The Full Benefit of Exception Reports

Fuel costs can increase; product costs fluctuate; and labor cost percentages go up and down based upon how hard or how smart people work. Professionals understand that every significant change in the numbers represents either a problem that must be solved or an opportunity that must be acted upon if they expect to deliver the budgeted bottom line. Most professionals agree that even a monthly statement is not quick enough to give them all the knowledge they need on a timely basis. By the time the monthly P & L report come out, the problem or opportunity could be 5 or 6 weeks old.

A standby tool

Rather than wait for up to six weeks, you as an Antares operator can depend upon weekly, or even daily, exception reports to manage your Antares vending operation on a timely basis. An exception report only lists anomalies, i.e. only those items that vary from pre-determined or pre-established norms. They can relieve you of the need to review all of the numbers because you only need to look at the numbers that require attention.

Well designed exception reports provide early warning of problems or opportunities, particularly with regard to the vital signs. In vending they usually include: 1) sales, 2) costs of goods sold, 3) direct labor, and 4) vehicle costs.

Exception sales reports

Any significant change, up or down, in the level of sales at Antares locations, should provoke a management response. If the sales are on the increase then management needs to examine the service frequency and the level of equipment at the location. If nobody takes the time to do this, the machines in these locations would run empty. Decreasing sales should also provoke a management response. Get to know the reason for the problem and try and find a solution for the problem. If the problem cannot be solved, then it would become necessary to renegotiate the relationship with the location.

Exception sales reports, average daily sales reports, direct labor cost exception reports and vehicle cost exception reports will all help you get a head start in solving any problems in your Antares business before they become budget busters. These are just some of the typical exception reports. If they run on an exception basis, they will point you in the right direction without spending countless hours reading through reams of information. In other words, they are action reports.