WORKPLACE BOSS CHALLENGES · ORIGINAL EXERCISE
The merchant’s audit
Calculate total gross margin for all orders: (total revenue − total cost) / total revenue. Round the decimal to four places.
This quest practices Merchant audit using a fictional business dataset. Read the sheet below, then enter the interactive quest to write and check your formula.
| Order | Region | Product | Units | Revenue | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| O-101 | North | Keyboard | 12 | 720 | 420 |
| O-102 | South | Mouse | 18 | 450 | 198 |
| O-103 | North | Monitor | 5 | 1250 | 900 |
| O-104 | West | Keyboard | 8 | 480 | 280 |
| O-105 | South | Monitor | 4 | 1000 | 720 |
| O-106 | North | Mouse | 20 | 500 | 220 |
| O-107 | West | Monitor | 6 | 1500 | 1080 |
| O-108 | North | Keyboard | 10 | 600 | 350 |
Hints to get you started
- Use totals so orders are weighted correctly.
- Gross margin is gross profit divided by revenue.
- Round the full expression to 4 decimals.
Show the worked solution
=ROUND((SUM(E2:E9)-SUM(F2:F9))/SUM(E2:E9),4)The margin of the combined business uses totals. Averaging per-order margins would give small and large orders equal weight.
Make the skill stick
After solving the task, explain what each reference does and why the formula answers the business question. Try the workbook download inside the quest to practice in your own spreadsheet app.
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