Mastering Your Spending: Understanding High Expense Alerts

Mastering Your Spending: Understanding High Expense Alerts #

Hello, shopkeeper! Staying profitable means keeping a close eye on your expenses. But manually tracking every cost category and comparing it to past periods can be time-consuming. That’s where the High Expense Alerts insight comes in. Ficos automatically monitors your spending, flags categories where costs have significantly increased, and gives you the details you need to take control. Let’s dive into how this feature works and how you can use it to manage your budget effectively.

What are High Expense Alerts? #

High Expense Alerts automatically identify expense categories where your spending in a recent period (like the last 7, 30, 60, or 90 days) is significantly higher—specifically, more than 30% higher—than the calculated monthly average spending over a longer lookback period (e.g., comparing the last 30 days against the average from the last 90 days).

This insight helps you:

• Automatically Detect Spending Spikes: Get notified about expense categories exceeding the 30% increase threshold without manual comparison.
• Analyze Across Timeframes: Choose to view alerts for the Last 7 Days, Last 30 Days, Last 60 Days, or Last 90 Days.
• Understand the Increase: See the total amount spent in the flagged category during the selected period and the percentage increase compared to the longer-term monthly average.
• Investigate Specific Transactions: Drill down into alerted categories to view details of recent expenses (up to 10), including date, amount, reference, reason, and payment type.
• Visualize Expense Contribution: See a pie chart showing which alerted categories contribute most to the total flagged spending in the period.
• Track Spending Trends: View a line chart showing the weekly spending trend over the last 90 days for your top 5 most significant alerted categories.
• Get Actionable Advice: Find contextual tips within the expanded details to help you investigate and address the high expenses.

Ficos presents this information clearly, helping you quickly spot and understand potential budget issues.

Why Monitoring Expense Alerts is Critical #

Keeping an eye on High Expense Alerts is crucial for maintaining financial health:

• Catch Errors or Waste Early: Quickly identify potential billing errors, duplicate charges, or areas of inefficient spending before they significantly impact your bottom line.
• Control Budget Creep: Prevent gradual, unnoticed increases in certain cost categories from eroding your profits over time.
• Make Informed Budget Decisions: Understand where costs are rising unexpectedly, allowing you to adjust budgets or operational strategies proactively.
• Improve Supplier Negotiations: Use data on spending patterns and increases to potentially negotiate better rates or terms with vendors.
• Identify Operational Issues: Sometimes, increased expenses (like returns processing costs or shipping fees) can signal underlying operational problems that need attention.

How to Access the High Expense Alerts Insight #

Finding the High Expense Alerts in Ficos is simple:

Step 1: On the home screen, tap the ‘View Analytics’ link below the ‘Today’ dashboard summary.

Step 2: This will take you to the Store Analytics page.

Step 3: On the Store Analytics screen, look through the list of available insights and tap on ‘High Expense Alerts’.

This insight provides the focus needed to manage spending effectively and protect your profits.

Understanding Key Metrics #

To fully leverage the High Expense Alerts insight, familiarize yourself with these key data points:

1. Selectable Time Periods: Choose between 7, 30, 60, or 90 days using the tabs at the top to analyze recent spending patterns.
2. Alerted Category List: The main table shows expense categories that exceeded the 30% increase threshold for the selected period compared to their longer-term monthly average.
3. Amount (Current Period): The total amount spent in the alerted category during the selected period (e.g., Last 30 Days). Displayed in the main list, often formatted (e.g., 1.5k, 2M).
4. Avg (Lookback Period): The calculated *monthly average* spending for that category based on a longer historical period (e.g., for the ‘Last 30 Days’ view, this might be the average over the last 90 days). Found in the expanded details.
5. Increase (%): The percentage by which the current period’s spending exceeds the calculated long-term monthly average. Found in the expanded details.
6. Detailed Expense Records: When you expand an alerted category, you can see a list of recent expenses. Expanding each expense shows: Date, Amount, Order Reference, Reason, Payment Type.
7. Contribution Chart (Pie): Found under the ‘Contribution’ tab, this visualizes which alerted categories make up the largest portions of the *total alerted spending* for the period.
8. Trend Chart (Line): Found under the ‘Trend’ tab, this shows the week-by-week spending pattern over the last 90 days for the top 5 alerted expense categories (from the selected period).
9. Overall Summary Card: Provides a quick overview for the selected period, including the number of alerted categories, the total amount spent across those alerted categories, and the average percentage increase.

