Fuel and store inventory from PDI
PDI tracks the fuel in your tanks and the items on your shelves. Your books need to agree with it. This page explains how PDI inventory reaches QuickBooks Online and how to explain a fuel variance.
Works with your POS, back-office & accounting stack
For a gas station, inventory means two things: the fuel in the tanks and the items in the store. PDI is a back-office system used by gas stations and c-stores, and it tracks both. This page covers what to take from it for your books. What your PDI setup includes depends on your plan, so confirm it with your PDI representative.
Fuel comes in by delivery and goes out through the pumps. PDI can show fuel sold by grade and what the book stock should be, which you can compare with a tank reading.
Store items are received, sold and counted. That gives quantities sold and on hand, and in many setups the cost.
QuickBooks needs the cost of what you sold, and the value of what is left. For fuel, that includes the cost on each delivery and any loss between delivery and sale.
A fuel variance is the gap between book stock and what the tank holds. Some is normal, from temperature and measurement. A large or growing one needs an explanation.
To see which numbers to pull, go to the inventory reports. To see what goes wrong, go to where it goes wrong. If you want a team to handle it, what we do covers it.
Follow one day of sales from the register to PDI to QuickBooks Online, see where the numbers go missing, and how to check that all three agree.
Read more →The usual causes when PDI and QuickBooks Online disagree, how to find the gap, and how we reconcile the two.
Read more →Monthly bookkeeping for stores that run PDI: daily reconciliation, month-end close and PDI totals posted into QuickBooks Online.
Read more →What PDI back office software does, which reports to pull each month, and how its totals reach QuickBooks Online.
Read more →What PDI and QuickBooks each do, why most stores need both, and how to keep them in agreement.
Read more →What PDI shows for lottery, and how to record sales, payouts and commission correctly.
Read more →Send us a day or a month and we'll show you where the three systems disagree.
Get started →Each delivery is checked against what the supplier billed.
Variance is calculated by grade and tracked over time.
The cost of fuel and store items sold is booked each month.
Large or growing variances are traced to a cause.
FinTruction · Construction Clients
Real US-based contractors. Same team, same operational discipline that we now bring to gas stations. Construction is a different vertical - but the muscle (multi-stream books, cost reconciliation, niche specialization) is the same one stations need.
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Owner, Hearth & Haus
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Clay PearsonPDI fuel and inventory reports, supplier invoices and any tank readings.
Invoices are checked against what PDI says was received.
The cost of what sold goes to an expense account.
Book stock is compared with tank readings by grade.
You get the books and a short note on variance and margin.
Report names and layouts vary by store setup. Ask PDI what yours are called.
A delivery arrives in one month and is recorded in the next.
A growing fuel variance is never investigated.
A change in the cost per gallon is not reflected in the books.
Store inventory is a guess because nobody counts.
You pay for fuel that does not match what was delivered.
Purchases hit cost when bought, so margins swing month to month.
You use PDI inventory and want to know how it reaches the books.
Your tanks and your books do not agree and you want to know why.
Your profit jumps around from month to month.
If you do not record tank readings, tell us and we will suggest how to start.
A 30-minute call, then about 48 hours while we review your books. You get our findings and a plain explanation of how we would fix them.
We agree how fuel, store inventory and cost of goods are recorded and document it.
The first month is reconciled, closed and reported, then it runs on a schedule.
Fuel inventory, daily POS reconciliation, jobber statements and fuel versus store margin.
5 services →Car wash, lottery and ATM, vendor and DSD invoices, prepared food, shrinkage and more.
9 services →Fuel excise and motor fuel tax, multi-category sales tax, BSA/AML-aware books and entity tax.
4 services →Multi-location consolidation, store acquisitions and disposals, and loan and financing packages.
3 services →FAQ
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Gas station & c-store accounting questions, answered.