The Gross Margin Inquiry will present a single page that will allow a user to view the anticipated profit being realized by moving a shipment.
The screen will present two grids: one listing the transactions that generated revenue and another containing the transactions that incurred expenses.
Total Amounts on the Revenue and Expense grids are displayed in the Rating Currency of the applicable tariff; all other amounts will be expressed in the user’s currency.
The following warning messages may be issued when the page is initially presented:
Note: For shipment invoiced on a Carrier Surcharge Basis, application should not issue warning message because A/R not rated. In this case, a message should be issued if A/R vouchers are not generated yet.
Note: For shipment where Revenue flag is false, application should not issue warning message because A/R rating results do not exist; a ‘Non-Revenue Shipment’ warning should be issued instead.
Revenue grid
The revenue grid will contain one row for the Shipment itself. Additional rows are displayed for each Miscellaneous A/R Voucher that directly references the shipment.
For Shipments, the status presented will be the Shipment Financial Status. For Miscellaneous A/R Vouchers, the voucher status is displayed.
The Total Amount presented for the row representing the shipment will be retrieved from the Shipment table. The amount presented for Shipments will include all original charges as well as any adjustments and/or post charges recorded within the A/R module. For Shipments, the charges could have been applied at either the Shipment or Container levels. The Total Amount on a row representing Miscellaneous Vouchers will be the Freight Voucher Amount in the Voucher table.
Expenses grid
The grid for expenses will contain one row per Shipment Leg attached to the shipment. Additional rows are displayed for each Miscellaneous A/P Voucher that directly references the shipment.
For Shipment Legs, the status presented will be the Shipment Leg Financial Status. For Miscellaneous A/P Vouchers, the voucher status is displayed.
If the Shipment Leg is associated with a Manifest or not associated with a load at all, the Amount presented for the row on the expenses grid representing the shipment leg should be retrieved from the Shipment Leg table. If the leg is associated with a Planned Load, the Load pro-ration process must be invoked to determine what portion of the load/ stop charges are applicable to the leg associated with the shipment for which margin inquiry was requested. The amounts on the row representing Miscellaneous Vouchers will be the Freight Voucher Amount in the A/P Voucher table. Charges associated with Miscellaneous A/P Vouchers will never be pro-rated.
The amount presented for Shipment Legs will include all original charges as well as any adjustments and/or post charges recorded within the A/P module. For Shipment Legs, the direct charges could have been incurred at either the Shipment Leg or Shipment Leg – Container levels and the pro-rated charges would have been incurred at the Load Header level or Load Stop Level.
Adjustments and Post Charges for loads can be applied either to the entire load or against a specific shipment on the load. The load pro-ration routine will insure that charges posted against a specific shipment are attributed only to that shipment.
The Pro-rated indicator on the expense grid will designate whether the charges being presented reflect amounts that were incurred at Load Level or Load Stop Level and have been pro-rated or whether the charges were incurred on a Manifest and apply directly to this Shipment Leg. The pro-rated indicator will be yes for load level or stop level charges even when this shipment is the only shipment attached to the load.
Totals
Gross Margin is displayed as an amount and as a percentage. The amount and percentage will be always computed using equivalents in the user’s currency and the amount will always be presented in user’s currency:
Total Revenue and Total Expenses will represent the sum of the Equivalent Amounts in User Currency in the corresponding tables (Revenue and Expenses).
The current status of the Shipment and Shipment Legs will directly impact the relevance of the gross margin inquiry. If some of the Shipment Legs have yet to be rated or the Shipment itself has not been rated or the shipment leg's load has been purged, the profit or loss statement being presented will not be meaningful.
This inquiry will not anticipate changes that will result from Consolidated Rating on either the expense (A/P) or revenue (A/R) side. If consolidation opportunities are later identified, this will impact the amounts being charged by carriers and/or the amounts being billed to customers, thus impacting the gross margin.
When entries are generated in the Charge Details table to record consolidation discounts, the total amounts in the Shipment or Shipment Leg tables are also updated. Therefore, the impact of consolidation will be reflected as soon as consolidation occurs.