Reporting FAQ

Sales Reporting

This section addresses common questions about reports focusing on sales.

Can I delete a sale or return from BackOffice?

No, completed transactions cannot be deleted or edited.

Can I check sales from a phone or mobile device?

Yes. Either log into BackOffice from a web browser or download the Lightspeed Pocket (S) app for iOS or Android to view sales data on a mobile device.

Can I view sales reporting based on my business’s operating hours?

Yes. Visit our Custom Business Day article to learn how to set the start of your business day.

Can I see a summary of sales by day?

Yes. You can change the time period displayed on the Dashboard sales graph to view sales by day or by several other time periods.

Can I see a summary of sales by hour?

Yes, view total or average sales per hour with the Dashboard.

Where can I find tip and gratuity reporting?

The ‘Non-Cash Gratuity’ tile on the Dashboard shows total gratuity collected over a date range. To view gratuity collected by individual employees, visit the Sales by Employee report.

Is there a report that shows how discounts are used?

Yes, the Sales by Discount report displays detailed information about discounts applied, such as the number of times each discount is used.

Can I view a report that shows the value of my saved sales?

Yes. The total number and value of sales currently saved on the Saved Sales screen are available at the register on the X Report and in BackOffice on the Dashboard. Individual saved sales can also be viewed from the BackOffice Transactions Report.

Read our Saved Sales article for more information on saved sales reporting.

Can I view saved sales reporting in BackOffice?

Yes. Individual saved sales can be viewed from the BackOffice Transactions Report. Read our Saved Sales article for more information on saved sales reporting.

How can I see each supplier’s top-selling items?

Check out the Sales by Supplier report for a detailed breakdown of item sales by supplier.

Can I view total sales for each department and category?

Yes. Visit the Sales by Department and Sales by Category articles to learn how to run these reports.

How can I compare employees by their sales performance?

Use the Sales by Employee report to view top employees and compare sales performance among employees.

Can I view a report that shows items deleted from transactions?

Individual deleted items and individual items from discarded transactions do not appear on any BackOffice report, however, the quantity and value of these items for a given register shift are available on the X and Z Reports.

Read our article on X and Z Reports for more information.

Can I view reporting on deleted items in BackOffice or in the Pocket app?

Currently, reporting on deleted items is only available on the register.

Can I view a report that shows voided sales or items?

Individual voided items and items from voided saved sales are available in BackOffice on the Void Report. Also, the total quantity and value of items voided during a register shift are available at the register on X and Z Reports. Read our article on void reporting for more information.

Can I view void reporting in the Pocket app?

Void reporting is only available at the register on X and Z reports and in BackOffice via the Void Report. However, the Lightspeed Pocket (S) app can alert you in real time with push notifications when voids are performed at the register. Void notifications are also available in the ‘Notifications’ tab.

Read our Lightspeed Pocket article for more information.

Can I see the number of guests my business has served?

Yes, if you enable the Guest Count feature in BackOffice and use it at the register to record the number of guests per sale. Guest totals are available on the Dashboard, Shifts Summary, X and Z reports, and in the Lightspeed Pocket (S) app.

Is there a report that shows pay ins, payouts, and cash drawer openings?

Yes. Run the Pay Ins and Payouts report to view details of each pay in, payout, and cash drawer opening.

How do I compare sales from all of my business locations?

If your stores are linked, visit the Sales by Location report to compare their sales.

Where can I find my cost of goods sold and gross margin?

Open the Dashboard to see the overall cost of goods sold and gross margin. To view this information for individual items, run the Sales by Item report.

How is the cost of goods sold affected when I sell or return an item?

When an item is sold, the cost of goods sold increases by the cost of the item at the time of sale. When an item is returned, the cost of goods sold decreases by the cost of the item at the time it was originally sold, not by the item’s current cost.

How is sales tax calculated?

Sales tax is calculated at the item level based on the tax rates and tax groups you have configured in BackOffice. At the register, the relevant tax rate is applied individually to each item on the transaction and rounded to the nearest penny. If an item is assigned to a tax group containing multiple tax rates, each rate in the group is applied separately to the item price and rounded, then the totals for each rate are summed.

Why is tax calculated at the item level and not based on the sale’s subtotal?

