Sari-Sari Store Bookkeeping: A Beginner's Guide

Running a sari-sari store is about speed: serving customers fast, keeping popular items in stock, and knowing which neighbors still owe you money. Bookkeeping is the last thing most store owners want to think about between customers.

But here's the truth: the sari-sari store owners who track their numbers — even just a simple notebook — are the ones who survive. They know what's selling, what's sitting, and whether they're actually making money or just keeping busy.

This guide gives you a bookkeeping system that fits a sari-sari store: simple enough to maintain daily, clear enough to tell you whether you're profitable.

Why Track Numbers at All?

Most sari-sari stores fail not because of bad products or bad location — they fail because the owner doesn't know if the business is making or losing money. Cash in the register feels like profit, but:

• Some of that cash is from capital (the money you started with)
• Some belongs to suppliers you haven't paid yet
• Some is still owed by neighbors buying on credit (utang)
• Some is sitting in inventory you paid for but haven't sold

Without records, you can't see any of this. You just watch the cash come and go and hope for the best.

With even a simple bookkeeping habit — 10 minutes every evening — you can:

• Know your real daily profit
• Spot which items to restock vs. stop carrying
• Chase outstanding utang before it becomes a write-off
• Show a bank or cooperative a financial record when you need a business loan

BIR Registration: What You Need to Know

Before getting into the numbers, a practical note on BIR requirements.

All sari-sari stores are required to register with the BIR, even small ones. Here's how the tax treatment works:

• Annual gross sales below ₱3,000,000: You register as a non-VAT taxpayer and pay percentage tax of 3% (under Section 116 of the Tax Code, as amended by the TRAIN Law). This is filed quarterly.
• Annual gross sales at or above ₱3,000,000: You are required to register as a VAT taxpayer (12% VAT on sales, with input VAT credits on purchases). You can also voluntarily register as VAT even below the threshold if you expect to cross it.

The Simple Daily Sales Log

The foundation of sari-sari store bookkeeping is the daily sales record. Here's a simple format you can use in a notebook or a Google Sheet:

Date	Cash Sales	Credit Sales (Utang)	Collections (Utang Bayad)	Total Cash Received
Apr 1	₱2,400	₱300 (Aling Rosa)	₱150 (Mang Ben)	₱2,550
Apr 2	₱1,850	₱200 (Junior)	—	₱1,850
Apr 3	₱3,100	—	₱300 (Aling Rosa)	₱3,400

Cash Sales = items paid in full at purchase
Credit Sales = items taken by neighbors who will pay later (utang)
Collections = utang payments received
Total Cash Received = Cash Sales + Collections (not credit sales — those haven't been received yet)

Your real income is Cash Sales + Credit Sales for the day. But your cash on hand increases only by Cash Sales + Collections.

Tracking Your Utang List

Sari-sari stores live and die by their utang management. Credit to neighbors is a competitive necessity, but uncollected utang can sink you.

Keep a separate utang ledger — one page per customer:

ALING ROSA
Date        Items              Amount    Balance
Apr 1       rice 5kg, sugar   ₱300      ₱300
Apr 3       payment received  -₱300     ₱0
Apr 5       instant noodles   ₱120      ₱120

Review the utang ledger weekly. If a customer's balance hasn't moved in two weeks, remind them politely. If it hasn't moved in a month, stop extending new credit until they pay.

Tracking Inventory

Inventory is the heart of a retail business. Here's the basic inventory equation:

Cost of Goods Sold = Opening Stock + Purchases − Closing Stock

How to do a simple inventory count

Step 1: Count opening stock at the start of the week (Monday morning)
Write down what you have and its cost. Don't try to count every item individually at first — group similar items.

Step 2: Record all purchases during the week
Every time you buy from your supplier (whether it's a distributor, the palengke, or SM), record:

• Date
• Supplier
• Items bought
• Total amount paid

Step 3: Count closing stock at the end of the week (Sunday night)
Same process as opening stock.

Step 4: Compute cost of goods sold

Example:
Opening stock value:    ₱12,000
Purchases this week:    ₱8,500
Closing stock value:    ₱11,200

Cost of Goods Sold = ₱12,000 + ₱8,500 − ₱11,200 = ₱9,300

If your weekly sales were ₱15,000, then:

Gross Profit = Sales − COGS = ₱15,000 − ₱9,300 = ₱5,700 (38% gross margin)

A Week's Worth of Books

Here's what a full week of simple sari-sari bookkeeping looks like:

Week of April 7–13, 2025

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	TOTAL
Cash Sales	2,400	1,850	2,100	2,900	3,200	4,100	3,600	20,150
Credit Sales	300	200	0	400	150	200	100	1,350
Utang Collections	150	0	300	0	500	200	0	1,150

Total Sales (Cash + Credit) = ₱21,500

Expenses for the week:

• Restocking purchases: ₱8,500
• Plastic bags and containers: ₱150
• Electricity (weekly estimate): ₱400
• Total expenses: ₱9,050

Weekly Profit (before owner's draw) = ₱21,500 − ₱9,050 = ₱12,450

This is a gross profit, before BIR percentage tax and any other costs. But even a rough number like this tells you whether the week was good or bad — and lets you compare week to week.

Common Expenses to Track

Don't forget these costs when computing your real profit:

• Restocking/purchases (the biggest one)
• Electricity (especially if you have a refrigerator)
• Plastic bags, weighing scale calibration, tape
• Mobile load (if you sell e-load as a service)
• Delivery/transport costs when fetching supplies
• Percentage tax (3% of quarterly gross receipts, filed and paid to BIR)
• Barangay permit fee (annual)

Moving to Digital Records

A notebook works, but it has risks: it can be lost, damaged, or become hard to read. Even a simple Google Sheet shared with yourself across devices is an improvement.

If you're ready for something purpose-built, accounting software like Akauntants can:

• Automatically compute your percentage tax due each quarter
• Track utang (accounts receivable) with payment reminders
• Generate a simple income statement showing your real profit
• Keep inventory records that sync when you restock

You don't need to know accounting to use it — the same way you don't need to know how a credit card processor works to accept GCash.

The Minimum You Should Track

If you do nothing else, track these three things every day:

1. Total sales (cash + credit)
2. Total expenses (what you spent to restock and run the store)
3. Outstanding utang balance (who owes you and how much)

That's it. Ten minutes a day. The difference between a sari-sari store that thrives and one that closes in two years often comes down to whether the owner did this or not.

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BIR registration requirements for sari-sari stores are governed by the National Internal Revenue Code and TRAIN Law (R.A. 10963). Percentage tax rates and filing deadlines are current as of 2026. Consult the BIR or a registered tax agent for your specific situation.