How to calculate recommended sale prices using profit estimation tool (actual costing)


Applies to: 1C:Drive 1.6.4
Related modules: Sales, Production
Created on: October 30, 2025

Objectives

In 1C:Drive version 1.6.4, profit estimation functionality was greatly enhanced and expanded. Now, companies that use Actual costing can:

  • Separately manage direct and indirect costs as components in the estimation of total product cost.
  • Apply cost estimation templates to quickly add the same planned indirect costs to profit estimation for multiple sales orders.

After completing this tutorial, you will:

  • Know how profit estimation tool works under Actual costing.
  • Learn to calculate sale prices required to reach a set profit margin.
  • Learn to create and apply cost estimation templates.

Prerequisites

To complete this tutorial, it is recommended that you:

  • Have a basic understanding of sales orders and bills of materials in 1C:Drive.

    To learn about sales orders, read this article.

    To learn about bills of materials, read this article.

Case description

Animal Feed Manufacturer is a make-to-order company specializing in production of animal feed and vitamins. They purchase raw ingredients, process and package them, and sell the resulting feed.

The production process is in three stages:

image01.png

Consider a case where the company receives an order for 1 package of poultry feed mixture (produced internally), and 1 package of vitamins (purchased in bulk and packaged).

Poultry feed mixture

#OperationComponents
1GranulationPoultry feed mixture => Granulated poultry feed mixture
2DryingGranulated poultry feed mixture => Dried poultry feed mixture
3PackingDried poultry feed mixture => Packaged poultry feed mixture

Universal vitamins

#OperationComponents
1n/aUniversal vitamin kit => Packaged universal vitamins

The company has target margins it aims to achieve when selling its products. To guarantee reaching these margins, the company needs to monitor a lot of factors, including the purchase prices of ingredients, manufacturing costs, delivery costs, and more.

To optimize production costs, the company often makes changes to its manufacturing processes, resulting in changing costs of production operation. Therefore, the company applies actual costing, where indirect production costs are not determined until the products are actually manufactured. This provides for accurate cost-keeping but complicates profit estimation.

Let's learn how to use 1C:Drive's profit estimation tool to determine sale prices and reach the target margins for a company that applies actual costing.

Instead of actual costing, many companies apply normal costing where indirect costs are calculated based on approximate norm rates.

To learn about profit estimation for companies that apply normal costing, see this tutorial.

Key steps

During the tutorial, you will go through the following steps:

  1. Set up 1C:Drive
  2. Fill initial data
  3. Register purchase of raw ingredients
  4. Perform profit estimation
  5. Generate reports
  6. Manage estimation templates

1. Setting up 1C:Drive

Let's start with making several quick changes to 1C:Drive default settings. These changes are needed to run the tutorial.

  1. Enable multi-business accounting.
    This allows you to create additional businesses. You need it to register Animal Feed Manufacturer.
    To do this, go to Settings; under Accounting settings, click Company; and under Multiple companies, select the Manage multiple companies checkbox.
    This step is optional. You can skip it and complete the tutorial using the default company if you want.
  2. Enable Production subsystem.
    You need to enable Production subsystem to register any production-related documents.
    To do this, go to Settings; under Accounting settings, click Production; and select the Enable production subsystem checkbox.
  3. Enable supplier prices.
    You need it to manage the purchase prices for raw ingredients.
    To do this:
    1. In Settings, under Accounting settings, click Purchases/Warehouse.
    2. Select the Register supplier prices checkbox.

Now, when you click Purchases in the main menu, you can see the Prices section.

2. Filling initial data

The next step is to fill 1C:Drive with the initial data you will need during the tutorial.

