# Attributing cost of items to sales **URL:** \ **Category:** Uncategorized\ **Created:** [October 30, 2015, 1:31am UTC](https://forum.manager.io/t/attributing-cost-of-items-to-sales/4011 "2015-10-30T01:31:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Melisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@Melisa](https://forum.manager.io/u/Melisa)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 1:31am UTC](https://forum.manager.io/t/attributing-cost-of-items-to-sales/4011/1 "2015-10-30T01:31:26Z")
This is a food catering business. If I buy items for a job (identified by customer name in the system) - how do I attribute cost of items to this job so I can create a profit and loss for every job (customer)? Eg. Customer XYZ - if I take on a job for $1000 - issue an invoice for $1000 to XYZ. Buy ingredients for this job for $300. How do I attribute the $300 to the $1000 so I can have a P&L for this job with a profit of $700? ---
**Author:** ![lubos](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.manager.io/lubos/32/62798_2.png) [@lubos](https://forum.manager.io/u/lubos)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 1:43am UTC](https://forum.manager.io/t/attributing-cost-of-items-to-sales/4011/2 "2015-10-30T01:43:23Z")
Manager doesn’t have job costing. The closest you can get is to use `Tracking codes` which will allow you to generate P&L per each tracking code. You could create each job as a tracking code under `Settings` tab. When recording transactions, you can select tracking code for which transaction related to. When generating P&L, you can filter out by tracking code. ---
**Author:** ![Melisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@Melisa](https://forum.manager.io/u/Melisa)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 1:54am UTC](https://forum.manager.io/t/attributing-cost-of-items-to-sales/4011/3 "2015-10-30T01:54:45Z")
Thank you for your reply, Since I’m a new user, I’ve been going through all the accounts. Can I put all my purchases under “Billable Expenses” And attribute this expense to a specific customer? I notice that “billable expense” appears on the “Income” section but this will not affect the accounts cos all post to “billable expense” will be reversed out via cost attribution to specific customers. Is this viable or possible? ---
**Author:** ![Melisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@Melisa](https://forum.manager.io/u/Melisa)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 2:17am UTC](https://forum.manager.io/t/attributing-cost-of-items-to-sales/4011/4 "2015-10-30T02:17:42Z")
Where do I create the tracking code? (specifically under which account) - eg. If I buy some items for a job - can I put this under purchases and create a tracking code under the purchase invoice? Or should I put the tracking code under “customer” a/c? ---
**Author:** ![lubos](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.manager.io/lubos/32/62798_2.png) [@lubos](https://forum.manager.io/u/lubos)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 3:11am UTC](https://forum.manager.io/t/attributing-cost-of-items-to-sales/4011/5 "2015-10-30T03:11:44Z")
Billable expenses are only when you are going to re-bill the expense to client. I’m not sure this is what you are doing unless your agreement with client is that they reimburse you for all your costs. I’d assume in catering business, clients don’t reimburse you for your expenses. You quote them price you can do the job for, you deliver, you get paid. Tracking codes can be created under `Settings` tab. (there is `Tracking codes` option). When you purchase items, you can then allocate the purchase price to tracking code. ---
**Author:** ![Melisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@Melisa](https://forum.manager.io/u/Melisa)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 4:12am UTC](https://forum.manager.io/t/attributing-cost-of-items-to-sales/4011/6 "2015-10-30T04:12:38Z")
So am I right in doing the following (1) When I set up my customer base, I will allot a no. for each customer and for each job under this customer a separate job no. eg. customer no. 001 and job no. is 5 - full account code will be 001/5. (2) When I purchase anything that is used for this job I will allocate this 001/5 under entries “purchases”? So 001/5 is my tracking code? ---
**Author:** ![Melisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@Melisa](https://forum.manager.io/u/Melisa)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 4:14am UTC](https://forum.manager.io/t/attributing-cost-of-items-to-sales/4011/7 "2015-10-30T04:14:42Z")
Also, does this accounting system allow me set up tracking code under “Purchases Invoices”? ---
**Author:** ![lubos](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.manager.io/lubos/32/62798_2.png) [@lubos](https://forum.manager.io/u/lubos)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 4:49am UTC](https://forum.manager.io/t/attributing-cost-of-items-to-sales/4011/8 "2015-10-30T04:49:24Z")
Tracking codes are global in a sense they can be applied to any transaction. It’s really a mechanism to slide & dice your P&L by some dimension (e.g. job). ---
**Author:** ![Melisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@Melisa](https://forum.manager.io/u/Melisa)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 7:02am UTC](https://forum.manager.io/t/attributing-cost-of-items-to-sales/4011/9 "2015-10-30T07:02:22Z")
Thank you so much for your help. Will try setting up my basic account structure and come back to you if I have any problem. ---
**Author:** ![Melisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@Melisa](https://forum.manager.io/u/Melisa)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 4:20pm UTC](https://forum.manager.io/t/attributing-cost-of-items-to-sales/4011/10 "2015-10-30T16:20:06Z")
The whole system is not working anymore - i.e. I cannot click on anything - why is this so? what can I do? ---
**Author:** ![lubos](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.manager.io/lubos/32/62798_2.png) [@lubos](https://forum.manager.io/u/lubos)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2015, 8:50pm UTC](https://forum.manager.io/t/attributing-cost-of-items-to-sales/4011/11 "2015-10-30T20:50:16Z")
Not sure, can you be more specific? Have you tried restarting the program? ---
**Author:** ![Tut](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.manager.io/tut/32/3286_2.png) [@Tut](https://forum.manager.io/u/Tut)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 12:12am UTC](https://forum.manager.io/t/attributing-cost-of-items-to-sales/4011/12 "2015-10-31T00:12:24Z")
What operating system are you on? If you’re using a Mac, there is a known freeze problem. Nothing is lost and closing and relaunching the program puts you back in business. @lubos is aware of this, but hasn’t been able to identify the cause yet. ---
**Author:** ![Melisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@Melisa](https://forum.manager.io/u/Melisa)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2015, 7:12am UTC](https://forum.manager.io/t/attributing-cost-of-items-to-sales/4011/13 "2015-10-31T07:12:20Z")
Yes, I’m using a Mac. Ok - relaunched and working now! Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Ealfardan](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.manager.io/ealfardan/32/63166_2.png) [@Ealfardan](https://forum.manager.io/u/Ealfardan)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2023, 3:36pm UTC](https://forum.manager.io/t/attributing-cost-of-items-to-sales/4011/14 "2023-01-18T15:36:16Z")
Closed on January 18, 2023, 3:36pm UTC