Spot cost drift with cost variance
You set a cost for each product or material to price from. Real purchase prices move. Cost variance shows where the two have parted, so you know when to re-set the cost before it quietly eats the margin.
Open Finance & team → Cost variance. It is limited to finance roles.
Read the table
Section titled “Read the table”Two tables, Components and Products, list each item with:
- Production: the cost you set. This is the basis you price from.
- Actual: the running average of what it costs, which is what drives cost of goods sold.
- Variance and Variance %: the gap.
- Margin %.
- Status: Drifted, OK, or a dash when there is no cost data.
Rows past the threshold are flagged Drifted. Type a different Flag threshold % and click Apply to change how sensitive it is. The summary shows how many rows are flagged. A drifted row means the cost you set is no longer the cost you pay.
If the two costs are in different currencies, the row says Currencies differ and shows no variance, because the difference between two currencies is not money. Set the product’s cost currency to match, or keep the plan in the same currency as the actual.