Closing the shift and the Z-report
Count first, look second. PointLit hides the expected figure until you have entered yours.
Closing a shift is a count, not a confirmation. The screen deliberately will not show you what it thinks should be in the drawer until you have typed what you actually counted, because a count typed to match an expectation is not a count. That is the whole control the Z-report exists to provide, and it is why the sequence matters.
Counting the drawer
Do the physical count away from the screen, then enter one figure. The field is labelled Counted cash and it wants the whole total, not a breakdown by denomination.
- Take the drawer somewhere you can count it without being interrupted.
- Count everything in it, including the opening float.
- Open the shift bar and choose to close the shift.
- Type the total into Counted cash, for example 527.00.
- Only now does the screen reveal what it expected.
Reading the result
Once you have entered a count, three things appear. Expected in drawer is what PointLit calculated from the opening float, cash sales, cash refunds, cash movements and counter payments. Variance is the difference, and it is always your count minus the expectation: a positive figure means the drawer is Over and a negative one means it is Short, with Balanced shown when they agree exactly. The word on the badge and the sign on the figure always say the same thing, so there is no reading it two ways.
The Z-report
Closing produces a Z-report, which is the slip you keep. It names the location, who opened and who closed, the bill range, the sales total, discounts and refunds, a breakdown by payment method and by tax rate, and a drawer block showing the opening float, cash sales, cash refunds and the variance. It can be printed to the receipt printer. Where money was taken at the counter against a customer account but could not be tied to a shift, it appears below the variance in its own block rather than being folded into it, so an unexplained figure is never quietly absorbed into your over or short.
If you cannot see the summary
Reading the day's takings is a different permission from working the drawer. A cashier who holds only the shift permission can still count and close their own till, but will not see the sales summary or the variance preview that a manager sees. That is the intended split rather than a fault: losing the summary does not stop anybody finishing their shift.