Item-level tax makes it possible to return individual items, calculate taxable and non-taxable sales by tax rate, and develop certain reporting features.

Currently, a sale with two items costing $5.50 each and a 9% tax rate would be charged $1 in sales tax ($0.50 per item). If tax was instead calculated on the sale’s $11.00 subtotal, sales tax would be $0.99. If one item was returned, how much tax would be refunded: $0.49 or $0.50? Which item gets that extra penny? With transaction-level tax, many “extra pennies” can be randomly assigned to items. When each sold item’s tax is summed in reporting, you may end up with a total different from what was actually collected at the register.

Is there a sales tax report?

Yes, visit the Sales by Tax Rate article to learn how to run this report.

Is there a report that shows tax amounts collected by tax group?

No. A breakdown of total taxes collected by tax rate is available in the Sales by Tax Rate report, but there is no equivalent report for tax groups.

How can I figure out my total non-taxable sales?

Visit the Sales by Tax Rate report to view taxable and non-taxable sales totals for any date range.

Where can I find information on the payment types customers use?

The Sales by Tender report shows how often specific tenders (cash, credit, or any others you have enabled) and credit card brands are used for payment.

Can I view credit card processing statements in BackOffice?

No. If you use ShopKeep Payments by Lightspeed, log into the AccessOne portal to see your statements. Otherwise, contact your credit card processor directly for a copy of a statement.

Can I view settled credit card batches in BackOffice?

No. However, ShopKeep Payments by Lightspeed merchants can log into AccessOne to view a ‘Batch History’ report. If you do not use ShopKeep Payments by Lightspeed, contact your credit card processor for help obtaining this information.

Where can I see who opened or closed a register shift?

Visit the Shifts Summary to see the employees who opened and closed each register’s shifts.

Can I receive an email summary of my sales?

Yes. By default, a Sales Summary email is automatically sent to the Business Owner early each morning recapping the previous day of sales. Learn how to enable or disable this email here.

Can I change which email address the Sales Summary email is sent to?

No. The Sales Summary is always sent to the Business Owner email address entered when your account was originally created.

Can I print old Z reports?

Yes, you can reprint Z reports from the register for any register shift opened within the past 7 days.
The time frame for reprinting a Z report can be reduced to 2 days from the iPad settings.

Can I view X and Z reports in BackOffice?

No. However, most X and Z report information is available on the Shifts Summary and Dashboard.

What gift card and liability reporting is available?

The Gift Cards & Deposits report shows issue and redemption totals for gift cards, gift certificates, and deposits. If you have integrated gift cards, log into the reporting portal for additional reports.

Inventory Reporting

Wondering how to find your top-selling items or download your inventory? Here we cover questions related to inventory reporting.

What are my best-selling items?

Visit the Sales by Item report to view top items ranked by quantity sold and sales amount.

Can I run a sales report for a single item?

Yes, just filter the Sales by Item report to display only that item.

Can I view the top-selling items in a department or category?

Yes. Run the Sales by Department or Sales by Category report and click a department or category to view its sold items. The Sales by Item report can also be filtered by department or category to display only the items sold from that department or category.

How can I find my top-selling modifiers or variants for each item?

Run the Modifiers and Variants report to view the top modifiers and variants for each inventory item.

Where can I download an inventory report?

Export stock items from BackOffice to download a spreadsheet containing the price, cost, quantity, SKU, and other details entered for each item.

Which report shows how much my inventory is worth?

The Inventory Value report displays the value, quantity on hand, and cost of items for a selected date.

How can I find my inventory value for a certain date?

Just run the Inventory Value report for that specific date.

How can I get an end of year inventory report?

Run the Inventory Value report for the date December 31.

Which report shows how much my raw goods are worth?

The Raw Goods Value report displays the current value of raw goods in inventory.

How can I see when items are running low?

Use the Inventory Reorder report to check which inventory items, variants, and raw goods are running low and need to be reordered.

Can I see when inventory items were adjusted?

Yes, those details are in the Adjustment History report.

Is there a report for received inventory items?

No. However, the Quantity History Report shows the total number of units of each inventory item that were received, adjusted, sold, and returned.

Can I see when each inventory item was last sold?

