A complete practical scenario showing how a trading company that imports its goods from abroad uses Optify ERP — with no additional development — to load freight, customs, clearance and transport costs onto item costs, and how this flows straight through to cost of goods sold and true gross profit.
In imports, freight, customs and clearance charges usually arrive after the goods are received, are paid to several different parties, and are sometimes in currencies different from the supplier invoice. Ignoring these costs, whether deliberately or by oversight, distorts three financial statements at once:
It appears below its true value, because the valuation rate is limited to the invoice price and leaves out the cost of getting the goods to the warehouse.
It appears lower than reality at the time of sale, producing an inflated, unreal gross profit on imported goods.
Import costs are booked as a full expense in the period they are paid, instead of being released gradually as the goods are actually sold.
All of these settings already exist in the standard system screens — no external development is needed.
The Landed Cost Voucher is not a standalone document, but an intermediate link that connects receiving the goods to recording the cost of selling them.
Read from left to right · the voucher is the link that connects receipt to sale
Recorded in the name of the foreign supplier, in a foreign currency (for example USD) with a reference exchange rate. It produces no stock or accounting effect — it is only a contractual commitment and a reference for the other documents.
On posting, the system automatically performs four steps: it increases the actual quantity in the warehouse, increases the stock value by the line amount in the base currency, recalculates the valuation rate using the weighted average, then creates a stock ledger entry and general ledger entries (debit inventory / credit supplier).
Path: Stock → Landed Cost Vouchers → New. The document number is generated automatically in the pattern MAT-LCV-YYYY-#####.
Posting date, the basis for distributing charges, and total charges in the base currency (calculated automatically).
Filter by document type, supplier, purchase order number and date range — with the option to select more than one document in a single voucher for a shipment that arrived on more than one receipt.
Once selected, the system fetches the item lines automatically (code, description, quantity, rate, amount) into a table that charges can be loaded onto.
A line for each expense: the expense account, its currency and exchange rate, the description, and the amount in the account currency and in the base currency.
| Option | Formula applied to each item | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Quantity | Item share = total charges × (item quantity ÷ total quantities) | Charges tied to volume or weight: transport, handling |
| Amount | Item share = total charges × (item value ÷ total values) | Charges proportional to value: ad valorem customs, insurance |
| Manual | You enter each item's share yourself in the Applicable Charges column | When the customs category differs from one item to another |
It records the final financial liability to the foreign supplier, separate from the charge-loading movement that was already handled through the landed cost voucher.
These are the actual formulas the system executes the moment the voucher is posted — not a theoretical simplification.
The effect of the landed cost stays visible and traceable on the original document, and accumulates if more than one voucher is loaded against the same receipt.
This is the new loaded valuation rate that cost of sales will be calculated with later.
The original debit entry (the inventory entry of the purchase document) is raised by the loaded charges, and a credit entry is created for each expense account, distributed in proportion to that document's share. The new entries are stamped with the number and date of the original purchase document, with the voucher number written in the Remarks field — so the effect stays traceable in the General Ledger report.
In other words, import costs leave the income statement and are capitalized inside inventory, and turn into an actual expense only when the goods are sold.
Base currency: the Egyptian pound (EGP) · Purchase order PUR-ORD-2026-00041
| Item | Quantity | Rate (USD) | Value (USD) | Value (EGP) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ITM-A — Water pump 0.5 HP | 600 | 10 | 6,000 | 291,000 |
| ITM-B — Water pump 1 HP | 400 | 20 | 8,000 | 388,000 |
| Total | 1,000 | — | 14,000 | 679,000 |
Valuation rate immediately after receipt (assuming no prior balance): ITM-A = 291,000 ÷ 600 = 485.00 EGP/unit · ITM-B = 388,000 ÷ 400 = 970.00 EGP/unit
| Expense account | Description | Amount (EGP) |
|---|---|---|
| International freight | Sea freight bill of lading | 60,000 |
| Customs duties | Customs release certificate | 90,000 |
| Clearance expenses | Customs broker fees | 15,000 |
| Inland transport | Transport from the port to the warehouse | 10,000 |
| Total charges | 175,000 | |
This shows why choosing the distribution basis is a real accounting decision, not a cosmetic detail on the screen.
| Item | Value before | + Charges | Value after | Quantity | New valuation rate | Increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ITM-A | 291,000 | 75,000 | 366,000 | 600 | 610.00 | +25.8% |
| ITM-B | 388,000 | 100,000 | 488,000 | 400 | 1,220.00 | +25.8% |
When the delivery note or sales invoice is posted, the system reads the item's current valuation rate in the warehouse and records cost of sales with it automatically, then reduces the quantity and value in the warehouse by the same amount.
The new valuation rate for each item in each warehouse.
The item's movement entry by entry, and the voucher's effect on it.
The resulting expense and inventory entries, shown under the purchase document number with the voucher number in the remarks.
The balance of the accounts after posting.
The effect of loading on actual gross profit.
The capitalized stock value in the financial position.
The foreign supplier's purchase history.
Inventory turnover efficiency at the true landed cost.
A list of all vouchers, filterable by number, expense account and date range.