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Z-Reports

Admin Manager

Use this page to find, read and reprint the Z-Report (end-of-shift summary) for any closed cash drawer.

Quick steps​

  1. Click Cash Drawers in the top menu.
  2. Click View on a closed session. This page is that shift's Z-Report — there's no separate Z-Reports page.
  3. Check the coloured card at the top: Expected Cash in Drawer, Actual Cash Counted and Over/Under.
  4. Scroll down for the payment breakdown, cash drops, payouts, Sales by Clerk and the sales list.
  5. To print the slip again, click Reprint Z-Report at the top (it shows when a network receipt printer is set up). To print the page itself, use your browser's print (Ctrl+P / Cmd+P).
Want the whole day?

One Z-Report covers one drawer shift. For every register together, open Daily Close.

Common questions​

Why is there no Reprint Z-Report button? It only shows on closed sessions, and only when a receipt printer with an IP address is set up for that register or the store. Use a computer on the same network as the printer.

Can the Z-Report list every item sold? Yes. Tick Show each item sold on the end-of-shift report under Settings > Edit Settings, Hardware & System tab, Printing Features.

Are sales on the Z-Report before or after tax? The big figure is Total collected (incl. tax). Underneath it you'll see Net sales (before tax) and Tax separately.

More detail: what a Z-Report contains

What Is a Z-Report?​

A Z-Report (also called a "closing report" or "end-of-day report") is a standard retail document that summarizes all activity during a cash drawer session. In Brother POS, this information is available on the session detail page rather than as a separate report.

Each session detail page covers the period from when the drawer was opened to when it was closed.

Accessing Session Summaries​

  1. Log in to the Admin Panel.
  2. Click Cash Drawers in the top navigation bar.
  3. Click View on any closed session.

The session detail page contains all the information typically found in a Z-Report:

  • Session Information — Register, opened/closed by, timestamps, and whether it was a shift close or an end-of-day close
  • Sales Summary — Total collected (incl. tax), with the session's Net sales (before tax) and Tax beneath it, the transaction count and the payment method breakdown. Net sales are after every discount and the returns processed at that drawer — the same figures the printed Z-Report and Daily Close show
  • Cash Flow — Opening float, net cash added, refunds, cash drops, payouts, other cash, expected vs. actual cash
  • Over/Under — Cash variance at close
  • Opening Variance — What the cashier counted at open vs. the prior shift's carryover (when applicable)
  • Carryover and Deposit — On a shift close, how much was left in the drawer for the next shift and how much was banked
  • Deposits After Close — Cash pulled from the till after the shift was already closed. See Deposits After Close
  • Sales in Session — List of all sales with receipt numbers, times, cashiers, and totals
  • Sales by Clerk — Who rang what, so a shared drawer's over/short can be traced to a person
  • Cash Drops & Payouts — Every cash drop and payout recorded during the session, listed individually with time, amount, and reason (plus the supplier's name on a supplier payout)
  • Payouts by Type — Machine, lottery, progressive, supplier (per supplier) and other payouts totalled separately. See Cash Drawer Sessions
  • Items Sold by Category — Every item sold on the shift, under its category. Only when your store has turned on Show each item sold on the end-of-shift report (see below)
Itemized drops, payouts and pay-ins on the printed Z-Report

On a standard receipt printer (such as an Epson), the printed Z-Report lists each cash drop, payout and pay-in under its total, with its time and its note — or its reason when no note was entered — and the amount. Gaming payouts print with a plain-word reason: Lottery, Machine, Progressive. A Star printer lists them the same way. Both printers also repeat drops and payouts in their own CASH DROPS and PAYOUTS sections (time, who, amount and reason), with the reason in plain words such as Machine Payout, and the supplier's name after a Supplier Payout. See the POS-side Z-Reports.

The cash figures cover more than sales

The reconciliation on a session summary accounts for every way cash reached or left the till — cash tips, mid-shift float corrections, pay-ins, counter payments for house accounts, store credit, gift cards, invoices and service jobs, cash paid to consignors, and pawn loan cash — not just over-the-counter sales.