Yes. Export your stock items and look at column Q, Last Sold Date.

Can I view a list of all departments and categories?

Yes, this is available on the BackOffice Departments & Categories page.

Can I view a list of all suppliers?

Yes, this is available on the BackOffice Supplier List.

Can I view or print inventory by department, category, or supplier?

Yes. Follow the steps to export your stock items, then manually sort the export spreadsheet.

Does changing the name of an item, modifier, or supplier affect historical sales reporting?

Yes. Editing the name of an item, modifier, or supplier will also update its name in most historical sales reports. For more information on a specific report, visit the article for that report from our BackOffice support page.

Do deleted items appear on reports?

Deleted items appear on sales reports, such as the Transactions Report and Sales by Item report, but they do not appear on the Item List, Reorder Report, and Stock Items Export.

Customer Reporting

This section answers questions about reporting related to your customers and their purchases.

How can I see a list of all customers?

To view a list of all customers, either navigate through the BackOffice Customer List or export the Customer List to a spreadsheet.

Who are my top customers?

Run the Sales by Customer report to view the business’s top customers, see who spends the most money, and review other customer data.

How do I see what a customer purchased?

View a customer’s purchase history from the Customer List or the Sales by Customer report.

Can I merge two or more customers’ purchase histories?

No, you cannot merge multiple customers’ purchase histories together.

Can I reprint or email an old customer receipt?

Yes. In BackOffice, you can download receipts from the Transactions Report. Print the receipt to a computer printer or manually attach the file to an email.

At the register, cashiers can reprint receipts and resend them via email (iOS only). Visit our Using the Register article to learn how to use these features.

Can I see if customers are clicking the links in email receipts?

Yes, the Marketing Dashboard breaks down how often customers click social media links in email receipts. This dashboard also displays details on top customers and customer list growth.

Does changing the name of a customer affect historical sales reporting?

Yes. Editing the name of a customer will also update their name in most historical sales reports. For more information on a specific report, visit the article for that report from our BackOffice support page.

Staff Reporting

Here you will find questions about staff, their sales, and time clock records.

How do I view an employee’s sales?

Run the Sales by Employee report to see employee sales totals for a chosen date range. You can also filter the Transactions Report by employee or print a specific employee’s X or Z report at the register.

How do I keep employees from seeing register shift reports?

Cashiers can always view their personal register shift report, but only managers can see shift reports for all employees. If you do not want an employee to view register shift report totals other than their own, assign them cashier permissions for the register.

Is there a labor report that I can use to help me do payroll?

Yes. Run the Labor Tracking Report for an overview of each employee’s number of overtime, double time, and total hours worked.

Can I control how overtime and double time hours are calculated?

Yes. Before running the Labor Tracking Report for the first time, you must set up overtime settings to determine how employees will earn overtime and double time. Visit our Labor Tracking article to learn how to configure or update overtime settings.

Can I automatically deduct unpaid breaks from an employee’s total hours?

For unpaid breaks such as lunch, employees should clock out when going on break and clock back in when returning to work to ensure the break is not included in their total hours worked. If an employee stays clocked in during their break, their time clock records must be manually adjusted in BackOffice to remove the time spent on break.

Can I view time clock or employee sales reporting from a phone or mobile device?

Yes. Either log into BackOffice from a web browser or download the Lightspeed Pocket (S) app for iOS or Android to view employee reporting on a mobile device.

Does changing the name of an employee affect historical sales reporting?

Yes. Editing the name of an employee will also update their name in most historical sales reports. For more information on a specific report, visit the article for that report from our BackOffice support page.

Lightspeed Pocket Reporting

This section covers questions related to reporting available in the Lightspeed Pocket (S) app.

What is the difference between the ‘Dashboard’ and ‘Transactions’ tabs?

The ‘Dashboard’ tab displays summaries of sales activity, tender totals, top items, and active registers. The ‘Transactions’ tab provides detailed information about individual transactions.

What is a comparison period?

A comparison period is a span of time the selected date range is measured against in the ‘Dashboard’ and ‘Transactions’ tabs.

Can I look up customer receipts in the Pocket app?

Yes, receipts are available under the ‘Transactions’ tab. Visit our Lightspeed Pocket article to learn how to view receipts in the app.