General data

  1. Create a company named Animal Feed Manufacturer.
    To do this, go to Company > Companies and click Create. Then, enter the company name and currency and click Save and close.
    This step is optional. You can skip it and complete the tutorial using the default company if you want.
  2. Create an accounting policy for Animal Feed Manufacturer.
    • Specify Effective date that precedes any of the documents you will create during this tutorial (01.01.2000 is a safe choice).
    • On the Production tab, set Manufacturing overheads calculation method to Actual costing; then, select both Production and Assembly checkboxes below.
      image02.png
  3. Create a supplier named Milwaukee Meat Industrial. This is the supplier that sells you raw ingredients.
    To do this, go to Purchases > Suppliers, click Create, enter the supplier’s name, and click Save and close.
  4. Create a customer named Agricultural Customer.
    To do this, go to Sales > Customers, click Create, enter the customer’s name, and click Save and close.
  5. Register products and ingredients involved in the company processes.
    To do this, go to Production > Products, click Create, enter the details as on the screenshots below, and click Save and close.
    Repeat for each product in the table.

    image03.png

    image04.png

ProductBase unitReplenishment methodBatchesVariantsSerial numbers
Feed mixture for poultrypcsPurchasenonono
Granular feed mixture for poultrypcsProductionnonono
Dried feed mixture for poultrypcsProductionnonono
Packaged feed mixture for poultrypcsProductionnonono
Universal vitamin kitpcsPurchasenonono
Packaged universal vitaminspcsAssemblynonono
Advertising materialspcsPurchasenonono

Note that replenishment methods for the products only reflect preferred sources for these products; following them is not mandatory. For example, the company can delegate Dried feed mixture for poultry to a subcontractor instead of manufacturing it internally.

Purchase data

  1. Create supplier price type for Milwaukee Meat Industries.
    During this step, you specify that price list of Milwaukee Meat Industries will automatically apply to products with Replenishment method = Purchase.
    To do this, go to Purchases > Supplier price types and click Create. Then, enter the details as on the screenshot below and click Save and close.

    image05.png

Production data

  1. Create operations to be used in production.
    To do this, go to Production > Operations and click Create. Then, enter the details as on the screenshot below and click Save and close.
    Repeat for each operation in the table.

    image06.png

    OperationCost poolStandard workloadStandard time
    GranulationManufacturing overhead101 hour
    DryingManufacturing overhead101 hour
    PackingManufacturing overhead301 hour
  2. Create bills of materials for the products.
    To do this, go to Production > Bills of materials and click Create. Then, enter the details as on the screenshots below and click Save and close.
    Repeat for each product in the table.

    image07.png

    image08.png

    General detailsRouting tabComponents tab
    Finished productProcess typeStatusOperationComponentQuantity
    Poultry feed
        Granular feed mixture for poultryProductionActiveGranulationFeed mixture for poultry1 pcs
        Dried feed mixture for poultryProductionActiveDryingGranular feed mixture for poultry1 pcs
        Packaged feed mixture for poultryProductionActivePackingDried feed mixture for poultry1 pcs
    Vitamins
        Packaged universal vitaminsAssemblyActive n/aUniversal vitamin kit1 pcs

Sales data

  1. Create a sales price type.
    You will need it to calculate the price at which you should sell the products to reach the desired profit margin.
    To do this, go to Sales > Price types and click Create. Then, enter the details as on the screenshot below and click Save and close.

    image09.png

    Note that you need to set Pricing method to Cost-based, dynamic to be able to specify that sale prices are not fixed in this scenario but depend on production costs and margin percentages instead.

  2. Specify the desired profit margin for each product you sell.
    To do this, go to Sales > Pricing and click Create. Then, enter the details as on the screenshot below and click Post and close.

    image10.png

3. Registering purchase of raw ingredients

Now that all the data is in place, the next step is to create the supplier invoices that register the purchase of raw ingredients by Animal Feed Manufacturer.

It is possible to use a single supplier invoice for this purpose, but we will instead create two invoices that have different purchase prices for the same products. We will use them later to demonstrate how profit estimation changes when you apply different purchase prices.

  1. To create the first invoice, go to Purchases > Supplier invoices and click Create. Then, enter the product details as on the screenshot below.

    NOTE. In a real-life scenario, advertising materials should be procured from a different company, but in this tutorial, we purchase everything from the same supplier, for simplicity’s sake.

    image11.png

    It is also a good idea to copy these purchase prices to the supplier’s price list for further use. To do it, click EUR link in the invoice and fill in the price settings as on the screenshot below—specify Milwaukee price type and select Register supplier prices checkbox. This ensures that when you post this document, all prices will be automatically copied from it to Milwaukee Meat Industrial’s price list.

