Exceptions & Loss Prevention Reports

The Exceptions Report is a critical loss prevention tool that surfaces unusual or high-risk transactions. By monitoring returns, voids, discounts, price overrides, no-sale events, and negative margin sales, you can detect patterns that indicate employee error, policy violations, or potential theft before they become significant losses.

How to Access

Open the Exceptions Report from the main menu. Each menu entry opens the same report form with a different default preset:

• Reports > Receivables > Exceptions > Returns / Refunds Report — opens with the ReturnsRefunds preset
• Reports > Receivables > Exceptions > Voids / Cancelled Transactions — opens with the VoidsCancelled preset
• Reports > Receivables > Exceptions > Discounts Summary — opens with the Discounts preset
• Reports > Receivables > Exceptions > Price Overrides — opens with the PriceOverrides preset
• Reports > Receivables > Exceptions > No-Sale / Drawer Open Events — opens with the NoSaleEvents preset
• Reports > Receivables > Exceptions > Negative Margin Sales — opens with the NegativeMargin preset

You can switch between any preset at any time using the Preset dropdown.

Required Permission

You must have the RPT_VIEW_EXCEPTIONS permission to access this report. Super Admins and Location Admins have this permission by default. This report contains sensitive data, so access should be restricted to managers and loss prevention personnel.

Filters

The report provides the following filter controls along the top of the window:

After changing any filter, click Refresh or press F5 to reload the data.

Report Columns

The data grid displays the following columns:

For the NegativeMargin preset, the Amount column shows how far below cost the item was sold (the negative margin amount), and the Reason column shows the original selling price versus cost.

Understanding the Six Presets

ReturnsRefunds

Shows all return and refund transactions for the selected period. Returns are a normal part of retail, but unusually high return volumes, returns without receipts, or returns concentrated on a single employee can indicate fraudulent return schemes. Watch for patterns such as the same employee processing many returns or the same items being returned repeatedly.

VoidsCancelled

Shows all voided line items and cancelled invoices. A void removes an item from a sale after it was rung up; a cancellation removes an entire invoice. While voids happen for legitimate reasons (customer changes their mind, wrong item scanned), excessive voids by a single cashier or voids of high-value items warrant investigation.

Discounts

Shows all discounts applied during the period, including both automatic (promotional) and manual discounts. Manual discounts are the primary focus for loss prevention since they are applied at the cashier's discretion. Look for employees who apply significantly more manual discounts than their peers, or discounts on items that should not be discounted.

PriceOverrides

Shows all transactions where the selling price was manually changed at the register. Price overrides bypass the system's pricing rules and can be used to sell items below their intended price. Every price override should have a legitimate reason documented. Review this report regularly and investigate overrides without clear business justification.

NoSaleEvents

Shows all instances where the cash drawer was opened without processing a sale. No-sale drawer opens are sometimes needed for making change, but frequent no-sale events from a single user — especially during quiet periods — can indicate cash skimming. This is one of the most important presets for cash-based loss prevention.

NegativeMargin

Shows all sales where the final selling price was below the item's cost, resulting in a loss on the transaction. Negative margin sales can result from aggressive discounts, price overrides, or pricing errors. This preset captures situations that the other presets may miss — for example, a legitimate sale with a legitimate discount that still results in selling below cost.

Using the User Filter

The User dropdown is one of the most powerful features of this report. When you select a specific user, only exceptions involving that employee are shown. This is useful for:

• Investigating a specific employee — If you suspect an issue, filter by that user to see all their exceptions in one place
• Performance reviews — Review each cashier's exception activity as part of regular performance evaluations
• Comparing employees — Run the report for one user, note the totals, then switch to another user and compare

When set to All Users, the report shows exceptions from everyone, which is useful for identifying who has the highest exception counts.

Common Use Cases

1. Daily exception review — Run all six presets for the previous day each morning. Look for anything unusual before it becomes a pattern.
2. Employee investigation — Filter by a specific user across all presets to build a complete picture of one employee's exception activity.
3. Discount policy compliance — Run the Discounts preset weekly to ensure manual discounts are within policy limits and properly justified.
4. Cash shrinkage investigation — When a drawer is short, run NoSaleEvents for that shift to see if the cash drawer was opened without a sale.
5. Pricing accuracy audit — Run NegativeMargin monthly to catch items being sold below cost, then correct pricing or policies as needed.
6. Return fraud detection — Run ReturnsRefunds and look for return transactions that lack a corresponding original sale, or returns processed by the same cashier who made the original sale.

Tips

• Make it routine — The most effective loss prevention programs review exception reports daily or weekly, not just when a problem is suspected
• Look for patterns, not just individual events — A single void is normal. Twenty voids from the same cashier in one week is a pattern worth investigating.
• Cross-reference presets — An employee with high voids, high discounts, AND frequent no-sale events is a much stronger signal than any one of those alone
• Document your findings — When you identify a concern, note the dates, invoice numbers, and amounts. This report provides the evidence trail you need.
• Require reasons — Configure your system to require a reason for voids, returns, and price overrides. The Reason column is much more useful when it is consistently filled in.
• Share with managers — Export the report to PDF and share it with location managers so they are aware of exception activity at their store
• Combine with audit reports — Use the Audit & Security Reports for additional detail on manager approvals and permission usage

Related Articles

• Audit & Security Reports
• Getting Started with Reports & Analytics