How each number is counted
Which night or day each report puts a sale, a payment, a tip or a drawer on, what each figure includes, and why two reports can differ.
On this page
Your reports answer different questions, so the same money can land on different days in different reports. This page goes through each report: which night or day a figure lands on, what's in it and what isn't, and how the reports fit together. All amounts in the examples are made up.
Four ideas behind every report
Your service day. A night runs from your Service time (Settings › Hours & scheduling) to the same time the next day.
- With a 6:00 AM service time — the one a new venue starts with — Friday runs from Friday at 6:00 AM to Saturday at 5:59 AM. A tab opened at 1:30 AM on Saturday is Friday's. With a 4:00 PM service time, Friday would run from Friday at 4:00 PM to Saturday at 3:59 PM.
- Anything recorded before your service time belongs to the previous night — with a 4:00 PM service time, a drawer started at 2:30 PM, say, or a payment taken at 3:00 PM.
- Choose a service time when the bar is always shut and nobody is working, such as 6:00 AM. See Venue settings.
The tab's night. Today and Sales count a sale on the night its tab was opened, even when it was paid the next day.
The day the money arrives. Income counts each payment on the service day it was taken. Money paid into a customer account counts on the day it arrived.
The drawer. There is one cash drawer per business day, shared by every iPad.
- It opens when someone taps Start the day, and it closes only when a manager closes the day.
- The Z is the drawer's record.
- A drawer belongs to the service day it was started on. If nobody closes it, the iPads ask for it to be closed from the next service day (see Cash drawer).
Today
Which night Today shows:
- The night or range you pick.
- With nothing picked, while you're open — a drawer was opened less than 20 hours ago, or your opening hours say you're open: the night in progress, headed "Tonight so far".
- With nothing picked, otherwise: the last night that sold anything, headed "Last service".
- The quick ranges (Today, Yesterday, This week and so on) follow calendar dates. Before your service time, Today is a night that hasn't started yet, so it shows zeros.
| Figure | What's in it | What isn't |
|---|---|---|
| Net sales | Every payment on the nights' tabs — cash, card or any tender except a customer account — whenever it was taken, after discounts, VAT inside. Plus the part of each tab put on a customer account that the account has since paid with money. The part paid in on a later night shows as "includes $X paid later through accounts". | Tips. The unpaid part of account tabs. Anything covered by courtesy (comp) credit. Voided payments. |
| On accounts, not paid yet | What the nights' account tabs still owe. | It's never part of Net sales. |
| Collected on accounts | Money paid into customer accounts during the range, on the day it arrived. | It's money in, not a sale: the sale is on the tab's night. |
| Comp credit granted | Courtesy credit given to accounts during the range. | It's never money and never a sale. |
| Bills | Each payment on the nights' tabs, plus each account tab with money paid on it. A tab paid in two parts is two bills. Per bill = Net sales ÷ bills. | |
| Guests and parties | Guests: the guest counts of the tabs that sold; a tab with none counts as 1. Parties: the number of those tabs. Per guest = Net sales ÷ guests. | Tabs that sold nothing. |
| Tips | Every tip on the nights' tabs, including tips paid out of a customer's prepaid credit (From account credit). | |
| Booking deposits | A deposit spent on a bill: a payment of the tab's night, in Net sales and under Tender types as Booking deposit. Under Net sales: Deposits received online and Deposits refunded in the range, and Deposits kept on the range's nights. | Those three lines are never inside Net sales. |
| Tender types | Each way the nights' tabs were paid. A tip is listed under the tender it arrived on, so a card bill tipped in cash shows its tip under Cash. Account collections (cash) and Account collections (card) are the account money that paid the nights' account tabs. The lines add up to Net sales. Card splits into Credit, Debit and Type not recorded, as picked on the iPad. | |
| Top sales categories, Top menu items | The top 10, at what the guest paid for each line — after the line's own discount, before a whole-check discount — on the tabs that sold. | Voided lines. These panels don't add up to Net sales. |
| Top servers | The money of each server's tabs, under the tab's current server. | |
| Discounts & voids | How many checks got a whole-check discount in the range, by kind, once each; each comp, with its value; and Voided items: the lines voided on the range's tabs, at list price — mistake voids, comps, and lines removed before sending. | The money taken off by discounts (that's on Income). Discounts on single lines. |
| Needs attention (the drawer lines) | Drawers whose cash was $100 or more short or over, or whose typed terminal total was $100 or more off: up to three of the drawers started in the range, and — whatever the range — every such difference still waiting for an explanation, each on a line of its own from the last 30 nights, the older ones counted in one line. Each is named by the night it was started. | Differences a manager marked as explained. Differences under $100. |
| This week vs target | The current service week's Net sales, guests and spend per guest, against your targets. | It doesn't follow the range you pick. |
Note
A past night can change. When a customer account pays for an old tab, that tab's night grows, its On accounts, not paid yet shrinks by the same amount, and the line under Net sales says how much came in later. A tab left open overnight adds to its own night when it's finally paid.
