The Business Report is among Lightspeed Restaurant's most visited reports. It offers a detailed overview of earnings, business activity, and other financial information, including a variety of Display views (Classic, Accounting, Statistical, Order profiles, and Condensed) that parse and separate data according to your needs. For complete details on what's included, refer to the tables contained within this article. Use the Business Report to assess your restaurant's performance and stay informed about your sales.
Accessing the Business Report
To access and generate the Business Report:
- Log in to the Back Office with your Lightspeed credentials.
- Select Reports > Reports from the navigation menu.
- Click Business Reports in the Sales Reports section.
- (Optional) Select the Display view to filter data based on: Classic, Accounting, Statistical, Order profiles, or Condensed views. Descriptions of what's included in each view are contained below.
- (Optional) To see specific data on the Classic, Accounting, or Condensed report, organize the report by Accounting Group (default) or Category according to your preference.
- (Optional) If available, set the Takings view to include Details (the In and Out movement for each payment method) or Totals (only the final earnings of each payment method).
- (Optional) To filter by reporting shift, select a time interval for the report.
- (Optional) Download a CSV file of a report by clicking Export CSV, selecting your operating system, (Mac or PC), and then clicking Export.
Classic view
The Classic view of the Business Report offers a complete overview of daily transactions, including Sales, Takings, Drawer openings, and shift notes made by staff. See the table below for descriptions of the various sections.
From the Classic view, generate a PDF of the report based on your needs:
- Partial report: Generates a PDF file containing Takings and Sales, and excludes information such as takings outputs, voided and modified transactions, and report notes.
- Full report: Generates a PDF file containing all information found in Classic view.
Classic view sections
| Report section | Description |
| Gross results (Sales) | Total sales with service charges included. |
| Net results (Takings) | Total amount of payments received. This includes opened, paid, corrected, and canceled checks as well as transitory orders. |
| Tax report | The various tax rates and amount of tax collected. |
| Drawer openings | Number of times that the drawer was opened. The drawer can be opened in 3 ways:
|
| Report Notes | Notes made when a user is opening or closing a shift, including the user's name and impression of the shift (depicted by stars). |
| Weather index | Reported weather status when a user opens or closes a shift. |
| Items entered in training mode | Transactions made by a user in training mode. |
| Items offered for free | List of items that received a 100% discount. |
| Items loss | Items that receive a discount where This discount denotes wastage is enabled in the discount settings. |
| Items in canceled receipts | Items that were voided from receipts. |
Understanding payment methods in classic view
With payment methods, you can view a more detailed breakdown of card payments received with an integrated payment terminal. For example, an account using Lightspeed Payments is able to break down credit card payments by card types, such as AMEX, Mastercard, VISA, and Discover.
If an AMEX card is used via a Lightspeed Payments terminal, the amount paid will be classified under "AMEX" in the business report as long as the payment method "AMEX" has been created in the Back Office.
Under the payment method, all payments processed will be labeled as either In or Out. Payments received will be notated as In, while any payments that have been refunded, removed, or changed via the receipt screen will be labeled as Out.
If the payment method "AMEX" has not been created in the Back Office, the transaction will be classified under "Lightspeed Payments" as it is the generic payment method linked to the payment terminal.
Note: The generic payment method (e.g. "Lightspeed Payments" or "Credit Card") will be displayed in the reports if the card is not recognized by the payment terminal at the time of payment.
Accounting view
The Accounting view shows sales organized by Gross results (Sales) and Net results (Takings). In Gross results, item sales are grouped together by Accounting group or Category. In Net results, payments received are listed in two Amount columns. One column includes tips, and the other excludes them.
From the Accounting view, use the following options to export your data into other formats.
- Click Print report to generate a PDF of the report.
- Click Export CSV, then select your computer, Mac or PC, to generate a CSV file. Optionally, click the caret ▼ to select and generate a pre-formatted CSV for importing into your preferred spreadsheet or accounting program. Options include MS Excel, Generic, Sage X3, Mirus, Winbiz, and Xero.
Statistical view
The Statistical view shows Gross results (Sales) according to the statistics group that you've specified for your items. For details on how Statistics and Accounting groups differ, visit our FAQ.
From the Statistical view, use the following options to export your data into other formats.
- Click Print report to generate a PDF of the report.
- Click Export CSV, then select your computer, Mac or PC, to generate a CSV file. Optionally, click the caret ▼to select and generate a pre-formatted CSV for importing into your preferred spreadsheet or accounting program. Options include MS Excel, Generic, Sage X3, Mirus, Winbiz, and Xero.
Order profiles view
The Order profiles view shows sales grouped together according to the order profile used to complete the sale. Use this to compare sales between multiple order profiles. For example, if you have an order profile for delivery and another for pickup, use the Order profiles view to see which takeaway method performs better.
From the Order profiles view, use the following options to export your data into other formats.
- Click Print report to generate a PDF of the report.
- Click Export CSV, then select your computer, Mac or PC, to generate a CSV file. Optionally, click the caret ▼to select and generate a pre-formatted CSV for importing into your preferred spreadsheet or accounting program. Options include MS Excel, Generic, Sage X3, Mirus, Winbiz, and Xero.
Condensed view
The Condensed view shows sales grouped compactly, which offers an easy and at-a-glance assessment of your business' performance. It includes Order profiles, Summary, Accounts, Cash report, Sales, Takings, Discounts, and Taxes. For full details on what's in the Condensed view, refer to the table below.
Condensed view sections
| Report section | Description |
| Summary | A simple overview of transactions, including the total revenue, tax collected, and write-offs. Sales run by training POS users are totaled on a separate Training Total row in this section. |
| Accounts | Total amount of checks opened, paid, corrected, and canceled. |
| Cash report | Total cash received, dispensed, and taken as tips. Moreover, this section shows cash drawer activity, including adding and removing cash from the drawer. |
| Sales | Total sales broken down by item. Items are grouped together based on whether the report is organized by Accounting Group or Category. |
| Takings | Payments taken, including tips and transitory orders. Note: Total takings may not match Total sales if there are open, unpaid orders. |
| Discounts | The various discounts that were used. This section distinguishes the quantity issued (Qty) from the number of accounts (Acc) or checks that received this discount. |
| Taxes | The various tax rates and amount of tax collected. |
What's next?
The reports linked below are additional Sales Reports:
Products Reports display an overview of sold products for the selected time period categorized by Total, Discounted, Offered, Loss, Returned, Transaction, Margin, and Cost.
Product Mix Reports give an overview of product sales broken down by accounting groups, order profiles, statistical categories, and products.
Staff Reports provide sales data for each staff member who used the POS during the selected time period.
Device Reports provide Sales data for each POS device used during the selected time period.
Hourly Performance shows the gross sales amount by day of the week in the selected time period.
Text Messages Reports list all custom notes entered on the POS device during the selected period.
KDS Statistics shows the number of products prepared, the fastest, slowest, and average preparation time, as well as the total time it took to prepare the items.