Feature

Production that tells you what a unit really costs

If you buy flour and sell bread, the two halves of your business are usually recorded in different places — or not at all. Production joins them, and gives you a cost per loaf instead of a feeling.

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The gap between materials and finished goods

Makers know their turnover and their material bills. What they rarely know is what one unit costs to produce — because that answer sits between the two, and nothing in an ordinary cash book computes it.

Without it, pricing is instinct. Input prices rise quietly, a selling price set eighteen months ago stays put, and a line that used to be the best earner becomes the one losing money.

A recipe fixes that. Define what goes into one batch once, and every batch you record afterwards prices itself from current material costs.

How it works

  1. Keep raw materials separate from finished goodsFlour, sugar, packaging and chemicals are materials, with their own stock, units and reorder levels. Bread and bottled soap are products you sell.
  2. Write the recipe onceIngredients and quantities, plus labour, packaging, energy and transport. The batch cost, cost per unit and margin update as you type.
  3. Record the batch with Quick MakePick the recipe, say how many batches, enter good and damaged output. Materials come out of stock, finished units go in.
  4. Sell from normal stockWhat you produced is ordinary stock from that point on, so it sells and reports exactly like anything else.

Simple mode is where nearly everyone should start

There are two modes. Simple is recipes and Quick Make: record what you made, materials out, goods in, no work-in-progress. That's the right fit for a bakery, a soap maker, a juice plant or a small workshop.

Full mode adds production orders with work stages, material reservation, machines and quality control. It is a factory workflow, and most small producers never need it.

You can switch between them at any time, so starting simple costs you nothing. Production is also opt-in as a whole — a shop that doesn't make anything never sees it.

One batch of bread, costed

Batch yield — 120 loaves
Flour, yeast, sugar, salt− UGX 96,000
Packaging− UGX 14,400
Baker's time− UGX 30,000
Fuel & power− UGX 18,000
Total batch costUGX 158,400
Cost per loafUGX 1,320
Selling atUGX 2,200
Margin per loafUGX 880 · 40%

When flour moves, the batch cost moves with it — which is the moment to decide whether the price moves too, rather than three months later.

The details that matter to a real producer

  1. Weighted-average material costStock comes in at what you actually paid across deliveries, so the recipe costs against reality rather than the price you paid once.
  2. Dated batches, oldest out firstEach delivery opens a dated batch and materials draw down oldest-first, so expiry is handled and you can see what's about to go.
  3. Wastage recorded, not hiddenDamaged output and spoiled materials are recorded as such. A batch that went wrong should look like a batch that went wrong.
  4. Every movement explainableOpening stock, purchases, production use, wastage, adjustments and transfers are all logged with a running balance.

Read further

Production & recipesThe full walkthrough, Simple and Full mode. Buying materialsDeliveries, costs and suppliers. Finished goodsSelling what you made. For bakeriesHow a bakery runs on PesaScope.

Questions makers ask

Do I have to use the production module?

No. It's opt-in and off by default. Many makers run on sales and expenses alone for months before turning it on, and that's enough to tell you whether the month worked.

What's the difference between Simple and Full mode?

Simple is recipes plus Quick Make — materials out, finished goods in, no work-in-progress. Full adds production orders with stages, material reservation, machines and quality control. Most small producers stay on Simple.

Will it tell me the cost of one unit?

Yes. The recipe gives batch cost, cost per unit, profit per unit and margin, calculated from your current material costs rather than the prices you first entered.

What happens when an ingredient price changes?

Material stock is held at a weighted-average cost across deliveries, so the recipe recosts as new stock arrives — which is the signal to review your selling price.

Can I record a batch that partly failed?

Yes. Quick Make takes good and damaged output separately, so the loss is visible instead of quietly reducing your yield.

Are raw materials counted in my normal stock?

No — materials are held separately from finished goods. That's deliberate: mixing them makes both counts meaningless.

Set it up in about three minutes

Pick your trade at sign-up and PesaScope loads your starting list for you. Change any price, add what's missing, and record your first sale the same day.

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