Capability template for finance and accounting
Range margin by channel review
When a wholesale offer or a promotion changes the economics of a range, the finance lead gets a margin worksheet for every product in every channel, showing which cost layers are in each figure and which gaps are still open. It invents no cost and changes no price.
Listed under
Add it to a workflow in the Fully Powered Planner, beside the teams and roles that will run it. Book a fit call
The outcome
The question "which of our products earn money, and where?" gets an answer built from your own exports instead of a hunch. Each product is shown in each channel it sold through: net sales after discounts and returns, then the product cost, the packaging, the freight and the channel's fees, one layer at a time.
Every margin comes in two forms. One counts only the costs that have been confirmed. The other adds the costs that are estimates, such as an allocation someone agreed but nobody has invoiced. Where a cost is missing altogether, or a variant in the sales export has no match in the cost file, the worksheet says so on that line and puts the gap on a list of questions for the finance lead. It never fills a gap with a guess.
The worksheet recommends no price and no channel decision. The finance lead approves the cost basis; the commercial owner decides what to do about it.
Who starts the work, and when
The finance lead, the bookkeeper or the founder runs it when an offer or a promotion is on the table, such as a wholesale account asking for better terms, a marketplace campaign or a new discount level. The offer or promotion is the occasion, not an input: the worksheet does not model its terms. It runs again whenever a missing cost turns up or an estimate is confirmed.
The finance lead reads the worksheet, answers its questions and approves the cost basis. The commercial owner, who sets prices and chooses channels, decides what follows.
What they supply
- A sales export for one stated period, by product and channel: units, gross sales, discounts and returns.
- A unit cost file: each product's product cost and packaging cost per unit, each marked confirmed or estimated.
- A channel cost file: freight per unit and fees as a share of net sales for each channel, each marked confirmed or estimated, including any allocation the business has agreed. A channel layer that truly carries no cost is recorded as not applicable, so it is not mistaken for a missing figure.
- The settings: the period, the currency and, if you use one, a margin floor.
It works from the files you supply. No connection to your accounting system, shop platform or marketplace is needed, and it never asks for a password. If a column header does not match what it expects, it stops and asks.
What comes out
One worksheet in a fixed order:
- The picture. How many product and channel lines there are, how many are complete, how many have a gap, and a tie-out of net sales to the sales export.
- The grid. One line for each product, with its margin in each channel.
- Margin by product and channel. For each line, the sales, each cost layer marked confirmed, estimated or missing, and the margin on confirmed costs alone and with estimates added.
- The gaps. Every missing, estimated or unmatched cost, and the lines it touches.
- Data notes and questions for the finance lead.
Good looks like this: every figure traces to a row in an export, no margin is shown without saying which layers it includes, and nowhere does the worksheet say what a price should be.
This is not a price test and not a landed-cost calculation. Price change review works proposed prices through to gross profit, and Product landed cost worksheet builds a product cost from an import shipment's invoices. This capability takes costs as you supply them and shows where each product stands across your channels.
An invented example
Illustrative example with invented data. The business, the products and every figure below are invented. Marrowby Pantry is an invented six-person maker of granola and oat bars that sells through its own website, to wholesale accounts and on a marketplace. A wholesale account has asked for better terms, and the finance lead wants to see what each product earns in each channel first. The bookkeeper runs the review; people are referred to by role.
The inputs come first, in full, so the template can be run on them. The worksheet follows.
The inputs
1. Settings
Business: Marrowby Pantry
Review date: Tuesday 10 November 2026
Period: 1 July 2026 to 30 September 2026
For: the finance lead
Prepared by: the bookkeeper
Currency: US dollars
Margin floor: 20%
2. Sales export, 1 July to 30 September 2026
SKU,Channel,Units,Gross sales,Discounts,Returns
G-400,Website,1200,9600.00,480.00,96.00
G-400,Wholesale,3000,16500.00,1650.00,0.00
G-400,Marketplace,800,6400.00,320.00,128.00
G-TIN,Website,300,6900.00,300.00,110.00
G-TIN,Wholesale,500,8000.00,1200.00,0.00
B-12,Website,400,4800.00,200.00,60.00
B-12,Marketplace,600,6600.00,0.00,150.00
B-12W,Wholesale,250,2125.00,125.00,0.00
3. Unit cost file
SKU,Cost layer,Unit cost,Status
G-400,Product,3.10,Confirmed
G-400,Packaging,0.55,Confirmed
G-TIN,Product,6.80,Confirmed
G-TIN,Packaging,2.40,Estimated
B-12,Product,4.20,Confirmed
4. Channel cost file
Channel,Cost layer,Basis,Rate,Status
Website,Freight,per unit,1.20,Estimated
Website,Channel fees,% of net sales,3.5,Confirmed
Wholesale,Freight,per unit,0.40,Confirmed
Wholesale,Channel fees,% of net sales,2.0,Estimated
Marketplace,Freight,per unit,1.10,Confirmed
Marketplace,Channel fees,% of net sales,15,Confirmed
The worksheet
RANGE MARGIN BY CHANNEL REVIEW: Marrowby Pantry, prepared 10 November 2026
For: the finance lead. Prepared by the bookkeeper on 10 November 2026, for the finance lead's review.
