled in, ready for the next one. Click Recent cash sales under the row to see your last few.
Sold a product?
If you've turned on Products, your products appear as buttons just under What did you sell? — for example Yoga mats · 24.00. This works the same way in both places.
Click a product and Joy Pilot fills in the wording, works out how many you sold from the amount — £48 in for a £24 product is two — and takes them out of your stock when you save.
Products that match the amount come first, shown in solid green, so the right one is usually the first button.
Got lots of products? Just start typing in the box and they'll appear as you type.
Picked the wrong one? Click the × on the small product tag under the box, or simply type over the wording. More in Products - Adding products, keeping count of stock and selling from an invoice.
Common questions
I can't see Cash sale.
On the Bank Reconcile page it only appears for money coming in. In both places it's only available on bank accounts in your own currency.
Does my customer get anything?
No. Nothing is emailed. The sale is simply recorded in your books.
The payment covered more than one thing.
Cash sale records one line. If a single payment was for several different things, create an Invoice instead and add a line for each.
I was paid in notes and coins. How do I record that?
Pay it into your business bank account, then record the Cash sale once it's there — it's recorded as money arriving in your bank. Money you take for your business should always go through your bank account, so that your books show everything you've earned.
Several customers' money arrived as one deposit.
Record it as one Cash sale and set How many? to the number you sold — for example 5 class passes. The price of each is worked out for you.
I used to put this kind of income under Other Income. Should I change?
Yes — money from customers for what you sell is a sale, not other income. Use Cash sale from now on, and ask your accountant whether earlier entries need moving.
I made a mistake.
Open the sale from Business → Sales invoices (or click View in Recent cash sales) and delete it, then record it again. If Joy Pilot won't let you delete it, message us and we'll help.