What do the measures in the Lightspeed Pocket (S) app mean?

The reporting measures in Lightspeed Pocket allow you to change the metric used to rank top items in the ‘Dashboard’ tab and to choose what information appears at the top of the ‘Transactions’ tab. Visit our Lightspeed Pocket article for individual measure definitions.

Can I see a summary of sales by day?

Yes. Use the time period selector on the sales graph tile to view sales by days of the week, by hours of the day, or by several other time periods.

Can I delete transactions from the Lightspeed Pocket (S) app?

No. As with BackOffice reporting, data in Lightspeed Pocket cannot be deleted or edited.

Can I view combined totals for all of my locations?

No, each location must be viewed individually within the Lightspeed Pocket (S) app. Use the BackOffice Sales by Location report to see combined sales information for all linked locations.

Can I see time clock or employee sales reporting in the Lightspeed Pocket (S) app?

Yes, time clock punches and employee sales reporting is available under the ‘Staff’ tab. Read our Lightspeed Pocket article to learn more.

Can I see the number of guests my business has served?

Yes, if you enable the Guest Count feature in BackOffice and use it at the register to record the number of guests per sale.

This information is available on the ‘Guest activity’ tile in the Lightspeed Pocket (S) app with the average number of guests per sale and average sale amount per guest.

Can I view X or Z reports in the Pocket app?

No. However, many of the details on these reports can be found in the Sales activity and Active registers sections under the ‘Dashboard’ tab. For an overview of both sections, visit the Lightspeed Pocket article.

Can I view void reporting in the Pocket app?

Void reporting is only available at the register on X and Z reports and in BackOffice via the Void Report. However, the Lightspeed Pocket (S) app can alert you in real time with push notifications when voids are performed at the register. Void notifications are also available in Pocket under the ‘Notifications’ tab.

Read our Lightspeed Pocket article for more information.

Can I view saved sales reporting in the Pocket app?

No. Currently, saved sale reporting is only available on the register and in BackOffice.

Can I view reporting on deleted items in the Pocket app?

No. Reporting on deleted items is available on the X and Z Reports at the register. Read our article on X and Z Reports for more information.

What if I have a question about downloading or using the Lightspeed Pocket (S) app?

Visit our Advanced Topics FAQ for answers to Lightspeed Pocket questions unrelated to reporting.

Where can I view reporting for cash and credit sales performed from Pocket?

Sales performed in Pocket are available to view on the Dashboard tab immediately after they are completed. These sales are also shown in sales reporting in BackOffice.

At this time, sales performed in Pocket do not update item quantity on hand. Reports will show the item sold in Pocket as ‘Custom amount’, and item quantities will need to be manually updated. Check out our Update Inventory article to learn how.

Miscellaneous Reporting

This section focuses on miscellaneous reporting questions not covered in the sections above.

Can I adjust or change reports?

The only report you can directly edit is the Time Clock report. All other reports are not adjustable, even if the report contains errors.

However, many historical sales reports will automatically update to reflect changes made to the names of the following: items, modifiers, discounts, suppliers, tax rates, raw goods, locations, employees, and customers. For more information on a specific report, visit the article for that report from our BackOffice support page.

Can I print reports from BackOffice?

Yes, most reports have a print and/or export option.

If a report has a print option: click ‘Print’ and print it from your web browser.
If a report has an export option: export the report, open it in spreadsheet software, and print it from there.

Can I export reports from BackOffice?

If a report has an ‘Export’ button, it can be exported. The following reports cannot be exported and must be viewed in BackOffice: Dashboard, Shifts Summary, Adjustment History, Inventory Value, and Marketing Dashboard.

Can I redownload a previously exported report?

Yes, you can redownload most reports from the Export Center within 7 days of the original export date.

Can I delete reports from the Export Center?

No, but reports are automatically removed from the Export Center after 7 days.

Where can I learn what reporting terms mean?

For a comprehensive dictionary of reporting terms, visit our Reporting and Analytics Glossary. For a detailed look at terms from a specific report, search our site for that report’s support article.

How can I get help with a report that displays incorrect information?

Visit our Analytics Troubleshooting guide for help solving common reporting issues.