    Click Post and close to post the invoice and fill in the supplier’s price list.

    image12.png

    Now, let’s check if Milwaukee Meat Industrial’s price list is filled correctly. To do this, go to Purchases > Supplier price lists and select Milwaukee price type. As you can see, all prices are in place.

    image13.png

    Note that in a real-life scenario, you might need to fill in the supplier’s price list manually. For example, if you do not have a supplier invoice yet. Filling product prices manually is easy—just click image14.png in the supplier’s price list, specify a product, type in the price, and click Save and close.

  2. Next, create the second supplier invoice, reflecting a purchase of the same product at a lower price. Assume this is a one-time discount, so you do not want to copy this price to the supplier’s price list. Therefore, price settings are now different—the price type is blank and Register supplier price checkbox is cleared. This means that purchase prices from this invoice are not automatically copied to the supplier's price list.

    image15.png

4. Performing profit estimation

Now that all raw ingredients required for production are purchased, we can proceed with profit estimation.

Creating a sales order

First, you need to create a sales order for all products that Animal Feed Manufacturer intends to sell to Agricultural Customer.

To do this, go to Sales > Sales orders and click Create. Then, enter the order details as on the screenshots below and click Save.

image16.png

Also, you should apply your sales margins—saved in Margin price type—to the order. To do it, click EUR link in the sales order and fill in the price settings as on the screenshot below.

image17.png

If you need to create multiple sales orders using the same profit margins, you can have Margin price type populated automatically.
To do this:

  1. Go to Settings > Current user and click User info.
  2. In your user card, click User settings.
  3. In the list of user settings, find Main sale price type and set it to Margin.

Now, all sales orders you create will have price type set to Margin by default.

Click Save when done.

Starting Profit estimation

The next step is to calculate the sale prices that will ensure your profit margin for each product.

In the sales order, click +Profit estimation link to open the profit estimation window.

Plus sign before the link means that no profit estimation is yet available for this sales order. When you create and save your profit estimation, the link will change.

image18.png

As you can see, it shows a lot of numerical data for each product—margin, price, main cost, and so on. Let’s review these numbers in more detail:

  • Margin % is the target margin the company wants to achieve when selling the product.
  • Price is the recommended selling price that ensures that the required margin will be reached.
  • Main cost is the total cost of materials consumed in production.
  • Additional cost is the total cost of operations performed during production.
  • Amount is the total amount of sale. In other words, it is Quantity multiplied by Price.
  • Profit is the profit expected from the sale of the product.
  • And finally, at the bottom right, you can see a group of order totals, order Profit being the most important.

Specifying additional costs

Let’s focus on Additional cost for now. This is the only value here that is not filled automatically (note that it contains Add cost links instead). Why? Because for companies that apply Actual costing, the cost of manufacturing operations is only determined after the fact. So, at the moment, there is no way to know exactly how much they will cost. The only way to estimate product cost is to specify it manually.

That’s what the Add cost links are for.

Let’s see how they work. Click Add cost for Packaged feed mixture for poultry. This opens the window where you can specify additional costs for the product.

image19.png

For now, it only contains one tab named Total material cost, representing the cost of components consumed in production. We recommend not to change this data for existing items. But if you have any “hidden” material costs for products that are not purchased through a normal process, you can add them here.

Let’s create a new tab, this one for production costs. Click on the image20.png to the right of the tab name, then enter the details as on the screenshot below.

image21.png

Note that to do it, you will need to create a cost estimation item named Manufacturing cost. Fill it like on the screenshot below and click Save and close.

image22.png

When done, add another tab. This one will contain the costs of product packages. Click  once again, then enter the details as on the screenshot below.

image23.png

To do that, you will need to create another cost estimation item:

image24.png

Note that while production cost was a fixed 40 EUR, package cost is calculated as a percentage of production cost (10% of 40 EUR = 4 EUR).

Now, add these two costs to the other product, Packaged universal vitamins.

To do this, click Add cost in the product’s line and repeat the same steps exactly as above, except set Manufacturing cost to 10 EUR instead of 40, because simply packaging bulk vitamins into bottles is much less expensive than manufacturing poultry feed.

Note that Package cost for vitamins is 10% of 10 EUR = 1 EUR.

When done, your profit estimation should look like this:

image25.png

Note that prices for both products have gone up, to match the increased product costs and provide you with the desired revenue. And the order totals at the bottom have changed accordingly.

