Handoff Gap Alerts

A handoff gap is what happens when consecutive shifts on the same drawer disagree on the count. The previous shift closed with $812 actual; the next one opens by counting $755. There’s no cash-out, no transfer, no expense to explain the missing $57. Fexl Lite flags this automatically — and the alert is the start of a reconciliation flow, not the end of one.

Updated 4 May 2026·For v1.6.100·4 min read

How a gap is detected

When you open a shift, Fexl Lite checks the most recent closed shift on the same cash sub-account. If that closed shift’s actual_closing doesn’t match the new shift’s opening_balance within 0.01, the gap shows on the shift row with an alert icon, and the shift detail panel breaks it down:

previous shift #1283  closed at  812.00
this shift     #1284  opened at  755.00
gap                              −57.00

The check ignores transfers and cash-in / cash-out adjustments posted between the two shifts — those are accounted-for movements, not gaps. The detector only flags the residual difference after every legitimate movement is taken into account.

What a gap means

A gap is a signal, not a verdict. Real causes, in rough order of frequency:

• Someone took or added cash and didn’t log it. Petty cash withdrawal that wasn’t recorded, change-fund top-up by a manager who didn’t post the cash-in.
• The previous shift’s close count was wrong. Cashier miscounted; the actual amount in the drawer was always what the new shift is reading.
• The new shift’s opening count is wrong. The opener miscounted at the start.
• A different cashier ran sales on the closed shift overnight. The morning cashier opened the till on the previous (still-open) shift instead of opening their own — every overnight transaction is on the prior shift, the close happened later, and the next “real” open shows a gap.
• Theft. Smaller amounts, recurring on the same drawer, same cashier.

How to investigate

1

Open the gap row in Shift History

The shift with the alert icon — click into the detail panel.

2

Compare prior close vs this open

Read the prior shift’s transaction log. Was there a cash-out logged near close? Was the close timestamp the next morning (i.e. did someone leave it open overnight)? Walk every cash transaction; the running balance against the prior shift’s actual_closing will tell you whether the prior shift’s close itself was suspect.

3

Check for missing adjustments between the two

If a known transfer or cash-out happened in the gap period and wasn’t logged, post the missing adjustment now on the new shift with a clear note: reconciling gap with shift #1283 — supplier paid $57 in cash, not logged at the time. The new shift’s expected drops by that amount, and the gap is explained.

4

If the gap is unexplained, document it and decide

Sometimes the gap stays a mystery. Decide whether to absorb it through 5060 Cash Over-Short (or 7050) by posting a manual JE — DR 5060 (the loss), CR 1010-xxx (the cash sub-account) — so the books reflect the real cash on hand. The gap won’t show up on future opens because the cash sub-account’s expected balance now matches the count again.

What the alert does, and what it doesn’t

!

The alert flags; you reconcile

Fexl Lite does not auto-correct the opening balance to match the prior close — that would silently absorb the gap and hide the signal. It also doesn’t block the new shift from opening. The opener can confirm the count and continue ringing sales; the gap stays visible on the shift detail until someone explains it.

This is deliberate. A noisy alert that an operator can choose to act on or document is much more useful than a silent fix that makes today’s books match a wrong number.

How “expected” handles the gap

The new shift’s expected calculation uses the new shift’s opening_balance — the count the opener entered, not the prior shift’s closing. So if the opener counted $755 and rings $200 in cash sales, expected at close is $955. The gap doesn’t poison the new shift’s variance — it’s a separate signal on the shift row, not folded in to expected.

If the gap is later resolved with a posted cash adjustment (Step 3 above), the shift’s expected updates to reflect it. If the gap is absorbed via a manual JE on Cash Over-Short, the shift’s expected is unchanged — the JE is bookkeeping, not a cash movement.

Patterns to watch for

The Cash Drawer Report aggregates gaps across many shifts. Sort by sub-account and look for one of these:

• One drawer, one cashier, recurring negative gaps — the strongest theft signal Fexl Lite produces. Talk to the cashier; consider rotating drawer assignments; review camera footage for the shifts in question.
• Same gap on the same time of day, different cashiers — often points at a procedural problem (the closing routine doesn’t include a count, or the morning routine routinely tops up from a stash that isn’t logged).
• Gaps that always self-correct (positive then negative) — usually a counting habit, not theft. Coach the cashier on counting protocols.

Related

DAILY

Open & close a shift

The flow that produces the closing count the gap is checked against.

ADJUST

Cash adjustments

The right way to log a missing cash-in / cash-out from a gap period.

REPORT

Cash Drawer Report

Variance trends across many shifts.

JE

Journal entries

The Cash Over-Short JE pattern for absorbing unexplained gaps.