Comprehensive checks on packaging costs: a new step in Vendor Invoice Management | PackControl
The verification of purchasing (vendor) invoices is often incomplete when it comes to packaging costs. Deposit and rental costs are often merely estimates, and this gets in the way of a thorough check. In PackControl, you not only calculate which amounts need to be settled, but you can also automatically check and approve the associated invoices. You can read more about this below.
By Vendor Invoice Management we mean the processing and management of purchase invoices. Upon receipt of an invoice, it is checked to see whether the amounts match the delivery note or DESADV, the order and/or the quotation. Incomplete or incorrect calculations can lead to excessive costs. The more of the registration and verification process you automate, the better you can control the cost of your returnable packaging.
Problems can arise when checking packaging costs because calculating them correctly is complicated and it is difficult to match the invoices with the correct amounts. All too often, amounts for deposits, rent, or service costs such as storage, repair and cleaning are signed off without a thorough check, which can lead to excessive costs.
Calculation of packaging balances and the associated deposit or rental costs is complicated because it depends on many different factors. Consider the following, for example:
To calculate packaging costs properly, it is important to make sure your packaging administration is well-structured. PackControl's packaging software is the most comprehensive solution for this. You import all the data you currently collect in separate spreadsheets from your TMS, WMS, ERP and accounting systems into one user-friendly system. You not only automate the application of rules, agreements and exceptions for calculating balances and costs, but can also automatically reconcile the calculations with invoicing.
Besides being a packaging registration system, PackControl is a financial package. It calculates which amounts are due and can be linked to your accounting system. Via the Invoice Matching module, you automatically compare your purchase invoices with the calculations PackControl has made for you. Without manual work, spreadsheets, prints or highlighters.
“PackControl automatically matches the imported purchase invoices with the correct amounts.”
Because you have recorded every rule, agreement and exception per counterparty, product or region in the software, nothing can go wrong with the calculation. A journal entry is created for each transaction, showing straight away which agreements were applied, so you never have to search for how a calculation came about. And best of all: the automatically imported purchase invoices are easily matched with the correct amounts.
If deposit or rental amounts for packaging on the vendor invoice do not match the amounts calculated by PackControl, these items are flagged in the software. All you need to do is check the flagged lines. This way you can quickly see where the differences arise and take action on incorrectly invoiced amounts. If you have large volumes of approved transactions, you can set them all to Approved at once and feed them back to the accounting department for settlement.
In the PackControl software, the physical, financial and data flows relating to your returnable packaging administration come together. This provides an overview of your packaging use and the costs associated with it. Although many transactions are calculated on the basis of individual agreements and deviating rules, the cost calculation in PackControl is automatically correct. You initially configure agreements, rules as well as the many exceptions and after that all calculations are made automatically. In this system, you no longer sign off invoice amounts on the basis of trust, but based on actual, verified numbers, rules and agreements.
PackControl is the complete software for your packaging management. You automate the import of balance statements and upon receipt the shipping clerk checks whether expected quantities match reality. You can also have counterparties sign off on quantities directly in the software. That alone saves a lot of time and gives you more control over your packaging use and planning. Invoice Matching in PackControl makes your Vendor Invoice Management complete, as it automatically checks the calculated costs against reality so that you never pay too much again.
Do you handle large RTI volumes and do you want to have full control over your packaging costs and usage? Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or are interested in a no-obligation demo.
We have previously written an article about deposit settlement in PackControl. You can read it here.