Cost of goods and operating expenses are not the same thing although each company has different accounting policies for what costs are included in each category. As long as the policy is reasonable and it does not change from year to year so that financial ratios are in a better shape, it is considered as acceptable.
Cost of goods sold include the material paid and all the necessary expenses incurred to bring the stock to the company’s warehouse. There are cases where company can include depreciation or amortization in the cost of goods sold too.
Operating expenses are the remaining expenses that are incurred as a part of the day to day operations for example payroll.