Why do my budget numbers not match my actual sales when I compare them in Loaded?
Loaded's revenue reports show figures GST-inclusive, while the cost of goods report shows figures GST-exclusive. Budgets are entered manually day by day, so if you enter your budget ex-GST while actuals pull in GST-inclusive, you'll see an inflated result that isn't real. The workaround is to add GST back into your budget figures so you're comparing like-for-like.
I've updated my stock item pricing, so why can't I see cost of goods in my reports?
Cost of goods pulls from a 'live price', which only populates once you've received an invoice for that item in Loaded and linked it. Until then, the report falls back to a manually-set forecast price. Go to Reports → Cost of Goods Products, search the item, and link the invoice line item to the stock item — once linked, cost of goods updates automatically with each new invoice.
Can Loaded's reconciliation confirm a supplier invoice has actually been paid, not just received?
No — the reconciliation tick on received invoices only confirms the invoice was received and acknowledged against a supplier statement, not that payment was made. When you reconcile a statement, Loaded bundles the individual invoices into one supplier statement export to Xero, which then needs to be marked paid from Xero's side.
How do I get a variance report for an event space that doesn't hold any standing stock?
Do an opening stock take at zero, transfer stock in from your main venue, run the event, then transfer the unused stock back out and do a closing stock take at zero. Even though both counts are zero, Loaded still generates a variance report showing what was received, sold, and transferred out for that period.
My cost of goods report shows no data at all for some of my menu items — why, and how do I fix it?
This means the button for that item on your POS hasn't been linked to its recipe in Loaded yet — until that link exists, Loaded has sales data from the POS but nothing to match it against for cost, so the item shows blank rather than wrong. Go into your POS item links, search for the unlinked product, and connect it to its recipe; once linked, cost of goods and margin data for that item will populate on your next report.
Salaried staff don't clock in or out — how do they still show up correctly in my labour cost reporting?
Salaried staff are costed against their set annual salary divided across your default working hours setting, rather than off actual punch data, so their cost still flows into your labour reporting even without a single clock-in. This means your total labour expense stays accurate for oversight and P&L purposes even for staff who are never rostered hour-by-hour, like a general manager on salary.
I created a new account code in Xero, but it's not showing up as an option when I try to export invoices from Loaded — what's wrong?
This is usually a sync issue rather than a setup mistake, and it's normally fixed by disconnecting and reconnecting the Xero integration from your Loaded account settings. Once reconnected, refresh the export screen and the new code should appear as an option.
Should I keep detailed GL codes for every food and beverage sub-category in Xero, or is that overkill once I'm using Loaded?
For most venues, consolidating down to a small number of generic Xero codes (food purchases, beverage purchases, freight, general/other) works better once Loaded is your day-to-day system. The detailed breakdown already lives in Loaded's own reporting, so keeping the same granularity in Xero just adds manual coding work at export time without adding new insight. The practical benefit of consolidating is being able to bulk-export a whole batch of invoices in one go.
If I've already entered an invoice manually into Xero myself, will Loaded recognise it as a duplicate when I try to export the same invoice from Loaded?
No — the Xero integration only pushes data one way, from Loaded into Xero, and never reads back what already exists in Xero. It will only flag a duplicate if that exact invoice originated in Loaded and you try to export it twice. For any supplier whose invoices already flow into Xero automatically or that you enter there yourself, still receipt them in Loaded so your stock levels and pricing stay current, but don't also push them across to Xero.
I'm getting a tax or account-type error when I try to export invoices to Xero — what does it mean?
This error means the GL/account code you're trying to export against in Xero has its tax rate configured as a revenue or non-expense account type, when it needs to be set as an expense or cost-of-sales type to accept a purchase. Check the specific account code in Xero's chart of accounts and confirm its tax rate is assigned to an expense or cost-of-sales account — your accountant may need to make this change if the code was set up for a different purpose.