Sales
Sales has the same figures and rules as Today, for any range — with the same lines under them.
- The chart. Each column is exactly that night's Net sales on Today, so the columns add up to the total. Ranges longer than 92 nights chart by month.
- The export holds the chart's numbers.
- Custom drinks: the drinks made with the custom drink builder on paid checks whose tab was opened in the range. A check closed to a customer account counts as paid.
Two checks sit at the foot of the page:
- Voided payments: every payment voided in the range, by when it was voided.
- Payment reconciliation: each paid check that closed in the range whose payments — account charges included — don't equal the bill. It runs on ranges of up to 92 nights.
Income
Which day: the service day each payment was taken. Money paid into a customer account counts on the day it arrived. This is the accountant's basis: VAT is due when you're paid.
| Figure | What's in it | What isn't |
|---|---|---|
| Net sales | Cash, card and other payments taken that day + money paid into customer accounts that day (cash or card, at the bar or in the office) − tips paid that day out of a customer's prepaid credit (that money was already counted when it was paid in). After discounts, VAT inside. | Tips. Tabs put on accounts, until the account pays. |
| VAT (IVA), Net of VAT | Each bill's VAT, shared across its payments by amount. Money paid into accounts has no bill, so its VAT is taken out at your current rate. Net of VAT = Net sales − VAT. | |
| Tips | Tips on the day's payments + tips paid from account credit. Held for staff, not income. | |
| Bills, Parties | Bills: the payments taken that day. Parties: the different tabs those payments belong to. | Charges to accounts, and money paid into accounts. |
| Collected by tender | Each tender's amount and count; tips under the tender they arrived on; Account collections (cash) and Account collections (card). | Charges to accounts: no money was received. |
| Card by type | Credit card, Debit card and Card (type not recorded), plus card money paid into accounts by its type. Card credits recorded in the office have no type, so they count as type not recorded. | |
| House accounts | Charged to house accounts: tabs put on accounts that day — owed to you, not income. Collected on house accounts: money paid in, which is income. Comp credit granted: never money. | |
| Discounts | Everything knocked off bills: each bill's whole-check and line discounts, shared across all its payments — cash, card and charges to customer accounts — on the day each was taken. A bill closed at $0 counts its whole discount on the day it closed. | Comps (their value is under Comps) and voided bills. |
| Comps | The comps given that day, with their count and value. | |
| Voids | The lines voided on tabs opened that day, at list price. | |
| Drawer movements | Paid in and Paid out, by the day each was recorded. Context for the cash count. | The opening float. |
| Booking deposits | A deposit is income on the day it was paid online, with its VAT taken out at your rate; a refund is money out on the day it was sent. A tip taken from a deposit is in Tips and off Net sales. | A deposit spent on a bill (shown as Applied to bills) and a kept deposit: neither is income again. |
The period table is by service day, or by month as soon as the range touches two calendar months. Its rows add up to the totals.
Shift closes and the Z
Which night a drawer is filed under: the service night it was started on. Shift closes (Z) and Today's Needs attention use the same night and the same name.
- Started early. A drawer started before your service time is filed — and named — under the previous night.
- Left open. A drawer nobody closes keeps taking the next night's money, and both nights end up on one Z. The iPads ask for it to be closed from the next service day. On Shift closes (Z) its times name both days ("Mon 5:09 PM – Wed 2:06 AM"), and it says which nights it took money on ("Took money on Mon, Oct 5 and Tue, Oct 6").
