Charges and Payments

The Finance Officer prepares meal charges with a meal date, description and amount. Counter charges add the relevant service point and charge date. Both stay linked to the meal booking and move through Draft, Posted or Voided. This lets the team distinguish a charge being prepared from an amount approved for the final account.

Payments have a separate lifecycle: Pending, Confirmed or Refunded. A pending receipt cannot settle the account simply because service is ending. The Finance Officer reconciles posted charges against confirmed payments, while keeping refunded amounts visible for investigation. The Operations Reviewer checks eligible outcomes and any explicit acknowledgment of an outstanding balance before service completion.

• Prepare the account. Link each meal or counter charge to the correct booking and include enough description or counter context to explain it. Leave the charge in Draft while its review is pending.
• Review the charge. The Operations Reviewer checks the supporting evidence before an eligible charge is posted. An authorized correction follows the void path and preserves the earlier financial context.
• Reconcile receipts. The Finance Officer checks the payment reference, received date and amount. Confirmed receipts support settlement; service completion never supplies the missing confirmation for a pending payment.

Agree how charge amounts are prepared from the booking and the service actually provided. Decide who checks the rate per meal and any applicable minimum meal rule before the charge is submitted. The amount should be explainable from the agreed service scope rather than accepted solely because a number appears on the account.

Name the source used to confirm payments and who can act on that evidence. A payment processor or accounting system is a connection to set up. Agree what an outstanding-balance acknowledgment must contain and who authorizes it. Rehearse refunded payments separately so the team does not count them as ordinary confirmed receipts.

Use an illustrative account with a posted meal charge of 120 and a posted counter charge of 8 in the agreed operating currency. A confirmed payment of 100 leaves 28 to explain. Add a Pending payment for that balance and verify that it does not make the account appear settled before confirmation.

The Finance Officer checks the receipt evidence and the Operations Reviewer examines the final account. Either the confirmed receipts support settlement or an explicit outstanding-balance acknowledgment is required before completion. Test a duplicate submission and a charge on the wrong meal booking. Neither should silently change the valid account or move an unrelated diner toward closure.

• Draft Meal Charges — Meal charges being prepared for evidence review and posting.
• Counter Charge Review — Draft counter amounts awaiting the eligible financial decision.
• Payments Awaiting Confirmation — Pending receipts whose confirmation evidence still needs attention.

Use counter activity to posted charges and account review and completion for charge and receipt rehearsal.