What Is the Finance Summary Report?
The Shopify Finance Summary Report brings key sales amounts together for each order, helping you see how gross sales, discounts, returns, shipping, taxes, and duties relate to the reported total sales.
Use it for a selected reporting period to review individual orders, investigate unusual values, and prepare a consistent financial sales export. The supplied report includes order identifiers and a product name alongside financial fields; it is not a profit, payout, or bank reconciliation statement.
Report Overview
- Report period
- Choose the date range you want to review.
- Data included
- Order details, gross and net sales, discounts, returns, shipping, tax, duties, and total sales.
- Best for
- Merchant finance reviews, bookkeeping preparation, and checking order-level revenue figures.
- Export options
- Excel, CSV, TXT, or PDF, according to the selected export configuration.
- Automation
- Save the premade report and schedule email delivery daily, weekly, or monthly.
What Can You Learn from Your Finance Summary?
1. See what changes gross sales into net sales
Review gross sales alongside discounts and returns to understand why the net sales figure is lower.
Example: A hypothetical order has substantial discounts despite a high gross sales amount.
What you can do: Check whether the discount was expected before closing the period.
2. Review taxes, shipping, and duties separately
Keep non-product components visible when reviewing total sales, rather than treating the total as product revenue alone.
Example: A hypothetical order includes a separate duty amount.
What you can do: Share the corresponding order details with your bookkeeper for classification.
3. Locate orders behind unusual amounts
Use Date, Order Name, and Order ID to trace figures back to a specific order for further review.
Example: A hypothetical order shows a return value larger than expected.
What you can do: Open that order and confirm the underlying transaction.
4. Compare finance patterns across reporting periods
Repeat the same report for successive date ranges to see whether discounts, returns, and sales amounts are shifting.
Example: A hypothetical weekly export shows higher discounts than the previous week.
What you can do: Review promotional activity and any affected orders.
What Should You Check First in This Report?
Start with the values most likely to affect how you interpret sales:
- Gross Sales vs. Net Sales — assess the difference before discussing revenue.
- Discount and Returns — check whether reductions are expected for the chosen period.
- Tax and Total Duties — identify amounts that need separate bookkeeping treatment.
- Total Sales and Order ID — review outlier totals against their original orders.
When Should You Use This Report?
| When to Use It | How It Helps |
|---|---|
| Reviewing the effect of discounts and returns | Checks how discounts and returns affect reported sales. |
| Preparing a sales review at period close | Reviews total sales with tax, shipping, and duty columns visible. |
| Tracing an unusual sales amount to its order | Matches an unusual amount to its Date, Order Name, or Order ID. |
| Following up on orders with return amounts | Identifies orders with return amounts worth following up. |
| Comparing discounted sales across periods | Compares discounted sales across chosen date ranges. |
How to Create This Report in Data Export
The premade Finance Summary Report starts with the fields listed above.
- Open Data Export and find the premade Finance Summary Report.
- Open the report and review its columns, including the sales components and order identifiers.
- Select your date range and add any relevant available filters or sorting.
- Save the report, then export in your preferred available format.
- If you need repeat delivery, schedule the saved report by email for a daily, weekly, or monthly review.
Make the Most of This Report
Use these four checks to keep finance reviews consistent and actionable.
01 / PERIODS
Use matching date windows. Compare like-for-like weeks or months so the changing totals are meaningful.
02 / ORDER DETAIL
Check row detail. Product Name appears alongside order fields, so confirm row grouping before counting distinct orders.
03 / DEDUCTIONS
Read components together. Check discounts and returns before drawing conclusions from gross sales or total sales.
04 / SHARING
Share deliberately. Export only the fields your accountant or team needs, and send scheduled reports to approved recipients.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does this report show individual order financial amounts?
It includes Date, Order Name, Order ID, and the listed sales components. Confirm the row grouping if a product name causes multiple records for an order.
Is net sales the same as total sales?
No. The report provides separate Net Sales and Total Sales fields. Check how each is calculated in your report before using the values in accounting.
Can this report show profit or payment payouts?
Not from the supplied columns. There is no cost, profit, payment fee, or payout field in this premade configuration.
Can I export the report to Excel or PDF?
The supplied report instructions list Excel, CSV, TXT, and PDF export options. Available output can depend on the selected export setup.
Can the Finance Summary Report be scheduled?
Yes. After saving, configure scheduled email delivery, such as daily, weekly, or monthly, to your approved recipients.
