Procurement as a money control system: what the owner should see

The goods receipt process is not just a warehouse operation for recording stock balances, but a basic point of control over the company's finances. A business owner should view purchasing as a stage of cost formation, the emergence of debt obligations, and the foundation of future profit.

Here are the key aspects that the owner should see and control during the goods receipt process:

1. Accurate cost formation and accounting for additional expenses 

The owner must see the real cost of the goods, which consists not only of the supplier's price. The program allows all components that affect the final cost to be recorded:

• Supplier discounts. When creating an invoice, you can specify a total discount percentage for the entire batch, and the system will automatically recalculate the price of each product.

• VAT. If the goods are taxable, the owner specifies the price excluding VAT, and the program automatically adds the tax for correct selling price formation.

• Invoice and transportation expenses. The "Invoice expenses" tab is very important. The owner must see all additional financial expenses (delivery, packaging, bank service fees). These expenses can be included in the cost of goods (then they increase the value of warehouse stock and are recovered as the goods are sold), or not included in the cost but taken into account when calculating the retail price (additional purchase cost).

2. Control of settlements and the emergence of debts to suppliers 

At the moment a goods receipt invoice is saved, a financial obligation arises. The owner must control:

• Balance with partners. Any goods received from a supplier are automatically recorded in the goods and cash balance. The owner clearly sees how much goods have been received and how much money needs to be paid.

• Multi-currency accounting. If the purchase is made in a foreign currency (for example, in dollars), and the sale is made in hryvnias, the owner can record the currency of the goods receipt invoice and the exchange rate. This makes it possible to correctly recalculate retail prices and control the debt to the supplier in the purchase currency.

• Linking payments to specific deliveries. The owner can control payments by linking the movement of funds (from the cash register, current account, or personal funds) directly to a specific goods receipt invoice.

3. Data security: hiding purchase prices from staff 

For financial security, the owner must have exclusive control over information about purchase prices and margins. The system implements strict separation of rights:

• Sales staff or ordinary warehouse employees can be prohibited from seeing purchase prices.

• With this setting, an employee can physically count the goods and enter the quantity into the program, but they will not know its cost and will not be able to calculate the owner's profit. This reduces the risk of fraud and dishonest behavior.

4. Invoice verification and change blocking ("Freezing" the goods receipt) 

To avoid theft during the receipt stage or backdated document manipulation, the owner uses control tools:

• Quantity verification. Using a barcode scanner or a data collection terminal, you can compare the actual quantity of goods with the quantity specified in the document.

• Control completed. After the final verification of the goods receipt invoice, the owner (or an authorized administrator) sets the status «Control completed». After that, the invoice is locked: no employee will be able to edit the quantity, price, or delete goods from this document. The system permanently records the name of the user (Controller) who approved this receipt.

5. Analysis of the efficiency of invested funds (Purchase profitability) 

Control over money in purchases does not end at the moment the goods are received. The owner must see how profitable a specific investment was:

• Using the «Goods Receipt Invoice Profitability Analysis» report, the owner can track the "fate" of a specific purchase.

• The report shows how much goods from this invoice have already been sold, how much remains in stock ("frozen" money), what amount of revenue has been received, what discounts were given to customers, and what actual profit this particular batch of goods generated. This allows the owner to decide whether it is necessary to settle with the supplier (for example, whether it is worth asking for a payment delay if the goods are selling poorly) and to plan future purchases.