- Empty drawers. A drawer that took nothing — no float, no money, a $0 count, no note — folds into one line under the table. It's still in the export.
The Z's figures are worked out at the moment of the close and stored. Nothing restates them later, and corrections are refused once the day is closed. When a difference has a reason you know, a manager can mark it as explained, with a note: the figure stays, marked Explained, and Needs attention stops listing it. Until then, a difference of $100 or more stays on Needs attention, whatever range you look at. See Closing the day.
| Figure | How it's counted |
|---|---|
| Gross Sales | Every payment taken on this drawer, tips left out, whatever night the tab was opened. Tabs put on accounts aren't in it; they're listed as Charged to accounts. |
| Tips | Every tip on the drawer's payments, split by the tender it arrived on, plus tips paid from account credit. |
| Expected cash | Opening float (a float nobody counted counts as $0) + cash sales + cash tips + cash paid into accounts at the bar + paid in − paid out. Cash tips count only when your venue keeps them in the drawer until the count, which is the default. |
| Counted and the cash Variance (Cash ± on Shift closes) | What the closer counted. The variance is counted − expected. |
| The opening against the last close (under Opening on Shift closes) | The opening count − what the last close left in the drawer. $100 or more either way, a late count or a skipped one stays on Needs attention until a manager explains it. |
| Left in drawer and Taken out ("left $X" under Counted on Shift closes) | What the closer typed in Stays in the drawer, and the rest of the count. They don't change the variance. |
| POS · Terminal (Card (POS) and Terminal on Shift closes) | POS: card sales + the tips that arrived on card, split into credit, debit and type not recorded. Terminal: the batch total typed at the close — Not reconciled on the Z, "—" on Shift closes, when it wasn't typed. |
| The card Variance (Card ± on Shift closes) | Terminal − (POS + card paid into accounts at the bar). |
| Voids · Comps | The number of item voids since the drawer opened, then the value of the comps on tabs opened since. |
| By Method, By Server, By Category | This drawer's payments by tender and by the tab's server; both add up to Gross Sales. Line prices by category, which don't have to add up. |
| A booking deposit spent on a bill | In Gross Sales, and under By Method as Booking deposit. Never in Expected, the card lines or the terminal total: the guest paid it online. Its tip is in Tips from deposits. |
Some money is on no Z: payments into accounts recorded in the office, courtesy credits, and booking deposits as they're paid online — only the part spent on a bill reaches a Z, as Booking deposit.
The printed Z prints the same Cash Drawer lines as the screen — Not counted for a float nobody counted, and Cash tips in drawer when you keep cash tips in the drawer — so on paper too the lines add up to Expected. The paper has less card detail: its tips split only into Tips (card) and Tips (cash), and its Card section has no Credit or Debit lines.
Customer accounts
| What happens | Today and Sales | Income | Z |
|---|---|---|---|
| A tab, or part of one, is put on an account | A sale of the tab's night only once, and only as far as, the account pays for it with money. The rest is On accounts, not paid yet. | Charged to house accounts on the day it was charged; not income. Its discount counts under Discounts that day. | Charged to accounts, outside Gross Sales. |
| The customer pays into the account at the bar (cash, credit or debit) | Collected on accounts on the day it arrives. It pays off the account's oldest unpaid charge first, and that tab's night gains the sale — shown as "includes $X paid later through accounts" when it came on a later night. | Income on the day it arrives (Collected on house accounts), with VAT taken out at your rate. | In the drawer: cash in Expected, card in the terminal check. |
| Paid by customer, recorded in the office | As at the bar. | As at the bar. | On no Z. |
| Courtesy (comp) credit | Covers what's owed, but is never a sale. Shown as Comp credit granted. | Listed, never income. | On no Z. |
| A tip left from a customer's prepaid credit | A tip on the tab's night. | Added to tips and taken off Net sales that day. | In the Z's tips, but not in the expected cash or the terminal total. |
A few more rules:
- Prepaid credit. Money paid in ahead counts on Income the day it arrives. It becomes a sale on Today only when a later tab uses it — and since it was already on the account, it isn't "paid later".
- Tabs nobody pays. A tab nobody ever pays — an owner's tab, for example — never becomes a sale.
