Why commerce screen totals differ from the Z report

Why the sales figures across the top of Achekam's commerce screens do not match an event's takings, and which reports an organiser should rely on instead.

By Achekam · 11 October 2026 · 4 min read · For Events businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya

It is late on the first night of a three-day market. The organiser opens the commerce screens on the office laptop to see how the day went, and the sales figure across the top of the page is a fraction of what the bars and stalls clearly took. A moment of panic follows: have sales gone missing?

They have not. The figure on the laptop is counting something much narrower than the night's takings. This article explains what the headline numbers on the commerce screens actually measure, why they will not match your takings, and which reports to use instead.

Totals that count only this browser's sales

The sales figures across the top of the commerce screens count only the sales rung up in that browser since the page was opened. They are not read from the server, and they do not add up sales from other tills, other devices or earlier sessions.

So, at an event with several tills:

• the laptop in the office, which rang up no sales, shows nothing;
• the tablet at the main bar shows what that tablet has sold since its page was last opened;
• a till that was reloaded halfway through the night shows only what it sold after the reload.

None of these is the event's takings. Treat the headline figures as a rough counter for the person standing at that till, and nothing more.

Always shown in rand

Those same headline figures are always shown in rand, whatever the business's currency. A Nigerian or Kenyan organiser will see an "R" in front of naira or shilling amounts. The amounts themselves are what was rung up; the currency label on that strip is simply wrong.

Bear this in mind before you screenshot the screen for a sponsor or a partner. A rand sign on a Lagos festival's takings will raise questions you do not need.

The Stock & Inventory screen's own limits

The Stock & Inventory screen in Commerce has a similar limit. It shows products only if the till was opened earlier in the same browser session, and its stock buttons change only what is on the screen, not the stock held on the server.

For an organiser checking what is left at the bar before restocking, that means the screen may look empty, or show changes nobody has saved. Use your stock counts and the till's own stock movements instead: every till sale that reaches the server takes the sold quantity off stock at the till's location in the same step.

The X and Z reports from the server

The figures to rely on come from the server. A live X report of an open till, and a Z report frozen at cash-up, can each be opened as a PDF.

• During the event, open the X report for each till to see how it is trading. It reflects what the server has received from that till, not what one browser remembers.
• At cash-up, the Z report for each till is frozen. It is the till's record of that session.
• At the end of the day, a supervisor or manager who was not a cashier that day closes the business day, which freezes its Z reports, payments, VAT by rate and differences.

Add up the Z reports for every till and you have the day's takings by till. That is the figure to report, to compare with cash banked, and to discuss with stallholders or sponsors. How to split takings by till and by revenue line is covered in takings per till and the revenue split.

Behind the reports, every till sale that reaches the server posts a balanced journal in the same step, with each payment method to its own account, revenue, output VAT and cost of sales. The business can choose one journal per sale or one summary journal per till session per day; either way, the ledger is built from the same posted sales.

Sales by VAT rate for the period

For anything beyond a single day, list posted till sales by VAT rate and tax code for the period you need, whether that is the whole three-day event or the month. The VAT return calculations read posted till sales as well, so this listing and your VAT figures come from the same source.

That listing is the right basis for event reporting: it covers every till, every device and every session, because it reads what was posted, not what a screen remembers. Investopedia's overview of internal controls explains the processes a business uses to keep its financial records accurate and prevent fraud; relying on server records rather than screen counters is one of the simplest.

Which figure for which question

Planning tills so these reports are easy to read is covered in pop-up tills and floats. Tell your bar managers and stall supervisors, before the gates open, that the strip across the top of the screen is not the takings and that the Z report is.

General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.