Turning Insights into Action #

Here’s how to use the High Expense Alerts effectively:

• Prioritize Investigation: Use the Alert List tab. Focus on categories with the highest Amount and the largest Increase (%) (visible when you expand the row).
• Dig Deeper: Expand the row for a high-alert category. Compare the Amount (Current Period) to the Avg (Lookback Period). Check the specific advice provided.
• Examine Transactions: In the expanded section, review the Recent Expenses in Category table. Expand individual expenses to check the Reason, Reference, and Amount for anything unusual, unexpected, or potentially incorrect.
• Identify Major Contributors: Switch to the Contribution tab. The pie chart quickly shows which 2-3 categories are responsible for the bulk of the spending increases.
• Analyze Patterns Over Time: Go to the Trend tab. The line chart helps determine if an increase was a one-time spike or part of a sustained upward trend over the past 90 days.
• Review Different Periods: Toggle between the 7d, 30d, 60d, and 90d tabs to see if alerts are consistent or only appear in specific timeframes.
• Take Corrective Action: Based on your investigation (e.g., finding errors, identifying waste, noting price increases), take appropriate action – contact suppliers, adjust budgets, change processes, or seek alternatives.

Real-World Example #

Imagine you run a cafe and check the High Expense Alerts for the Last 30 Days. You see an alert for the “Packaging Supplies” category.

You tap to expand the row and see:

• Amount (Last 30d): $850
• Avg (Last 90d): $500 (monthly average)
• Increase: +70%

You then look at the recent expenses listed within the details:

• You notice two large invoices from your main supplier this month instead of the usual one.
• Expanding one of the detailed expense records, the Reference number looks familiar, possibly indicating a duplicate payment.

Here’s how you can act:

• Investigate Further: Cross-reference the invoice numbers and payment records in your accounting system or bank statements to confirm the potential duplicate payment.
• Contact Supplier: If a duplicate payment is confirmed, contact the supplier immediately to rectify the error and arrange a credit or refund.
• Review Process: Consider implementing stricter checks in your payment approval process to prevent future duplicate payments.
• Check Trends: Look at the ‘Trend’ chart for Packaging Supplies to see if spending has been creeping up generally, even without the duplicate payment, which might indicate a need to explore alternative suppliers or bulk discounts.

Making the Most of Your Insights #

Get the best results from High Expense Alerts by keeping these points in mind:

• Don’t Ignore Alerts: Regularly check the insight. An alert signifies a notable deviation from your typical spending pattern that warrants attention.
• Utilize All Details: Remember to expand both the main category rows and the individual expense rows within the details section to get the full picture (Reason, Reference, etc.).
• Understand the Comparison: Recognize that the alert compares recent spending (e.g., 30 days) to a longer-term *monthly average* (e.g., based on 90 days). This helps smooth out normal fluctuations.
• Use the Charts for Context: The Pie chart highlights the biggest alerted spenders, while the Trend chart shows historical context (spike vs. trend).
• Combine with Other Knowledge: Consider external factors not captured in the data. Did you run a big promotion causing higher shipping costs? Did a utility rate increase? Contextualize the alerts with your business operations.

Conclusion #

The High Expense Alerts insight in Ficos is a powerful tool for proactive financial management. By automatically flagging significant spending increases across different timeframes and providing detailed transaction data, it helps you quickly identify potential issues, control costs, and make smarter budgeting decisions. Stay on top of your expenses effortlessly and protect your hard-earned profits. Explore this insight regularly to keep your business finances healthy. You can learn more from the Ficos documentation or by using the feature directly in the app.

What our clients say #

I have managed to track my expenses better and been able to budget and plan better

Nayebare Jenuario #

★★★★★

Business has never been managed better on an app than with Ficos! No hardware costs, no implementation costs, the LOWEST cost of ownership and business intelligence at your finger tips! Thx Ficos team

Fort High #

★★★★★

Excellent app Very useful for business

Christian TABARO #

★★★★★