Hopefully you are here because you clicked the link that says "Why do I have a variance" on our sales transaction summary report.
If not, you may be looking for this article - Cash up variances.
But I digress...
There are two main reasons for variances on the Sales report itself.
Rounding - without getting into a technical discussion here - rounding variances of a few cents here and there on a transaction can happen and are normal. (Basically, the rounding happens when we calculate and have to switch between tax_inclusive and tax_exclusive amounts. We calculate GST on items individually and then add them up to get your total. When dealing with fractions of cents we expect small variances. Other factors that can add small variances are your pricing and how transactions are split.
Having an open tab, then cashing up your iPads - this will cause variances over multiple days and should not be done. See this article on why you should not leave tabs open over multiple cash ups.
Pro tip - create an account and save the tab to it - then Cash Up!
Also, if this has you wondering...
Why does my GST exclusive total x GST rate not equal my GST inclusive total?
There are a few things that can be added to your sales report that calculate GST in different ways. Cash out and Non GST items (for Australia) are two of those things. GST is calculated differently on items like this and will cause variances between your GST figures. Something to be aware of when you get the calculator out. We've done the math here and it should be as spot on as possible - taking things like rounding into consideration from point 1 in the reason above this one.