Sessions in POS — what they are and why they must be settled on the same day
Sessions in POS — what they are and why they must be settled the same day
A session is one workday at the till — from when you start the till sales in the morning until you settle and stop them in the evening. This article explains what a session is, why it must be opened and stopped on the same day, and what happens to older sessions that remain open.
What is a session?
A session starts when you open the till sales and ends when you stop it and count the cash. Everything you do in the meantime — sales, returns, gift cards, card payments — belongs to the same session.
When you stop the till sales, three things happen:
- The session is closed and today's sales are locked
- The cash is counted and reconciled against the expected amount
- The Z-report is generated and saved as today's final till settlement
One session thus yields one Z-report. The session is what ties together sales, cash balance, and settlement for one day at one till.
If you want to know how to start and stop in practice, see Start and Stop Till Sales. If you want to know what the settlement contains, see Daily Settlement – Z-report
Why must a session be started and stopped on the same day?
A session calculates the cash settlement based on what you had in the till when you started (the float), plus the sales during the day, minus anything you withdraw to the bank. That figure is only correct if the start and stop occur on the same day.
If you stop the session on the same day, you know exactly what you had in the drawer when you counted up. Then the difference between the expected and counted amount will be correct, and the Z-report will be an accurate picture of the day.
If you leave the session open overnight, you mix two days in the same settlement. Sales from yesterday and today end up in the same session, and you lose the daily reconciliation that the accounting is based on.
In Norway, the cash register system regulations require a daily settlement for each day the cash register has been in use, where cash balance and terminal settlement are reconciled against the Z-report. The routine of starting and stopping the session on the same day is what makes this possible.
In short: open the cash register when you start, settle and stop when you are finished — every day.
Open sessions from previous days
Sometimes a session remains open. A session that was started on a previous day and has not yet been stopped is called an open (or "old") session.
You can see this in the POS dashboard in the control panel. If there are open sessions from previous days, a warning is displayed at the top, and you can go to a separate overview of Open sessions
The overview shows each open session with:
Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
Cash register | Which cash register the session belongs to |
Seller | Who started the session |
Started | Date and time the session was opened |
Sessions started today are not considered old, even if they are still open — that is completely normal in the middle of a workday. The warning only applies to sessions from a previous day.
In the dashboard, you can see open sessions. You do not close an older session yourself — Mystore must arrange it. See How to close an older session further down.
What happens if an older session is closed?
When a session is closed, it is settled and the sales are linked to the settlement. For older sessions, the question is how this affects previous figures — and that depends on how old the session is.
The session is from … | Risk | Why |
|---|---|---|
A previous year | Low | The accounts for that year are usually already settled and closed. Closing the session now does not change a finalized account. |
Same year, but an earlier day | May affect reports | You don't necessarily know what cash you actually had on that particular day. This makes the cash settlement uncertain, and figures and reports for that period may be affected when the session is settled afterwards. |
The core is the cash balance. If you count the till on the same day, you know what was in the drawer. If the session is closed several days later, that count is gone, and the settlement is based on an amount you can no longer confirm. Therefore, it is always best to close the session on the same day it was started.
If you are unsure about an open session from the current year, contact Mystore support before it is closed, so we can assess how it should be handled.
How to close an older session
Closing older sessions is done by Mystore. If you see an open session from a previous day in the dashboard, contact Mystore support, and we will help you settle it correctly.
The reason this goes via support is that a subsequent settlement must be evaluated — especially the cash balance and how the session affects already reported figures. Support can make this evaluation with you.
To avoid the situation in the first place: make it a fixed routine to stop cash sales and settle before you close for the day. That way, each day gets its own clean settlement, and you avoid open sessions that linger.
Tips
- Always stop cash sales on the same day you started them — it's the easiest way to keep the settlement correct.
- Check the POS dashboard regularly. If a warning about open sessions from previous days appears, address it immediately.
- A session from a previous year is low risk to close, but a session from the current year should be evaluated by support first.
- One session = one Z-report = one daily settlement. If you keep sessions within one day, the accounting basis also remains tidy.