Sources: sales export, 1 July 2026 to 30 September 2026, 8 lines; unit cost file, 5 rows; channel cost file, 6 rows.
Settings used: currency US dollars; margin floor 20%. Defaults used: none.
THE PICTURE
Lines: 8, of 4 products in 3 channels. Complete: 5. Incomplete: 2. No margin shown: 1. Below zero: 0. Below floor: 1.
Tie-out: net sales across lines $56,106.00 = gross sales $60,925.00 − discounts $4,275.00 − returns $544.00. Units 7,050 = 7,050.
THE GRID
Margin % with estimates.
G-400: Website 32.0%; Wholesale 16.2%; Marketplace 21.2%.
G-TIN: Website 48.4%; Wholesale 27.4%; Marketplace no sales.
B-12: Website 48.9% incomplete; Wholesale no sales; Marketplace 35.7% incomplete.
B-12W: Website no sales; Wholesale n/a; Marketplace no sales.
MARGIN BY PRODUCT AND CHANNEL
G-400, Website: 1,200 units. Gross sales $9,600.00, discounts $480.00, returns $96.00, net sales $9,024.00.
Costs: Product $3,720.00, Confirmed; Packaging $660.00, Confirmed; Freight $1,440.00, Estimated; Channel fees $315.84, Confirmed.
Margin on confirmed costs: $4,328.16, 48.0%. With estimates: $2,888.16, 32.0%.
G-400, Wholesale: 3,000 units. Gross sales $16,500.00, discounts $1,650.00, returns $0.00, net sales $14,850.00.
Costs: Product $9,300.00, Confirmed; Packaging $1,650.00, Confirmed; Freight $1,200.00, Confirmed; Channel fees $297.00, Estimated.
Margin on confirmed costs: $2,700.00, 18.2%. With estimates: $2,403.00, 16.2%. BELOW FLOOR.
G-400, Marketplace: 800 units. Gross sales $6,400.00, discounts $320.00, returns $128.00, net sales $5,952.00.
Costs: Product $2,480.00, Confirmed; Packaging $440.00, Confirmed; Freight $880.00, Confirmed; Channel fees $892.80, Confirmed.
Margin on confirmed costs: $1,259.20, 21.2%. With estimates: $1,259.20, 21.2%.
G-TIN, Website: 300 units. Gross sales $6,900.00, discounts $300.00, returns $110.00, net sales $6,490.00.
Costs: Product $2,040.00, Confirmed; Packaging $720.00, Estimated; Freight $360.00, Estimated; Channel fees $227.15, Confirmed.
Margin on confirmed costs: $4,222.85, 65.1%. With estimates: $3,142.85, 48.4%.
G-TIN, Wholesale: 500 units. Gross sales $8,000.00, discounts $1,200.00, returns $0.00, net sales $6,800.00.
Costs: Product $3,400.00, Confirmed; Packaging $1,200.00, Estimated; Freight $200.00, Confirmed; Channel fees $136.00, Estimated.
Margin on confirmed costs: $3,200.00, 47.1%. With estimates: $1,864.00, 27.4%.
B-12, Website: 400 units. Gross sales $4,800.00, discounts $200.00, returns $60.00, net sales $4,540.00.
Costs: Product $1,680.00, Confirmed; Packaging not supplied; Freight $480.00, Estimated; Channel fees $158.90, Confirmed.
Margin on confirmed costs: $2,701.10, 59.5%. With estimates: $2,221.10, 48.9%. INCOMPLETE: no packaging; both margins are before it.
B-12, Marketplace: 600 units. Gross sales $6,600.00, discounts $0.00, returns $150.00, net sales $6,450.00.
