Margin explained, not just reported

Perimeter breaks margin variance down into price, mix and volume effects, checks every figure against the accounting close and shows the query behind it. When a source is missing, it flags it instead of filling the gap.

Ask about the close…
Margin drop · 1.8 pts live
Price effect−0.9 pts
Mix effect−0.6 pts
Input costs−0.3 pts
Volume+0.1 pts
The price effect comes from two promotions that ran past their end date.
Perimeter agent

The close stops being explained by hand

Today

  • Explaining the margin takes three spreadsheets and a phone call.
  • The variance arrives as a single total, with price and mix lumped together.
  • When a source comes in late, the number gets published anyway.
  • Every department brings its own version of spend vs. budget.

With Perimeter

  • Attribution is calculated automatically, with the accounting source as the control.
  • Price, mix, volume and cost separated, each with its own query.
  • If a source is missing, the answer says so and shows what was left out.
  • One definition of net sales and cost center, for everyone.

What Perimeter does for finance

Attribution

The variance gets broken down, not summarized

Ask why a figure changed and Perimeter breaks it open: how much came from price, how much from product mix, how much from volume and how much from cost.

  • Separates price, mix, volume and cost effects
  • Drills down to the product line, channel or customer that moved it
  • Checks the total against the accounting close before answering
Gross margin · monthly change live
Beverages−0.8
Snacks−0.5
Frozen−0.3
SQL for this answerwith base as (select line, price, mix, vol from monthly_margin where period = '2026-09') select line, (price+mix+vol) as delta_pts from base order by 2
Control

Budget vs. actuals, without consolidating by hand

Each cost center’s spend is compared against its budget using the allocation rule your team defined, not the system default.

  • Applies your allocation and exclusion rules
  • Flags variances above the threshold you set
  • Keeps line-level detail available for audit
Actual vs. budget · September live
Executed0%−2 pts vs plan
Variances0centers above 5%
Savings$0Mvs. cumulative plan
AprMayJunJulAugSep
Collections

Receivables viewed alongside sales, not on their own

Perimeter cross-references receivables with open orders and shows you which customers keep buying with overdue balances, before the order ships.

  • Matches accounts receivable against open orders
  • Ranks by exposure, not just days past due
  • Alerts you when a customer crosses their set credit limit
Overdue balance with open orders live
Retail Andes$412M
Grupo Norte$260M
Distribuidora Sur$148M
Comercial Este$71M
Four customers account for 71% of exposure over 60 days.
The real questions

What finance asks on any given Tuesday

Each one is answered in the conversation, with its chart and the SQL behind it. When the number matters, anyone can audit where it came from.

Why did gross margin drop 1.8 points this month?
Separate the price effect from the mix effect in the drop.
Which customers have debt over 60 days and are still buying?
Compare actual spend against budget by cost center.
How much of sales growth is price and how much is volume?
Build the board appendix with sales by product line and its variance.

How the month-end close comes together

The same workflow that takes three days of consolidation today, running on its own and leaving a trail.

STEP 01

Reads ERP and spreadsheets

Pulls sales from the ERP and the budget from the spreadsheets where it actually lives.

STEP 02

Breaks down the variance

Calculates price, mix, volume and cost effects with your business rules.

STEP 03

Reconciles with accounting

If the total doesn’t match the close, it stops and shows where the difference is.

STEP 04

Delivers the appendix

The document arrives written up, with every figure linked to its query.

What changes for the team

3 daysLess manual consolidation at every close.
100%Of figures checked against the accounting close.
4Effects separated in every variance: price, mix, volume and cost.

Connects to what the finance team already uses

No exporting spreadsheets or pasting data by hand. Every connection is read-only and can be revoked in one click.

SAP Odoo Snowflake SQL Server Google Sheets Stripe BigQuery Slack

Perimeter across the rest of the business

Your close already has
the explanation

Tell us what you want to answer and we’ll show you Perimeter on your own sources.