How to track your spend properly?

Between your supplier's invoice and cash in your account, $8 disappears. Here's where it goes. Most founders track what they pay the supplier. That's maybe 60% of the real cost. The other 40% leaks out in places they never think to look. Let me walk you through real product I audited last month. Supplier invoice said $14. Founder thought that was the cost. Here's what was actually happening. Ocean freight from China to LA is 1.2 per unit. She was splitting a container so per unit was higher than what she's expecting. Duties at 7.5% is 1.$05. Tracking is 0.43. PL receiving and put away is 0.35. Storage for 3 months average is 0.9. Peak fat and ship materials is 2.8. Payment processing at 2.9% plus 30 cents on a $45 product is 1.6. That's 8.3 costs. She wasn't tracking. Her $14 product actually cost 22.3. To get money in the bank, she was celebrating 69% gross margin. Her real margin was 50%. Still decent, but she was making decisions based on the wrong number. Pull your last freight invoice. Divide by unitship. That's what your per unit freight is. Most founders have never done this. Save this. Go find your eight dol.