The management of sales is one of the key aspects to keeping a business healthy and working for you. This can also be one of the more tedious aspects of keeping control of your business’ records and information. There are two main groups of sales and they are handled in different ways. The first is cash sales, and the second is sales on account. While both of these types of sales provide your business with income, the manner in which each type is managed can differ.

Cash Sales

Cash sales refer to those sales that are made for cash. This does not necessarily mean that you are selling your product for cash in the physical sense. Cash can be represented by cash from a debit card or even from a credit card. Cash sales encompass all purchases that are made with a payment directly following. For example, when you buy a soda from a gas station and you pay for it you have made a cash sale. This is true whether or not you have made the purchase with a credit card as listed above, cash, or a debit card.

Sales on Account

Sales on account are often referred to as charges. These are sales in which the purchaser is given a product for his or her promise to pay it back. For example, if you lived in the early days of gas stations, you may have been able to fill up and put the amount on your tab. These days, this type of sale does not often occur on the basic consumer level.

Purchases such as these are, however, made by businesses, small and large, alike. An office environment, for example, may have an account with an office supply store such as Office Max, Office Depot, or Staples. The office may make an order one day, and then make another order fifteen days later. Regardless of how many orders are made, the office is sent a bill at the end of the month. This represents the account that they have with the office supply store.

The business that you are promoting will handle sales in different ways. If you are a small retail store, you will want to offer purchases to your customers for cash, credit or debit card only. When you go to order supplies, however, you will probably put the products on your account. These are the differences between cash accounts and sales on an account.