Mark-up and margin calculations explained

March 2022

Our AAT guru Teresa Clarke explains all you need to know about mark-up and margin
Mark-up and margin calculations are essential for your studies for AAT Level 3 Final Accounts Preparation.


Mark-up is on cost and takes the cost figure of 100% and marks UP.


Margin is on sales and take the sales figure of 100% and the margin is withIN this.


So, mark-up goes up from 100% and margin is within 100%.


The best way to look at this is in a table, and you can use this for an exam question, too.


Jas buys units for £250 each and uses mark-up at 25% to set his sales price. Put this into the table first and then calculate the missing figures.

Mark-up

Cost100%£250.00
Mark-up25%£62.50
Sales price125%£312.50

Workings:

£250 cost = 100%

£250 x 25% mark-up = £62.50

Add the mark-up to the cost to find the sales price = £312.50

Janis buys units for £140 each and uses margin at 30% to work out her sales price. Put this into the table first and then calculate the missing figures.

Margin

Cost70%£140.00
Margin30%£60.00
Sales price100%£200.00

Workings:

The sales price represents the 100% but we were given the cost of £140.

£140 divided by 70 = 1%. 1% = £2

Then multiply this up by 30 for the margin = £60. Add these two together to arrive at the sales price.


Remember: The key to answering this question is the table. If you use the table to answer a question, it will make it much clearer.


Whatever number you are given in the question you can calculate the others by finding 1% and then multiplying up.


Let’s look at the maths again in another couple of examples.


Example 1

We are given the mark-up percentage of 40% and told that the sales price is £700. We can use the table to find the cost of the item.

Firstly, we draw up the table for the mark-up at 40%. Cost is 100% and we put in our markup of 40% and then the sales price is 140%.

Mark-up at 40%

Cost100%
Mark-up40%
Sales price140%

Then we can add in the figure that we know.

Mark-up at 40%

Cost100%
Mark-up40%
Sales price140%£700

In order to find the missing numbers now we take the £700 and divide it by its associated percentage of 140 to find 1%.

700 / 140 = £5

£5 = 1%

Mark-up is 40% so we multiply £5 by 40 to find this figure.

£5 x 40 = £200

The cost is 100% so we multiply £5 by 100 to find this figure.

£5 x 100 = £500

When we put these in the table, we can check the figures:

Mark-up at 40%

Cost100%£500
Mark-up40%£200
Sales price140%£700

Cost plus mark-up = sales price £500 + £200 = £700

Example 2

We are given the sales price of £90 and told that the margin is 18%.

We can put these into a table. Sales price is 100% and remember that margin is all within 100%, so margin is 18% and cost is 82%.

Margin at 18%

Cost82%
Margin18%
Sales price100%

Then we can add the figure we know into the table.

Margin at 18%

Cost82%
Margin18%
Sales price100%£90

We know that the sales price of £90 represents 100%, so we can divide £90 by 100 to find 1%.

£90 / 100 = 0.90 or 90p

We see that the margin is 18%.

£0.90 x 18 = £16.20 Cost is 82% £0.90 x 82 = £73.80

Now we can put those into the table to check the figures.


Margin at 18%

Cost82%£73.80
Margin18%£16.20
Sales price100%£90

To check the figures: Cost plus margin equals sales price. £73.82 + £16.20 = £90

For more help with mark-up and margin, take a look at my workbook, Incomplete Records, available on Amazon in both paperback and as an eBook – see https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08Y49HFPD


• Teresa Clarke FMAAT