Why are my Sales KPI and Report figures different?
Discover the reasons behind discrepancies in your Sales KPI and Report figures to improve accuracy and decision-making for your business.
Written by Ian Oldrey
Updated at December 1st, 2025
Table of Contents
When looking at sales KPIs on Merchanter, and reports that are generated, there are some criteria about which figures are being shown that can determine if you are comparing like for like totals.
So the two biggest differentiators when looking at the figures are the date type, and how credit note values are calculated.
Date Type
A KPI can be set to work from one of three different Date Types - Order Date, Supply Date and Invoice Date. Most KPIs default to the Order Date, but you can check and set the date type by selecting the icon top right of the screen > Personalise Dashboard and ‘Edit’ the KPI group with the KPI in you want to set.
KPI vs. Report Date Types
When running a report make sure the report is sorted/filtered by the same date field as the KPI. Otherwise the can be a big difference relating to which orders are included/excluded.
Credit Note Calculation Method
The other thing that is more complicated is the calculating of credit notes. Merchanter has two methods of accounting for credit notes in sales figures:
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Invoice Matched Credit Notes - So an order (invoice) has a original sales value, a matched credit note value, and a sales value after credits. Reporting lists all the invoices, based on their Sales Value after Credits.
For example this is where you invoice something for £100, then credit the customer £40 against that invoice, so the nett value of the order is £60.
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Date Based Credit Notes - This is where the figure is a combination of sales invoices and credit notes. The Invoice Date for invoices, and the Issue Date for Credit Notes, are combined to give a Transaction Date.
For example this is where an invoice may have been raised in October for £100, then we credit the customer back £40, but in November. So the effect on your October Sales are +£100 and your November Sales are -£40.
Both methods are valid, and have pros and cons to which to use:
| Benefits | Drawbacks | |
| Invoice Matched Credit Notes |
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| Date Based Credit Notes |
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Where it does get difficult to match up the figures is most of the KPIs use the Invoice Matched Credit Note figures, and many reports use the Date Based Credit Notes method.
Example Sales Figures with the two Credit Note calculation Methods
As you can see with the example below, each month makes a headline sales figure of £300, but the sales nett of credits can be very different depending on the method used to calculate the figures.
Invoice Matched Credit Notes
| Jan Sale | Jan Credit | Jan Value | Feb Sale | Feb Credit | Feb Value | ||
| Order 1 | Sold £100 in January | £100 | £100 | ||||
| Order 2 | Sold £100 in January, Credit £40 in January | £100 | £40 | £60 | |||
| Order 3 | Sold £100 in January, Credit £40 in February | £100 | £40 | £60 | |||
| Order 4 | Sold £100 in February | £100 | £100 | ||||
| Order 5 | Sold £100 in February, Credit £50 in February | £100 | £50 | £50 | |||
| Order 6 | Sold £100 in February, Credit £50 in March | £100 | £50 | £50 | |||
| TOTAL | £300 | £80 | £220 | £300 | £100 | £200 |
Date Based Credit Notes
| Jan Sale | Jan Credit | Jan Value | Feb Sale | Feb Credit | Feb Value | ||
| Order 1 | Sold £100 in January | £100 | £100 | ||||
| Order 2 | Sold £100 in January, Credit £40 in January | £100 | £40 | £60 | |||
| Order 3 | Sold £100 in January, Credit £40 in February | £100 | £100 | £40 | -£40 | ||
| Order 4 | Sold £100 in February | £100 | £100 | ||||
| Order 5 | Sold £100 in February, Credit £50 in February | £100 | £50 | £50 | |||
| Order 6 | Sold £100 in February, Credit £50 in March | £100 | £100 | ||||
| TOTAL | £300 | £40 | £260 | £300 | £90 | £210 |