Operational costs: delivery, installation and commission
Understand what operational costs are and how they relate to your sales.
What are operational costs?
Operational costs are expenses directly tied to a sale but not part of the product cost. They are costs that arise after the item is sold—such as shipping it to the customer, installing it on-site, or paying a sales commission.
Common examples:
- Delivery: the cost to transport goods to the customer
- Installation: labor and materials to set up or assemble the product
- Commission: a percentage or fixed fee paid to a salesperson for closing a sale
Why they matter
Without tracking operational costs separately, your profit margins become unclear. A sale might look profitable based on the product cost alone, but once you add delivery and installation, the actual profit shrinks. Operational costs help you:
- See the true profit on each sale.
- Decide pricing more accurately (e.g., should delivery be free or charged separately?).
- Analyze cost trends (e.g., "Are delivery costs rising?").
- Report correctly to managers and auditors.
How they work in Usystems
When you create a sales document (invoice or sales order), you can add operational costs directly to it. Instead of recording them as a separate expense, you attach them to the specific sale they belong to. Usystems then:
- Tracks them separately from the product cost on the document.
- Posts them to the ledger in dedicated operational cost accounts.
- Includes them in profit calculations and reports.
This way, your financial statements show not only what you sold, but also how much it cost you to deliver and support that sale.
Related accounts
Your chart of accounts will have dedicated sections for operational costs:
- Delivery Expense (or Transport)
- Installation Expense
- Commission Expense
These are tracked separately so you can analyze and control them.
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