Operating expenses are the fixed or periodic costs of running your branch that aren't paid from the cash drawer — rent to your landlord, the Meralco bill, your cashier's salary, plumber repairs, etc. These don't show up in shift expenses (those are cash-drawer-only), so you need to log them manually on the Accounting page. Once logged, they feed into your Net Income calculation so your branch P&L reflects the real cost of running the shop.
The 6 operating expense categories
- Rent — monthly space rent
- Electricity — Meralco or equivalent
- Water Bill — utility water bill (separate from drinking water which is a shift expense)
- Salary — staff payroll
- Maintenance — repairs, equipment servicing, parts
- Other — anything else (description required)
Why these specific categories?
These 6 cover 95% of what a Philippine milk tea or coffee shop pays for outside the cash drawer. If you need a category not in this list (e.g. internet, insurance, permits), use Other and put the specific name in the Notes field. The breakdown in Reports groups by notes when possible.
How to log an operating expense
Go to Accounting
From the sidebar, tap Accounting (under Management, owner-only).
Scroll to the Expenses section
Past the Cash Flow Summary and Shift Ledger, you'll find the Expenses section with a filter bar (All / Shift / Operating) and an + Add Expense button.
Tap + Add Expense
A modal opens with 4 fields:
- Date — the date the expense is FOR. Defaults to today, but you can backdate it (e.g. log last month's rent with April 1 as the date).
- Category — pick one of the 6
- Amount (₱) — the peso amount (decimals allowed)
- Notes — required if category is Other, optional otherwise
Tap Add Expense
The expense is saved and immediately appears in the Expenses table with a purple Operating badge. Your Net Income number at the top updates.
Tips for accurate tracking
Log in real time, not at month-end
Don't wait until the 31st to log 10 expenses at once. Do it the same day you pay. It takes 30 seconds per expense and keeps your accounting accurate day-by-day.
Use the expense date, not the pay date
If rent is due April 1 but you actually paid on April 3, set the date to April 1. This keeps your monthly P&L aligned with the period the expense is for, not when the cash left your wallet.
Salary — log per period, not per employee (for now)
Amari doesn't yet have a full payroll model. For now, log total salary as one line per pay period with a note describing how it's allocated (e.g. "April 1–15 cutoff: 3 staff, ₱24,000 total"). We'll build a proper payroll tracker in a future release.
Monthly recurring costs
Rent, electricity, water, internet — these show up every month. Set a recurring reminder in your phone for the first of each month to log them all. It takes 5 minutes.
Editing or deleting an expense
Made a mistake? On the Expenses table, each row has a pencil (edit) and trash (delete) icon on the right. Both actions are owner-only and are recorded in the Audit Log so you can trace changes later.
Where expenses affect your numbers
- Cash Flow Summary — Money Out increases, Net Income decreases
- Shift Ledger — if the expense date is within a shift, it appears in that shift's row; otherwise it's only in the period total
- Reports page — counted toward Total Expenses KPI and shown in the expense breakdown
Related articles
- Understanding the Accounting page
- Editing or deleting a logged expense
- Logging an expense during a shift (staff)