Costing troubleshooting
Understanding how costs are calculated in the app is essential for accurate pricing and reporting. If you're noticing incorrect costs in your orders, manufactures, or recipes, the following troubleshooting guides can help you resolve the issue.
How can I add my costing to the items?
If you're adding materials, you can record their purchase price by creating a material purchase. Stocksmith will then use that cost when calculating the cost of your recipes.
If you're costing manufactured products, you'll first create a recipe using your materials. Stocksmith will calculate the product cost based on the materials in the recipe, and you can also include labour and overhead costs if needed.
Where do I add my overhead costs?
Overhead costs, like rent, utilities and admin time, aren't tied to one product, so you can't add them to a manufacture or recipe directly. Instead, set your overhead once in your account settings and Stocksmith factors it into your pricing guidance for every product.
- Go to Account Settings > Pricing.
- In the Overheads section, enter your overhead as a percentage of each product's material and labour cost, or as a flat amount added to every product.
This only affects your pricing guidance, the suggested price Stocksmith calculates for a product. It isn't added to a manufacture's recorded cost or included in your Cost of Goods Sold.
👉 Accounting for overhead costs
Where do I account for shrinkage or wastage?
There are two ways to build material wastage into your costs:
- Add the wastage to the recipe itself. If a batch uses 50 sq in of fabric and produces 10 sq in of scrap, record the recipe as using 60 sq in, and the scrap cost is included in every manufacture automatically.
- Record the manufacture with the exact material used, then create a stock adjustment for the wasted amount separately. This keeps wastage visible as its own line in your Materials adjustment summary report.
If a batch simply yields fewer finished units than planned, for example a batch of 100 that only produces 95 good units, enter the lower number in the manufacture's Actual Quantity field. Stocksmith spreads the batch's full cost across the units you actually got, so the unit cost reflects the loss without any extra setup.
👉 Accounting for damaged materials and material wastage
How do I enter labour when more than one person works on a batch?
Stocksmith tracks labour at a single hourly rate for your whole account, so it can't record two people's pay separately against one manufacture. See Tracking your internal labor costs for how that rate is set.
If everyone earns the same hourly rate, enter your team's combined time: two people working 3 hours each is 6 hours, entered as 360 minutes in the manufacture's Total Labor Time field, and Stocksmith will cost it correctly at your one configured rate. If people are paid different rates, treat this as an estimate only, since Stocksmith applies your single account-wide rate to the total time rather than each person's actual wage.
Why is my order materials costing incorrectly?
If your order materials are showing incorrect or missing costs, it could be due to missing purchase data or incorrect stock adjustments. Learn more about common causes and solutions in this guide:
👉 Why is my order material cost zero?
Why is my manufacture costing incorrectly?
Manufacture costs are calculated based on material stock levels, unit costs, and manufacturing settings. If the cost of your manufacture doesn't match what you expect, check for missing stock entries or outdated cost calculations.
👉 Why is my manufacture costing incorrectly?
Why is my recipe cost different from my manufacture cost?
Recipe costs provide an estimate, while manufacture costs are based on actual material costs at the time of production. If there's a discrepancy, it’s usually due to stock cost fluctuations or changes in material pricing.
👉 Why is my recipe cost different from my manufacture cost?
By following these guides, you can identify and resolve costing discrepancies to ensure accurate financial tracking. If you need further assistance, feel free to reach out to our support team.
Still need help?
If you need help adding or removing a recipe, contact our support team for help.