Education accounting software: the course margin

This is an education accounting software worksheet that works a course's money before the cohort opens. Seats times price is gross revenue; less the average discount it is net revenue; the instructor's fee plus the venue or platform plus materials per seat is the direct cost; net less cost is the margin; and margin over net is the share. Every figure is yours; the worksheet publishes no price benchmark and no rule. Free, on the page, no account; the paid plan keeps every cohort's revenue, cost and margin against the course.

Gross and net: the discounts made visible

20 seats at $300 is $6,000 gross, and a 10% average discount takes it to $5,400 net. The discount is the figure providers lose track of, because it is given one enrolment at a time; entered as an average it is visible, and the paid plan records it per enrolment so the average is measured.

Direct cost: the instructor, the room and the materials

$850 for the instructor, $300 for the venue or the platform and $10 a seat of materials for 20 seats is $1,350. Only the costs that vary with running this cohort belong here; office, marketing and approval fees are overhead and the margin has to cover them across the term.

Margin, in dollars and as a share

$5,400 less $1,350 is $4,050 of margin, 75% of net on the worked example. The dollars say what the cohort contributes; the share says whether the price and the discount are right. Both are yours to read against your overhead; the worksheet publishes no target.