1. Purpose and users
Finance connects transport execution to cost capture, billing, collections, and profitability. It is used by finance officers, accountants, billing officers, cost controllers, operations managers, and management.
The module works closely with Operations, Fuel, Workshop, Inventory, Procurement, and Reports. A trip can only be understood financially when revenue, fuel, workflow costs, mileage, invoices, payments, and credit notes are all visible.
2. Finance entries and trip costs
Finance entries record trip-related income or cost. Costs can be entered directly in Finance or captured during trip workflow updates. Cost entries may include category, description, reference number, payee, amount, entry date, and the user who recorded them.
Trip total cost is built from finance cost entries, fuel logs, mileage payments, and other linked costs. This allows cost controllers to compare revenue against actual cost and identify low-margin or loss-making trips.
3. Mileage payments
Mileage payments link drivers to trips. They record the driver, trip, payable amount, and payment context. The system prevents duplicate mileage payments for the same trip and driver.
This control matters because mileage payments can be repeated accidentally when operations and finance work separately. The Finance workspace gives a single place to review what has already been paid or prepared.
4. Billing readiness
Before a trip closes normally, Finance must mark billing readiness where required. Billing readiness records status, reference number, notes, responsible user, and time. This acts as a finance checkpoint before operational closure.
If billing is not ready, standard trip closure can be blocked. An authorized closure override can still be logged by users with the correct permission, but the missing billing requirement remains visible in the override evidence.
5. Invoices
Trip invoices convert completed or billable work into client billing records. An invoice links to a client and trip context and carries invoice details, billing status, amounts, and related payment or credit note activity.
Billing officers use invoice records to keep client charges visible after the trip is executed. This separates operational trip completion from the financial invoicing lifecycle.
6. Payments and reversals
Invoice payments record money received against an invoice. If a payment is wrong, a reversal can be recorded instead of deleting the payment history. This preserves an audit trail of the original receipt and the correction.
Finance users should use reversals for mistakes because they show what happened and who corrected it. This is better than silently editing history after a client payment has been captured.
7. Credit notes and collections
Credit notes reduce or correct invoiced amounts where required. Collection follow-ups record contact with clients about overdue or pending balances. Together these tools support accounts receivable control.
Client statements and accounts receivable aging help finance users see what is outstanding, which invoices are overdue, and which clients need follow-up.
8. Reporting and daily use
Finance reporting focuses on revenue, costs, gross profit, invoice status, payments, credit notes, outstanding balances, collections, client statements, and aging. Cost Controller users can also monitor fuel, workshop, stock, and trip profitability together.
In daily use, Finance starts by reviewing trip costs and mileage, confirms billing readiness, raises invoices, records payments, handles credit notes or reversals, follows up collections, and ends with profitability and receivables reporting.