Why is the amount returned by Analytics different from the amount on the receipt/invoice?

If you try to compare the amount of your last quarterly report (e.g., a report issued on 30/06) with the amount returned by Analytics for the same quarter (April - June), you might find a considerable difference between the two amounts.

Why does the result in Analytics not match the invoicing report?

While Analytics tracks its sales by relevant period or order date, the quarterly reports group sales by billing date instead. The specifics of the ORDER DATE and BILLING DATE are available in the analytical reports of your invoices and are critical to overlap the results coming from Analytics and the data from the reports. The reports need to be compared with real sales only, so you should also pay attention to the data you are viewing in Analytics.

How to compare a quarterly report with Analytics data

Filter Confirmed Sales. The receipt/invoice draft that the system issues at the end of each quarter takes into account only the data invoiced on that specific date, which is what you see in the section Analytics by setting the filter to " Confirmed sales". If you want to make a comparison between the data recorded in Analytics and the report associated with your quarterly invoice/receipt, the first thing to do is to apply a filter in Analytics so that you will see only confirmed sales - i.e. already billed to bookstores. To learn more about the difference between temporary and confirmed sales and how filters work, please read this article.

Billing month and accrual month. Another point to consider is the difference between billing date and order date. In Analytics, Confirmed Sales are assigned based on the month of accrual by "ORDER DATE" and not by "BILLING DATE", therefore, it is based on the date of purchase and not the billing date. The purchase date and billing date always differ if the sale is registered by an international store (Amazon, Kobo, Apple iBooks, Google Play) because they issue their invoices the month following the sale.

For example, the receipt/invoice draft issued on 30/06 (second quarter) includes sales invoiced in April, May, and June, hence the Confirmed Sales, since they have been invoiced to bookstores during these three months. The same sales, however, will often have a different and earlier order date than the range considered, so in the billing report you will find sales with a March order date, even if billed in April.

See below the difference between billing date and order date in an analytical report:

The screenshot above is taken from a second-quarter analytical report (April - June). As you can see in line 4, there is a sale with a May BILLING DATE but a March ORDER DATE.
To find that specific sale in Analytics, you would need to filter by Confirmed Sales and include March, as it won't be visible in the Analytics data if looking at the second quarter only (April - June).

If you have any concerns or questions about how to read your reports, write us at support@streetlib.com.