Business Unit Revenue — What Each Shop Earned, and Who Holds Whose Money
Once a company runs more than one location, two questions come up every month. How much did each shop actually earn? And, because customers pay wherever is convenient, which shop is holding money that belongs to another?
The Business Unit Revenue report answers both on one page. It's in the Reports menu (as Business Unit Revenue). It appears once you have two or more active business units, and it needs the same permission as the revenue, sales and billing reports.
The one rule behind the whole report
Revenue belongs to the business unit that did the work, meaning the one that owns the invoice, no matter which shop the customer paid at.
If Nashua replaces a windshield and the customer pays at the Salem counter, the sale is Nashua's. Salem is just holding Nashua's money. The report's first section tells you what each shop earned. The second tells you what each shop is holding for the others.
Picking the period
Use From and To, or the shortcuts This month, Last month and Year to date. For a month-end close, Last month is the one you want.
Section 1: Revenue by business unit
One row per unit, plus an Unassigned row and a total:
| Column | What it means |
|---|---|
| Invoiced | Invoices dated in the period, tax included. |
| Tax | The tax on those invoices. |
| Payments received | Money paid in the period on this unit's invoices, whichever shop took it. |
| Refunds | Refunds made in the period on this unit's invoices. |
| Net received | Payments received less refunds. |
Two things to notice. "Invoiced" goes by invoice date, and "Payments received" goes by payment date. So a unit can show payments in March for work invoiced in February. That's normal.
The second thing is that Payments received is not what the unit's register took in. It's money received for the unit's work, wherever it was paid. For the cash physically in a drawer, use the Till Audit screen. See Using tills and cash drawers.
The Unassigned row
Unassigned is money on invoices that no business unit owns. It's usually standalone invoices from before business units were set up, or invoices that never had a job, agreement or reservation behind them. A small, shrinking Unassigned row is normal. A growing one means new invoices are being created without a unit, and it's worth finding out who is creating them and where.
Why the totals match the company-wide reports
Every invoice belongs to exactly one unit, or to Unassigned. Every payment is counted once, under the unit that owns its invoice. So the rows add up to the company, and the total row matches the Billing & Sales and Revenue reports for the same dates. The page says so.
If they don't match, check the dates first. Then check that you're seeing every unit. People without View All Business Units see only the units they work in, with a total labelled "Total for your business units". That total won't match the company-wide reports, and isn't meant to.
The second section below is a different view of the same money, not extra revenue. Nothing is counted twice.
Section 2: Collected for other business units
This section lists money one shop took in for work another shop did. Each staff-entered payment records where it was taken: the register's unit if it was taken at a register, otherwise the person's current unit, or else their home unit. Online, portal and autopay payments aren't included, because no shop took them.
The first table pairs the shops:
| Taken in by | Belongs to | Payments | Amount | Of which cash |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salem | → Nashua | 3 | $1,240.00 | $180.00 |
| Nashua | → Salem | 1 | $300.00 | $0.00 |
Show payments on any row opens the list behind it (Date, Invoice, Customer, Amount, How paid), so you can check anything that looks odd.
Below it, Where each business unit stands nets it all out:
| Business unit | Took in for others | Others took in for it | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salem | $1,240.00 | $300.00 | Owes other units $940.00 |
| Nashua | $300.00 | $1,240.00 | Is owed $940.00 |
With more than two shops, a unit's position is netted against all the others combined. Use the pair table above it to see exactly whom it owes.
Settling between shops at month end
A routine that takes ten minutes:
- Run Last month with "All business units".
- Scan the pair table. Anything surprising, like a shop that "took in" money for a location it never deals with, open Show payments. The usual cause is a register assigned to the wrong unit, or someone taking payments while working in the wrong unit.
- Look at "Of which cash" separately. Cash is physically in the taking shop's drawer and bank deposit. Card and ACH payments usually land in the same bank account whichever shop took them.
- Settle the positions. How depends on how the business is set up:
- One owner, one bank account, one set of books: there's nothing to move. If you keep per-shop P&Ls (for example, QuickBooks Classes), record a transfer between them for the net amounts.
- Shops with separate bank accounts, or managers paid on their shop's results: move the money, starting with the cash, which is the part that's physically in the wrong place.
- Keep a copy of both sections (print the page to PDF) with your month-end records.
Common mistakes
- Reading "Payments received" as the shop's till takings. It's money received for the shop's work, wherever it was paid. Drawer cash is on the Till Audit screen.
- Running the report without "View All Business Units". You'll see only your own units, and the totals won't match the company reports. Month-end settlement needs someone who sees every unit.
- Moving a register to another shop without changing its unit. Every cash payment it takes is stamped with the old shop, and the settlement goes wrong. Update the register's unit on Business Units → Registers & stock when a machine moves.
- Counter staff with no home unit working on "All business units". Payments they take at a computer that isn't a register have no shop to be "taken in by", so they drop out of Section 2. Give everyone who takes payments a home unit.
- Ignoring a growing Unassigned row. That's revenue no shop gets credit for. Find out which invoices it is and where they're being created.
- Treating the positions as revenue. "Is owed $940" isn't extra income; that $940 is already in Nashua's revenue in Section 1. The position is only about who is physically holding it.