Methodology
From ledger to cohort position.
Four stages run on a monthly loop. You take part in the first; the remainder proceeds whether or not you log in.
Connect
You authorise a read-only connection to QuickBooks, Xero, Sage Business Cloud or NetSuite. Marka holds no write permission at any point, and the authorisation can be revoked from your own accounting system without contacting us.
Normalise
Your chart of accounts is mapped to a standard structure, so a line booked as “shop supplies” in one company and “consumables” in another are measured as the same thing. Your finance team reviews and corrects the mapping before the first report is issued.
Match
Identifiers are stripped and your figures are placed against companies matched on sector, revenue band and region. A cohort is only reported once it holds at least ten members; below that threshold the measure is withheld rather than estimated.
Report
Each month you receive your position on margin, cash and major cost lines, with the drivers behind every figure, the cohort it was measured against and a timestamp for audit.
What makes a cohort admissible
Four tests are applied before any comparison is published. A measure that fails one is withheld from your report rather than qualified with a caveat.
Similarity
Sector, revenue band and region must match before a company enters your comparison set.
Sample size
Ten companies minimum, with no single member contributing more than five percent of the cohort's weight.
Recency
Only recent periods are admitted, so the benchmark reflects the market you are trading in now.
Traceability
Every output carries its drivers, its cohort and a timestamp, so any figure can be reconstructed on request.