Definition

Not: revenue minus product cost only (that was the pre-2026 formula; see gross-margin-legacy).

Gross margin for a period equals recognized Revenue minus full COGS, where full COGS is the sum of product cost, inbound fulfillment cost, outbound shipping cost, and payment processing fees. [margin-standard]

gross_margin(period) = revenue(period) - cogs_full(period)

The sanctioned computation is computations/gross-margin-period.md. Consumers MUST run and attest that computation.

What changed in FY2026

Prior to 2026-02-01, Acme's gross-margin definition included only product cost, excluding fulfillment, shipping, and payment fees. That legacy definition is preserved in metrics/gross-margin-legacy.md as status: deprecated for historical query reproducibility.

The switch reduced reported gross margin by roughly 4-6 percentage points depending on category. It also brought the number in line with the general ledger, closing a long-standing reconciliation gap.

Trust and freshness

• Verified: VP Finance sign-off on 2026-07-01, against the FY2026 margin standard.
• Stale after 2026-12-31: the cost-allocation standard is reviewed annually. Consumers must re-verify against the FY2027 standard before serving.

[margin-standard]: Cost Allocation & Margin Standard (FY2026) [revenue-policy]: Revenue Recognition Policy (FY2026)