Retail Chain Expenses: How to Review Transactions by Store and Business Unit

When a business has several stores, cash registers, or enterprises, the owner needs to understand not only the total expenses but also where they were incurred. For example, rent was paid for one store, supplies were purchased for another, salaries were paid from a specific cash register, and a bank fee was debited from a particular enterprise's bank account. If an amount in the financial analysis seems incorrect or a required transaction is missing, start by checking the period, retail location, cash register, enterprise, and financial analysis category.

What You Need to Know Before Checking

A financial document in Torgsoft records money movements: cash receipts, operating expenses, payments to suppliers, bank account transactions, and other payments. To find the required transaction in Payment → Financial Document, you can filter by period, document type, counterparty, analysis category, cash register, retail location, and enterprise. 

An accounting center is an entity for which Torgsoft maintains separate records. In a retail chain, accounting centers may include stores, warehouses, and other locations.

A financial analysis category identifies the purpose of a money movement. For example, the software includes predefined categories for sales revenue, supplier payments, salaries, bank fees, and other transactions. Owners can also create their own categories. 

A category can be designated as an expense category. Related financial transactions are then recorded as business expenses and deducted from sales revenue when calculating profit. 

How to Find Expenses for a Specific Store

If you need to check, for example, the expenses of Store No. 2 for September, open Payment → Financial Document.

First, set the required period. Then use the filters to narrow down the list:

1. Retail location — select the required store.

2. Cash register — if you want to view cash transactions from a specific register.

3. Analysis category — for example, operating expenses or salaries.

4. Enterprise — if transactions from several enterprises are recorded in one database.

5. If necessary — filter by counterparty or document type.

These filters are designed specifically for finding a particular financial transaction. 

For example, an owner sees operating expenses in a report but wants to determine which store they belong to. In financial documents, they can select the relevant retail location and analysis category to review transactions for the required period.

How to Check Expenses Across the Entire Retail Chain

For an overall view, use Analysis → Period.

In this mode, first select an accounting center, then the month and year. After refreshing, the software displays totals for the selected location. 

If several retail chains are configured in the software, you can also use the «Retail Chain» filter. In this case, totals will be calculated only for the accounting centers belonging to the selected chain.

In practice, this provides two levels of verification: 

Why an Expense May Be Assigned to the Wrong Location

The first thing to check is which parameters were used to record the transaction.

For example, a retail chain has two stores. The cost of supplies should be assigned to the second store. If another cash register, retail location, enterprise, or analysis category was selected when the financial document was created, you will need to search for the transaction using the actual details recorded in that document.

Therefore, if there is a discrepancy, do not immediately try to correct the summary report. First, find the financial document itself and check:

• date;

• amount;

• cash register or bank account;

• retail location;

• enterprise;

• financial analysis category.

Why a Transaction Appears in Financial Documents but Does Not Affect Expenses

Not every money movement is a business expense.

For example, cash collection or transfers between cash registers are movements of funds within the business. Torgsoft uses the «Internal Transfers» category for such transactions. The money changes its location, but the transaction itself should not be treated in the same way as rent, salaries, or other expenses. 

If a transaction should reduce profit, check its financial analysis category. An expense category must have the «Include in Expenses» option enabled. 

For example, to pay for cleaning supplies, you can create a cash expense order and select the operating expenses category. Torgsoft's documentation explicitly describes this scenario for issuing cash to cover business needs. 

How to Check Transactions for Multiple Sole Proprietorships or Enterprises

If one Torgsoft database is used for several enterprises, pay attention to the «Enterprise» filter when searching for financial transactions.

For example, two stores are operated by different Sole Proprietorships. The total amount for the period may be correct, but to verify transactions for a particular Sole Proprietorship, you need to filter its transactions separately.

In the Financial Document window, the enterprise filter works together with the period, cash register, retail location, counterparty, and analysis category filters. 

Therefore, if a payment seems to have «disappeared», first check whether the filter is set to another enterprise.

What to Do If You Find an Incorrect Financial Document

If the error is in the financial document itself, you can edit or delete it only under certain conditions.

For a cash transaction, the corresponding cash register day must be open. If the document is linked to a payment for goods, you must cancel that payment before editing or deleting the document. Deletion of a financial document is recorded under File → User Action Log. 

Therefore, before correcting an older transaction, first identify exactly which document is causing the incorrect amount, and only then make changes to the records.

How to Check Expenses Without Unnecessary Searching

For regular monitoring, follow this straightforward procedure:

1. Under Analysis → Period, check the totals for the relevant store or retail chain.

2. If the expense amount raises questions, open Payment → Financial Document.

3. Set the same period.

4. Select the retail location or enterprise.

5. If necessary, narrow the search by cash register and analysis category.

6. Check the details of the financial documents you find.

7. If a transaction should be classified as an expense, check whether the appropriate expense category was used.

If you cannot identify the cause yourself, we recommend contacting Torgsoft technical support for assistance.