Adding order costs

Now all product-related costs are in place, the final step is to add order costs. Order costs are not related to any specific product, but rather apply to the entire order.

As an example, consider two order costs:

  • Assume that your sales order includes delivery by truck, so you need to add 50 EUR transportation cost to the order.
  • You also want to provide the customer with some free advertising materials about your company’s other products.

To do that, go to the Entire order costs tab of the profit estimation tool. On the Inventory and services sub-tab, add Advertising materials (1 pcs) as on the screenshot below.

image26.png

And on the Costs sub-tab, create cost estimation item named Feed transportation costs and fill it like on the screenshot below.

image27.png

Then, add Feed transportation costs to the Costs tab:

image28.png

Both order costs are registered. Now, go back to the Product costs tab and pay attention to how the totals have changed. Total order cost has increased, and profit has gone down. This is because the order costs are added to the total cost of the order, therefore reducing the profit.

image29.png

Filling prices in sales order

Profit estimation is complete. Click Save and close to return to the sales order. Note that recommended sale prices are now filled in for all products in the order. The target margins are guaranteed. All that remains is to Post and close the order. Congratulations!

By the way, note that the plus sign before the Profit estimation link has disappeared because this sales order now has profit estimation.

image30.png

Generating reports

As a final step, you can optionally use the Profit estimation report to review the sales order you've just created and posted.

To do this, open the sales order and click Profit estimation in its link bar.

The report presents a summary of the profit estimation results for the order:

  • Cost is the total manufacturing cost of a product (Main cost + Additional cost).
  • Revenue is the amount of payment expected from the customer.
  • Profit is the profit expected from the sale of the product.
  • Margin (%) is the target margin the company will achieve when selling the product.

Note that only planned data is available here now. Once the sales order is completed and sales invoice is registered, actual data will be available here as well.

image31.png

Managing estimation templates

When specifying production and package costs for poultry feed and vitamins, you probably noticed that you had to perform two very similar sets of actions for these products. And what if the sales order contained twenty products instead of two? And if you had to fill in multiple orders daily?

Using estimation templates can save you all that time and effort.

An estimation template is a predefined set of additional costs that can be applied to a profit estimation with a single click, instead of entering each cost manually. Let’s see how to create an estimation template and apply it to a sales order.

For the simplicity sake, assume that the sales order is absolutely identical to the one described above.

  1. Creating a template for product costs

    In the sales order, click +Profit estimation link to open the profit estimation window. Then click Apply template > To all lines with additional production cost.

    In the Estimation templates window, click Add > For additional production costs.

    image32.png

    You have created a new estimation template. Its layout looks familiar, right? You have just seen it when manually creating additional product costs in “Performing profit estimation”. Now, reproduce the steps you’ve taken to create Production cost and Package cost. Refer to the screenshots below:

    image33.png

    image34.png

    When done, click Save and close to return to Profit estimation.

  2. Creating a template for order costs

    Creating an estimation template for order costs is a very similar procedure.

    In Profit estimation window, click Apply template > To all lines with additional production cost. Then, in the Estimation templates window, click Add > For order costs, and reproduce the steps you’ve taken to create costs for Advertising materials and Feed transportation cost. Refer to the screenshots below:

    image35.png

    image36.png

    When done, click Save and close to return to Profit estimation.

  3. Applying estimation templates

    Now that both templates are created, it is time to apply them to profit estimation for your sales order.

    First, let’s apply the product template:

    • In Profit estimation window, click Apply template > To all lines with additional production cost.
    • In the Estimation templates window, double-click the template name.

    image37.png

    Additional product cost now appears in Profit estimation… but it applies to both products, and you probably want to apply different additional costs to different products.

    image38.png

    How to fix this? Click the additional cost for the second product, and in the Additional cost window, go to Production costs tab and manually change production cost from 40 to 10 EUR. Save and close to return to Profit estimation.

    And finally, click image39.png at the top of the Profit estimation window. Now, the prices and additional costs for products are correct.

    image40.png

    And the last step is to apply the order cost template.

    image41.png

    Now, both templates apply to your Profit estimation (but you still need to Save and close it). Congratulations!

    This example may not look like a significant economy of time, but when applied to hundreds of sales orders, estimation templates might save dozens of work hours.

This concludes the tutorial. Thank you for your time!

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