How to Audit Price List Changes with Excel

Price lists are among the files that change most often in any business. Suppliers send new versions every month or quarter, often without saying which products went up, which were dropped or which are new. If you update your catalog without checking, you can end up selling below cost, offering discontinued items or losing margin without noticing. This article explains a simple, repeatable method to audit any price list.

Why the total is not enough

Many buyers only compare the number of products or the sum of prices. The problem is that those indicators hide a lot: a supplier can raise 200 products by 8% and cut another 20 aggressively, and the average will look stable. What you need is a line-by-line review focused on three questions:

1. Which prices changed and by how much?
2. Which products were added?
3. Which products were removed?

Step 1: always keep the previous list

It sounds obvious, but it is the most common mistake. When the new list arrives, many people save it over the old one. Create one folder per supplier and save each list with the date in the name, for example supplierA_prices_2026-09.xlsx. Without the previous list there is nothing to audit.

Step 2: standardize the format

Supplier lists arrive in very different formats: old XLS files, CSV exports from an ERP or even PDFs. Before comparing, convert everything to the same format:

• If you receive a PDF, extract the table with our PDF to Excel tool.
• If it is a CSV, open it with the correct encoding so accents and currency symbols are not broken.
• If it is an old XLS, convert it to XLSX to work with the modern format.

Also check that prices are numbers and not text. A price stored as text (“$12.50”) cannot be calculated or compared properly.

Step 3: sort by product code

The most reliable comparison uses the product code or SKU as the key. Sort both lists by that column in ascending order. If the supplier reorganized the catalog, this step stops the comparison from flagging items that simply moved position.

Step 4: compare the two versions

Upload the old list as the original and the new one as the modified file in the Excel comparison tool on our Excel tools page. The result file will show you:

• Modified price cells, so you know exactly what went up or down.
• Added rows, which correspond to new products.
• Deleted rows, which indicate discontinued products.
• Changes in descriptions or units, which sometimes hide a packaging change (for example, from a box of 12 to a box of 10 at the same price).

Step 5: calculate the percentage change

For products with a modified price, add a column with the change:

=(NewPrice-OldPrice)/OldPrice

Apply percentage formatting and sort from largest to smallest. You will immediately see the most aggressive increases. It is a good idea to use conditional formatting to flag any change above a threshold, for example 10%.

Step 6: check packaging changes

This is the hardest trick to spot. If a product keeps its price but its content drops from 1 kg to 900 g, it actually went up by 11%. Review differences in unit, content or packaging columns and recalculate the price per unit when needed.

Step 7: document and decide

With this information you can make concrete decisions:

• Adjust your selling prices for products with significant increases.
• Negotiate unjustified increases with the supplier.
• Remove discontinued products from your store.
• Add new products with the correct margin.

Save the comparison file alongside both lists. It will be your evidence if you need to dispute or justify a price change.

Make it a routine

If you receive lists from several suppliers, turn this process into a monthly routine. A simple checklist could be:

1. Save the new list with a date.
2. Convert it to the common format.
3. Remove blank rows and duplicates with our duplicate remover.
4. Sort by code.
5. Compare with the previous version.
6. Calculate changes and review the biggest ones.
7. Update the catalog and archive the comparison.

With practice, this takes less than fifteen minutes per supplier. Every tool mentioned here is available for free on our tools page.

Mistakes to avoid

• Comparing lists in different currencies or with and without tax. Make sure both use the same basis.
• Ignoring removed products. Continuing to sell something the supplier no longer makes leads to orders you cannot fulfil.
• Trusting the supplier’s summary. The email may say “general 3% adjustment” and hide much bigger increases on specific items.

Frequently asked questions

Conclusion

Auditing a price list is not complicated if you follow a method: keep the previous version, standardize the format, sort by code, compare and analyze the changes. With a dedicated comparison tool the most tedious step takes seconds, and you can spend your time on what matters: deciding how to protect your margins. Give it a try on our free Excel tools page.