This article will walk you through the big picture of what's happening in the most-used Performance Reports in MarginEdge (found under "Performance" in your navigation). We want you to understand the main differences between these reports, which situation each is best suited for, and why there are often variances between them.
Some Key Definitions
Cost of Goods Sold = Starting Inventory + Purchases - Ending Inventory
Food Cost % of Sales = (COGS by Category Type) / (Sales by Category Type)
- For the Sales calculation, the Sales Lines must have a defined Category Type AND be Included in Reporting
- Purchasing information comes from us processing your invoice images (get those uploaded!)
- You must have at least two inventories to see your COGS.
Want more of a deep dive into Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)? See this article: COGS Explained
What are the Different Reports in MarginEdge?
Controllable P&L - A high level view, showing you your COGS (Cost of Goods Sold) by Category Type. It is revenue and expenses gathered from sales entries, invoices, and inventory adjustments in a customizable date range and view. This is Category level COGS and cost percentages.
[Exportable as either a PDF or CSV, so you can play with the data]
Budgets - Shows you all purchases and inventory adjustments set by Category, compared with sales set with the same Category Type (i.e. a percentage budget) in a customizable date range. There is no way to exclude the inventory adjustments from your Budget reporting if you are recording them in MarginEdge. Budgets can be compared across multiple units if you have access to all units.
Food Usage Report - Uses purchasing data, inventory summaries and sales entries to calculate COGS and Cost Percentage based on Category Type sales. Can adjust the view to see a timeframe between any two inventories (and is most meaningful if the chosen inventory dates actually have comparable inventories).
This report gets you down to the product level COGS and cost percentages.
[Exportable as either a PDF or CSV, so you can play with the data]
Category Report - The category report shows you your purchases in a selected date range broken down by vendor, invoice and category (or GL account). Keep in mind the Category report shows purchases ONLY, so if you take inventory your Cost of Goods Sold will differ from this report which only shows purchases.
[Exportable as CSV, also a good place to bulk export invoice images]
Purchasing Report- Found under the Products Menu, the Purchasing report shows you the Products you've purchased in a customizable date range, your total quantity and spend on those Products and the weighted average price for each Product. It's a fast and easy way to see what you're buying.
Note that this report is designed to show purchasing data about Products. There is no inventory data on the report and no data included about inventory adjustments or miscellaneous charges on invoices. Any products with split categories will only appear under the category that is first named.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why don't my P&L and Food Usage Report match?
The Food Usage Report and the Inventory Summary may sometimes vary somewhat from the P&L when reporting Cost of Goods Sold even when looking at the same date range. This is because the Food Usage Report/Inventory Summary only include inventory data from the starting and ending inventory dates selected in their calculation, but the P&L will calculate your starting value for each product based on the last inventory count before the selected date range. Usually these are the same, but if you have no counts for a product on the last inventory before the date range selected, the P&L won't report the starting value as $0 if there is an earlier count it can find to use.
TL:DR The P&L will try hard to be clever, looking at all inventories available to find the most recent count and tries not to assume a "no count" equals a "zero count". It has more nuance than the Food Usage Report, which simply looks at the inventories in the selected date range for a count and if it finds none, gives the products a zero count.
Why don’t my Budgets and P&L match?
The Controllable P&L references slightly different data than your Budgets.
- The Controllable P&L uses product category data as it is currently set in the system. So if any product categories have changed, the costs will be allocated to the product's current category, which may differ from the category it was originally coded to when the invoice was closed.
- Budgets reference product category data as it is on the closed invoices and don't take into account whether a product's category has changed since the invoice was closed.
TL:DR If a product's category changed after an invoice was closed the expense will be reflected on the P&L in the new category, but in your budgets it will show in the original category.
Why don’t my Budgets match my purchases?
Budgets are a reflection of your COGS, and your purchases are not the only factor in your cost of goods. You also need to consider your inventory.
When inventories are taken, the cost of goods value shifts because inventory on hand is not a cost of goods sold (an expense) but is a good available for sale (an asset). This means inventory adjustments where the value of the inventory goes up will commensurately decrease the Cost of Goods Sold. Likewise, an inventory adjustment where the inventory value goes down will will commensurately increase the Cost of Goods Sold.
Do I need to do PMIX Mapping to calculate my COGS?
PMIX mapping, or the mapping of your Products and/or Recipes to the buttons from your Point of Sale System is not necessary (or considered) when calculating your Cost of Goods Sold.