X report vs Z report: what is the difference?

What is an X report?

An X report is a reading of the till in the middle of a shift. It shows the sales, refunds, discounts and payments so far, and it leaves the shift open: nothing is counted, nothing is reset and nothing is signed off.

Shops use it to check a drawer at lunchtime, to answer a question about a payment before the shift ends, or to look at a till that seems busier or quieter than it should be. You can read an X report as often as you like.

What is a Z report?

A Z report is the report that closes a shift. On old cash registers the Z reading printed the day's totals and reset them to zero, which is where the name comes from. On a modern POS each shift ends with its own Z report: the final totals, the cash the cashier counted, the cash the system expected and the difference between the two.

A Z report is final. Once the shift is closed its figures do not change, which is what makes it useful as a record: the owner, the accountant and the cashier all read the same numbers. In PointLit every shift closes with a count of the drawer, and you decide by role who sees the expected cash before it; the help article on closing the shift walks through it on the till.

X report vs Z report: how do they compare?

What does a Z report show?

• The branch, when the shift opened and closed, who opened and who closed it, the number of bills and the range of bill numbers.
• The sales total, discounts and refunds.
• The takings by payment method, for example cash and card.
• The takings by tax rate, with the net amount and the tax, for example VAT at 14%.
• The drawer: the opening float, cash sales, cash refunds, cash in and cash out, cash paid to suppliers and expenses paid from the drawer.
• The expected cash, the counted cash and the variance.

How do you read an X report in PointLit?

In PointLit a shift is one drawer at one branch, from the opening float to the close, and a branch has one shift open at a time. The X report is read from the management screens rather than from the till, so the cashier's own screen never shows the expected cash before the close.

1. Open Manage, then Shifts, and choose the branch.
2. Find the shift whose status is Open and press View.
3. Read the X-report: the sales, refunds and payments so far. The screen says the shift is still open and that reading it closes nothing.
4. Press Print X-report to print it on the receipt printer. The paper is marked SHIFT STILL OPEN.

How do you close a shift and print the Z report in PointLit?

1. On the till, count the drawer away from the customers and press Close shift.
2. Type the total into Counted cash. Only then does PointLit show Expected in drawer and the Variance.
3. Press Close and record the count. Your count, the expected cash and the variance are stamped on the shift.
4. Print the Z-report on the receipt printer. Later, Manage, then Shifts, shows the shift with its Float, Counted and Variance, and Reprint Z-report prints it again.

What is the Day report, and how is it different?

A Z report covers one shift. The Day report covers the whole business day at one branch, across every shift that day. In PointLit a cashier whose role allows it opens the Day report from the till's shift bar, even after the last shift is closed, which is when it is usually wanted. The Day report, the Z report, the Sales summary and Stock on hand are on every plan, including the Free plan.

Which report should you print, and when?

• During a shift, to check the drawer or a payment: the X report.
• At the end of each cashier's shift: the Z report, after a blind count.
• At the end of the day for the whole branch: the Day report.
• Every week, to see which shifts came up over or short and who closed them: the Cash variances report, on Counter, Chain and Enterprise.