On a standard receipt printer, the printed Z-Report lists each of these on its own line (pay-ins print as Cash Added; pawn cash as Pawn Cash In and Pawn Advances), so the lines on the sheet add up to the Expected Cash at the bottom. Its Cash Tips line counts only tips paid in cash, since card tips never enter the drawer. A Star printout lists the same lines, including pay-ins, pawn cash and Cash Tips, so it adds up to the same Expected Cash.

Canadian nickel rounding also counts the cash half of a split payment, so a store that takes a lot of split payments doesn't under-report its rounding total.

More detail: sales by category and listing each item sold

Sales by Category on the Printed Z-Report​

The printed Z-Report includes a Sales by Category breakdown — the session's sales grouped by product category, sorted with the highest-earning categories first. Each line shows the quantity sold and the dollar revenue.

Categories print as a tree: a top-level department, then its subcategories indented beneath it. A department's totals include everything in its subcategories, so the department line is the full total for that part of the store and the lines below show how it breaks down. Items with no category are grouped under Uncategorized. This replaces the older "Top Products" list. See the POS-side Sales by Category.

Listing each item sold​

To see every item sold, not just category totals, tick Show each item sold on the end-of-shift report under Settings > Edit Settings, on the Hardware & System tab under Printing Features. It is off by default. With it on, each item is listed under its category with how many sold and for how much — on the printed Z-Report, on the register's Drawer closed (or Day closed) screen, and in an Items Sold by Category card on a closed session's page in the admin panel.

More detail: inventory count sheet at close

Inventory Count Sheet at Close​

When enabled, closing a drawer can also print an Inventory Count Sheet — a category-grouped checklist of every active product with its expected stock level and a checkbox, so staff can physically count and tick off each item. It prints automatically as part of the close (on End-of-Day closes, or on every close, depending on the setting).

An admin turns this on under Settings > Edit Settings, on the Hardware & System tab under Printing Features, where they also choose whether it prints on every close or only at End of Day, whether it lists all products or only items expected to have stock, and which categories to leave off. Staff can also print one at any time from the register — Print Count Sheet under Quick Actions in its Settings — without closing a drawer. See Daily Close for the settings, and the POS-side Inventory Count Sheet for what staff see on the printout.

More detail: daily reconciliation

Using Session Summaries for Daily Reconciliation​

Session summaries are the primary tool for daily cash reconciliation:

  1. Close all drawers at the end of the business day.
  2. Open the Cash Drawers page.
  3. Click View on each closed session for the day.
  4. For each session:
    • Verify the Over/Under amount.
    • Check the Opening Variance — a shortfall at open belongs to the gap between shifts, not to this one.
    • Review the Payment Method Breakdown for accuracy.
    • Confirm that all Cash Drops are accounted for.
  5. Calculate your store's total for the day by summing all registers.
  6. Compare against your bank deposit amount and POS totals.
Reconciling against the actual bank deposit

On a shift close, the Deposited figure is what should physically have left the building. If cash was collected from the till after the shift closed, record it under Deposits After Close — otherwise the deposited total reads low and the next shift opens short.

24/7 stores

If your store runs continuous operation, there is no "close all drawers" moment. Reconcile each Close & Hand Off session the same way — every one still produces a full count and its own summary — and use Daily Close for the day as a whole. It covers the calendar day, midnight to midnight in your store's time zone, and lists every session that opened or closed during it.

More detail: reprinting and printing

Reprinting a Z-Report​

To print a closed session's Z-Report again — after a paper jam, or when the slip has gone missing:

  1. Click Cash Drawers in the top navigation bar.
  2. Click View on the closed session.
  3. Click Reprint Z-Report at the top of the page.

The same Z-Report slip that printed at close is sent to a receipt printer: the printer of the register the session was on, or, if that register has none, the store's receipt printer. The button briefly shows Sent! when it's done, or Failed if the printer couldn't be reached.

Because the printing is done by your browser, use a computer on the same network as the receipt printer. The button only shows on closed sessions, and only when a receipt printer with an IP address is set up for the register or the store.

Printing a Session Summary​

To print a session summary, use your browser's print function (Ctrl+P / Cmd+P) from the session detail page. You can also save it as a PDF using the browser's "Print to PDF" option.

What's Next?​