Costs: Product $2,520.00, Confirmed; Packaging not supplied; Freight $660.00, Confirmed; Channel fees $967.50, Confirmed.
Margin on confirmed costs: $2,302.50, 35.7%. With estimates: $2,302.50, 35.7%. INCOMPLETE: no packaging; both margins are before it.
B-12W, Wholesale: 250 units. Net sales $2,000.00. No margin shown: no product cost. Found: Freight $100.00, Confirmed; Channel fees $40.00, Estimated.
THE GAPS
Missing: Packaging, B-12: touches B-12 Website, B-12 Marketplace.
Estimated: Packaging, G-TIN: $2.40 a unit; carried by G-TIN Website, G-TIN Wholesale.
Estimated: Freight, Website: $1.20 a unit; carried by G-400 Website, G-TIN Website, B-12 Website.
Estimated: Channel fees, Wholesale: 2.0% of net sales; carried by G-400 Wholesale, G-TIN Wholesale, B-12W Wholesale.
Unmatched: B-12W in Wholesale, 250 units, net sales $2,000.00: no rows in the unit cost file.
DATA NOTES
B-12W, Wholesale: no margin shown because the unit cost file has no rows for B-12W.
Products in the unit cost file with no sales in the period: none. Channels with no rows in the channel cost file: none.
Assumption: units are net of returns; returned goods and return freight are not costed.
Assumption: costs and rates cover the whole period, and allocations are used as supplied.
QUESTIONS FOR THE FINANCE LEAD
1. Packaging, B-12: there is no packaging row, so both margins on B-12 Website and B-12 Marketplace are before it. What is the packaging cost of one unit, and is it confirmed?
2. B-12W, Wholesale: 250 units, net sales $2,000.00, and no rows in the unit cost file. Is B-12W a variant of another product, and what are its product and packaging costs?
3. Packaging, G-TIN: $2.40 a unit is marked Estimated and sits on two lines. Is there a confirmed figure?
4. Freight, Website: $1.20 a unit is marked Estimated and sits on three lines. Is there a confirmed rate?
5. Channel fees, Wholesale: 2.0% of net sales is marked Estimated and sits on three lines. Is that rate confirmed?
Prepared for the finance lead's review. It recommends no price and no channel decision. No price, cost or record has been changed, and nothing has been sent or published.
Where it fits
- Finance and accounting, which owns the cost basis and the margin.
- Analytics and reporting, where the same product can look strong in one channel and thin in another.
- Sales, where a wholesale or promotion decision is made.
- Consumer brands, where one range sells through your own site, wholesale accounts and marketplaces at once.
- Ecommerce and retail, where channel fees and freight differ widely.
- Manufacturing, for makers that sell their own goods through several routes.
- Growth & scaling, when a new channel has been added faster than its costs have been tracked.
- Established businesses, where a range has sold the same way for years and nobody has looked at it channel by channel.
What has to change for your company
- Your exports. The column names your systems produce, so the template reads them as they come.
- Your channels. The names you use, and which fees and freight each one carries.
- Your cost layers. The default layers are product, packaging, freight and channel fees. Add or remove layers to match how your finance lead builds a cost, and agree what makes a cost confirmed rather than estimated.
- Your period. A quarter is a sensible default; use a shorter one if costs or terms changed recently.
- Your floor. The margin below which a line is flagged, if you use one.
- Your platform. It runs in ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot or Gemini. Decide which files the assistant may read and where the worksheet is kept.
What has been checked
Fully Powered AI wrote this capability template. It was editorially reviewed on 10 November 2026. It was tried on its invented example in Claude on 10 November 2026; the record is published with it. It has not yet been tested in a client environment. It has not yet been tested as a packaged version in ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot or Gemini.
Testing in your environment means running it on a past quarter your finance lead knows well, with hard cases written in advance: an export whose headers do not match, a product with no packaging cost, a variant that exists in sales and not in the cost file, a fee rate of zero. The finance lead checks every figure against the exports before anyone relies on the worksheet. Pilot acceptance-test preparation sets those cases up, and what we test before we call an AI workflow ready describes the record we keep.
The full capability template
Everything above is the outline. The complete capability template is the working version: the roles, the inputs, the procedure, the exceptions and stop conditions, the output format, the reviewer checklist, the acceptance tests, the instructions for an AI assistant and what to customize for your company. It comes with a download and the link to its folder in Fully Powered’s public repository.
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