- The balance = everything charged (plus tips from credit) − everything paid in (money and courtesy credit).
See Customer accounts for how accounts work.
How the reports relate
| Today and Sales | Income | Shift closes and the Z | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The question | What did each night sell? | What money arrived each day, and how much VAT is in it? | Did each drawer hold what it should? |
| A payment lands on | the night its tab was opened | the day it was taken | the drawer it was taken on |
| A tab put on an account | a sale once paid, on the tab's night | owed on the day it was charged; income on the day it's paid | Charged to accounts |
| Money paid into an account | Collected on accounts, the day it arrives | income, the day it arrives | in the drawer, when taken at the bar |
| Tips | left out of Net sales, shown on their own | left out of Net sales, shown on their own | in Expected (cash tips) and Card (POS) (card tips) |
| Bills | each payment, plus each account tab with money paid on it | each payment taken | — |
| Discounts | how many checks got one | the money knocked off every bill | — |
| Opening float, paid in and out | not shown | paid in and out, as context | inside Expected |
| A booking deposit | a sale of the tab's night when spent on the bill; received, refunded and kept shown under Net sales | income the day it's paid online; a refund, money out the day it's sent | Booking deposit, in Gross Sales only |
One night in every report
Take a 4:00 PM service time. On Friday, a $600.00 tab opened at 10:00 PM is paid by card at 1:00 AM with a $90.00 tip. A $400.00 tab opened at 11:00 PM is put on a regular's account. On Tuesday at 7:00 PM, the regular pays the $400.00 in cash at the bar.
- Today. Until Tuesday, Friday shows Net sales $600.00 and On accounts, not paid yet $400.00, with 1 bill. From Tuesday, Friday shows $1,000.00, "includes $400.00 paid later through accounts" and 2 bills. Tuesday shows the $400.00 under Collected on accounts, not as a sale.
- Income. Friday shows Net sales $600.00 (1:00 AM is still Friday), 1 bill and $400.00 Charged to house accounts. Tuesday shows Net sales $400.00, all of it Collected on house accounts.
- Z. Friday's drawer shows Gross Sales $600.00, Card (POS) $690.00 and Charged to accounts $400.00. Tuesday's drawer expects the $400.00 in cash, as Account Payments (cash).
- Totals. From Friday to Tuesday, Today and Income both total $1,000.00.
What always agrees
- Today's Tender types add up to its Net sales, and each Sales chart column is that night on Today.
- Income's tenders, less the tips paid from account credit, add up to its Net sales, and its rows add up to its totals.
- When one drawer took all of a day's money:
- Income's cash = the Z's cash sales;
- Income's card, plus its card tips, = the Z's Card (POS);
- Income's tips = the Z's tips.
- Over a stretch that starts and ends with nothing open or owed — every tab paid, every account charge paid off, no money left waiting on an account — Today and Income total the same.
Why two reports can differ
- A tab paid after your service time turned over. Today puts it on the tab's night; Income on the day it was paid.
- Customer accounts. Today counts an account tab on its own night once it's paid — the paid-later line says how much of a night came in later. Income counts the money on the day it arrives.
- Tips paid from a customer's prepaid credit. Income takes them off that day's Net sales; Today counts them as tips of the tab's night.
- A drawer started before your service time, or left open over two nights. Shift closes and Needs attention file it under the night it was started, and its Z holds every payment taken on it. Income splits the same money by the day each payment was taken.
- Bills. Today counts a paid account tab as a bill; Income counts payments only. Each page says so under the figure.
- Booking deposits. Income counts a deposit on the day it was paid online and a refund on the day it was sent; Today counts a deposit spent on a bill on the tab's night. See Deposits for large groups.
- Discounts. Today counts how many checks got a discount, on the day it was applied. Income shows the money taken off every bill — paid in cash or card, charged to an account, or closed at $0 — on the day each payment or charge was taken. A $500.00 tab with 20% off that goes on an account adds one Percentage discount to Today, and $100.00 of Discounts to Income on the day it was charged.
- Items sold and Net sales. Items sold counts each item the way Top menu items does — after each line's own discount but before whole-check discounts, and every item of a tab as soon as any of it is paid — so for the same nights its total can be more than Net sales.