Sales Commissions
Variable sales compensation earned on bookings for the period. Separated from sales payroll because it scales with deals closed and explains period-to-period variance differently. — Finance KPI, I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier).
I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier)
No public third-party standard anchors this KPI yet, so I'mBoard authors and maintains the definition — transparently labeled as editorial tier. See the ontology methodology for the published vs editorial tier system and the back-attribution workstream.
Rogue ID: finance.sales_commissions
Type: Currency
Domain: Finance
Definition
Variable sales compensation earned on bookings for the period. Separated from sales payroll because it scales with deals closed and explains period-to-period variance differently.
Formula
Variable commission expense recognized for the period.Why it matters
Ties go-to-market cost to bookings; a key input to CAC.
How to interpret
Should move with bookings; a spike without bookings growth warrants a note.
Calculation policy
How an AI agent should compute this KPI from messy company data. Free-text rules consumed at reasoning time — not a deterministic DSL. The most common ways to get this wrong are listed under Common miscomputations.
Inclusion rules
- Variable sales compensation EARNED on bookings, recognized for the period.
Exclusion rules
- Base salary (finance.sales_payroll) and marketing/partner referral spend.
- SPIFFs or non-sales incentives if tracked elsewhere.
Required inputs
- Commission plan and period bookings.
- The capitalization/amortization policy (ASC 340-40 on incremental costs to obtain a contract).
Edge cases
- Under ASC 606/340-40 incremental commissions may be capitalized and amortized over the contract life rather than expensed at booking — state the convention.
- Clawbacks on early churn reduce the expense.
Validation checks
- Should move with bookings; a spike without bookings growth warrants a note.
- Rolls into finance.total_sm.
Common miscomputations
- Expensing at the cash-payment date instead of the earned/recognition date.
- Ignoring ASC 606 capitalization where the amounts are material.
Related KPIs
finance.total_smfinance.sales_payroll
Source
I'mBoard editorial — authored and maintained by I'mBoard, first published 2026-04-01. No third-party standard is cited for this KPI; when one emerges, the definition is back-attributed and promoted to the published tier (a minor version bump). Read the ontology methodology for the published vs editorial tier system, attribution rules, and dispute process.
Stage relevance
| Company stage | Priority |
|---|---|
| Series A | Recommended |
| Series B | Recommended |
| Series C+ | Recommended |
| Public | Recommended |
Suggested for stages: Series A, Series B, Series C+, Public.
Default owning functions
- Finance
Machine-readable
- This KPI as JSON:
/api/ontology/finance/sales_commissions.json - All Finance KPIs:
/api/ontology/finance.json - Full catalog:
/api/ontology/index.json
Runway (Months)
Estimated number of months the company can operate at the current net burn before unrestricted cash reaches zero, holding everything else constant. The single most consequential survival input for venture-backed companies — it sets the urgency of every fundraising, hiring, and cost decision. Common pitfall: runway is often quoted off `finance.total_cash_in_bank` and a single-month spot-burn instead of operationally-available cash and a 3-month-trailing burn — the result is a runway that looks 2–4 months longer than it actually is when working capital tightens. Boards should ask which cash and which burn went into the calculation. — Finance KPI anchored to KBCM/Sapphire SaaS Survey 2024 (15th Annual).
Sales Payroll
Fully-loaded base compensation for account executives, SDRs, and sales leadership for the period. Excludes commissions, which are tracked separately because they scale with bookings. — Finance KPI, I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier).