Finance
Operating expenses
The company's monthly cost sheet (rent, salaries, software) that the P&L subtracts to reach net profit.
Operating expenses is the owner's cost sheet: one line per kind of overhead, with what it costs a month. The Company P&L subtracts these lines from gross profit to reach net profit. If the sheet is empty, the P&L overstates your profit, so keep it current.
- Where
- Finance → Operating expenses (/expenses)
- Who can open it
- Expenses · view. By default: Owner, General Manager, Finance Manager
- Who can add a line
- Expenses · create
- Who can edit a line
- Expenses · edit
- Who can delete a line
- Expenses · delete (Owner and General Manager by default)
- Saves to
- ExpenseRow and the audit log
What you see
Figures
| Figure | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Monthly | The sum of every line |
| Yearly | Monthly × 12, calculated, never typed |
| Categories | How many lines, and how many people are costed in total |
Two charts follow: By category (the six largest lines and "Other" for the rest, with the monthly total in the middle) and Top costs (the eight largest lines as bars).
The cost sheet
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| # | The line number |
| Category | What the cost is, for example "Office rent" or "Dispatch salaries" |
| People | How many people the line covers, or a dash when it is not a per-person cost |
| Monthly | The monthly cost |
| Yearly | Monthly × 12 |
| (buttons) | Edit and Delete, when your role allows them |
The last row totals people, monthly and yearly. A P&L link opens the Company P&L.
Add a cost line
Click Add line
In the page header. It opens "Add a cost line".Fill in the line
Category (up to 80 characters), People (optional, 0 when it is not a per-person cost) and Monthly. The form shows the yearly figure as you type.
Save
The line is added at the end of the sheet.
Two lines cannot have the same category (capital letters do not matter). The server refuses with: "“Office rent” is already line 3."
Change or delete a line
- Edit opens the same form with the line's values.
- Delete asks first: "The line comes off the cost sheet and the P&L. The lines after it move up." Click Delete line to confirm.
What is recorded
| Action | Audit entry |
|---|---|
| Add | expense.create: "Line 4 · $2,500.00 a month ($30,000.00 a year)" |
| Edit | expense.update: the old and new monthly amount |
| Delete | expense.delete: "Line 4 removed · was $2,500.00 a month" |
Good to know
- With no lines, the page shows "No cost sheet · Add the first line".
- Amounts are kept to the cent. There are no rounding differences between the sheet and the P&L.
- The P&L uses today's sheet. Changing a line changes the P&L for the month and the year to date.