Track what each job really costs you

Group your spending by project, client or cost centre. See what your stock and materials actually cost against what you sold. Know which work pays, and which just keeps you busy.

Get 2Fin freeWhat is COGS?

One set of transactions, more than one way to read it

Your transactions already carry tax categories. A view adds a second, independent way of grouping that very same spending — so the tax picture stays untouched while you look at the money a different way. Switch view and every total, chart and export on the page re-cuts itself.

By project

Run the market stall and the catering gigs as separate projects, and see which one carries its costs.

By client

Group spend against the client it was incurred for, so you can tell a profitable retainer from a demanding one.

By cost centre

Split direct costs from overheads, or vehicle from workshop — whatever the real shape of your business is.

Views are available on the Elite and Auto plans. Categories, live bank feeds and receipt capture are not limited to those plans.

Compare plansHow views work

Cost of goods sold, without the spreadsheet

Cost of goods sold is what the things you actually sold cost you — stock, ingredients, materials, freight in. Not rent, not your phone. Keep those direct costs in their own categories and gross profit is a short step away — sales, less those costs, adjusted for any change in stock on hand.

A worked year

Stock on hand at the start
$2,000
Bought through the year
$34,000
Still on the shelf at the end
−$3,500
Cost of goods sold
$32,500
Sales
$60,000
Gross profit
$27,500 (46%)

And if your stock level barely moved across the year — a change of $5,000 or less, on aggregated turnover under $50 million — you can choose to skip the stocktake entirely. Then your purchases simply are your cost of goods sold. How the stocktake shortcut works.

Setting it up once, then leaving it alone

The point is that you do this once. After that the sorting happens on its own, and the cost picture is built by the time you go looking for it.

  1. Step one

    Create a view

    In Categories, add a new set and give it a type — project, client, department, or custom. A food truck might call it Jobs. This sits alongside your tax categories rather than replacing them.

  2. Step two

    Add the categories you actually care about

    Inside that view: Stock & ingredients, Packaging, Vehicle, Overheads. The first two are your direct costs, so they are what forms cost of goods sold.

  3. Step three

    Write the rules that fill it in

    A rule is a condition and an action. Point it at your Jobs view and it never touches your tax categories.

    If the description contains RESTAURANT DEPOT then set the category to Stock & ingredients.
    If the merchant contains SHELL and the amount is greater than 40 then set the category to Vehicle.

    Conditions can match on contains, equals, starts or ends with, greater or less than, or a pattern of your own, and you can join several with and/or. Rules run in the priority you set, so a specific one beats a general one.

  4. Step four

    Let it run

    Switch the rules to run automatically and new transactions are sorted as they arrive. Anything a rule does not catch, Fin categorises on its own — and when you correct it, it remembers that merchant next time.

    Every operator a rule can use

Handing it over to your accountant

The categories you set up are the same ones your accountant needs. Export them in the shape their software expects, for whatever period you choose.

Accountant Ledger

One row per transaction — date, description, merchant, category, tax treatment, debit and credit. Flat, with a single header row, which is what accounting software imports.

Profit & Loss Summary

Income and expenses totalled by category, largest first, with your net position. The summary an accountant or a lender asks for.

Your tax-agency format

ATO myDeductions in Australia, an agency-labelled deduction file elsewhere. Built for lodging rather than for handing over.

The profit and loss is a cash-basis statement — it totals what actually moved in the period, and the file says so. If you carry meaningful stock, your accountant makes the opening and closing adjustment from your own figures.

What each export contains

Where the money goes out on a schedule

Wages, rent, a weekly supplier run — set them up once as a recurring pattern and Fin matches each payment as it arrives, at whatever rhythm it really happens on: weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, or something of your own.

Worth being clear about payroll

Fin records what you pay yourself and your staff, and keeps it in the right category and the right view. It does not lodge Single Touch Payroll, work out PAYG withholding or pay super — those obligations need a dedicated payroll tool running alongside. Fin tracks the money moving; the lodgement stays where it belongs.

Cost tracking, answered

Questions about tracking costs

How do I track cost of goods sold?
Put your direct costs — stock, ingredients, materials, freight in — into their own categories, and keep overheads like rent and phone separate. Fin sorts each transaction off your live bank feed as it lands, so the split maintains itself. Sales minus those direct costs gives you gross profit — once you allow for any change in stock on hand, or straight away if your stock barely moved and the stocktake shortcut applies.
Can I see profit for one job or one client?
Yes, with a project or client view. A view is a second way of slicing the same transactions: your tax categories stay exactly as they are, and alongside them you group spending by job, client, department or anything else you choose. Switching view re-cuts every figure on the page. Views are available on the Elite and Auto plans.
Do I need to do a stocktake?
Often not. If your aggregated turnover is under $50 million and the change in your stock across the year is $5,000 or less, you can choose not to account for it — which means your purchases for the year effectively are your cost of goods sold. Keep a rough count and a note so you can show the estimate was reasonable.
Can Fin run my payroll?
Fin tracks what you pay yourself and your staff, as a recurring pattern that matches each payment automatically. It does not lodge Single Touch Payroll, calculate PAYG withholding or pay super — those are separate obligations that need a dedicated payroll tool alongside. Fin records the money moving; the lodgement stays elsewhere.
How do I set cost tracking up?
Three steps. Create a view and give it a type — project, client, department or your own. Add the categories you want to track inside it, like stock, packaging and overheads. Then write rules that fill it in for you: match on what the transaction says or how much it was, and set the category automatically. Rules can be pointed at one view, so your tax categories are never disturbed.
Can my accountant work from this?
Yes. Alongside your tax-agency export there are two handover formats. The Accountant Ledger is one row per transaction — date, description, merchant, category, tax treatment, debit and credit — flat, which is the shape accounting software imports. The Profit and Loss Summary totals income and expenses by category with your net position. Both cover whatever date range you choose.
What counts as a direct cost?
A simple test: if the cost goes up when you sell one more, it is direct. Ingredients, stock, packaging and freight in are direct. Rent, insurance, your phone and your accounting software stay flat whether you sell ten or a thousand, so they are overheads. Getting the split right is what makes gross profit a number you can act on.

See where your money actually went

Connect your bank, and Fin sorts every transaction as it lands — so the cost picture is already built by the time you go looking for it.

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