MunshiA Pakistani-run grocery shop in Saudi Arabia can keep its credit customers on Munshi in riyals, in Urdu or English, without internet and without a fee. The neighbourhood baqala runs on trust: workers, drivers and families take daily needs on credit and settle when salaries arrive. The record of that trust is usually a notebook. This guide shows a phone-based routine that keeps the same simplicity and removes the arguments.
The problem with the notebook
Credit in a baqala is many small amounts: bread, milk, a phone card, cigarettes, rice. Over a month a regular customer may have forty entries. Adding them up takes time, a missed line causes a dispute, and if the worker on the night shift writes in a different way, nobody can read it. When a customer’s contract ends and they leave the country, whatever was not collected is lost.
Set up in five minutes
- Install Munshi and sign in with your mobile number.
- Create the business, choose Kiryana / General store, and set the currency to SAR.
- Add your regular customers with their current balance. Pick numbers from your contacts so reminders reach WhatsApp directly.
- Give each customer a recognisable name, for example “Imran driver building 4”, so the night worker picks the right account.
Daily use
When a customer takes goods on credit, open their name and tap You gave. Type the amount; the Hazar key adds three zeros if you need it. Add a short note. When they pay, tap You got. The balance updates at once and the customer’s page shows every entry with date and note. If you tap the wrong button, press and hold the entry and switch it; nothing else changes.
Two phones can share one khata: sign in with the same account on the worker’s phone. Entries made on either phone appear on both, and entries made offline sync later.
Salary day collection
Credit in Saudi shops settles around salary dates. Before then:
- Open Reminders, tick everyone with a balance, and tap Send reminders. WhatsApp opens for each customer with the amount written; press Send and move to the next.
- For a customer who disputes, share the statement PDF in Urdu or English.
- Set a due date for anyone who promises a date; Home shows a strip when someone is due today or late.
Read how to set a credit limit policy for advice on how much to allow each customer, especially customers on short contracts.
Cash and the day’s closing
The Cash Book records cash in and out of the drawer, and Expenses records rent, electricity and supplier purchases. Before closing, Today’s closing shows credit given and received today, cash in hand and expenses on one screen, and shares it as text. Owners who are not in the shop every day ask the worker to send it each night.
What it does not do
- Not ZATCA e-invoicing. Munshi does not produce Fatoora-compliant tax invoices or connect to ZATCA.
- No stock or barcode scanning. It records money, not items.
- No payments. It records what was paid; it does not take card or wallet payments.
Most small baqalas use a POS or invoicing tool for tax and a notebook for credit. Munshi replaces the notebook.
Language and privacy
The whole app is in Urdu or English. Customer names, numbers and amounts are never shared with advertisers, and backups go to the phone and to your own Google Drive. If the phone is lost, sign in on a new phone and your khata comes back.
A routine that protects your money
- Write every credit sale at the counter, never later from memory.
- Keep credit short for customers on short contracts.
- Remind a few days before salary day, not weeks after.
- Check Today’s closing every night and compare cash in hand with the drawer.
A worked month
Say a baqala has 60 regular credit customers. On the 1st, balances are zero. Through the month the night worker records about 15 credit sales a day, each with a two-word note. On the 25th the owner opens Reminders, ticks the 48 customers with a balance and sends reminders one by one: about ten minutes of work. Customers who query an amount get the statement PDF. By the 5th of the next month most balances are paid; the Accounts list, filtered to Not paid in 30 days, shows the few that are not, and those customers get no more credit until they pay.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Two accounts for one person. Search before adding a new customer; the search also matches phone numbers.
- Wrong direction. Credit given is You gave; money received is You got. If you press the wrong one, press and hold the entry to switch it.
- No notes. An amount without a note is the start of most disputes.
- Waiting too long to remind. Old balances are the ones that are never paid.
Moving from the notebook
You do not need to copy the whole register. Add each customer with today’s balance as the opening amount and start fresh from there. Keep the old notebook for reference for a month. If you already have a list in Excel, import it in one step.
When the owner is away
Many Saudi shops are run by a worker while the owner travels or manages other branches. Ask the worker to share Today’s closing on WhatsApp every night. It shows credit given and received, cash in hand and expenses, so the owner can see the day without calling. If the owner signs in to the same account, the full khata is on their phone too, updated when the worker’s phone syncs. If you run more than one branch, keep each as its own business so totals stay separate.
Munshi is free, made in Pakistan by DIGIT. If you also run a shop in the Emirates, see the UAE guide.