Quarterly Live Group Demo Watch Now

Sifted logo

A Hidden Shipping Time-Waster: G/L Coding

by | Jul 15, 2020

3 min read

There’s a lot of time that goes into your shipping, like fulfillment, packaging, preparing labels, and getting packages out the door. Your company probably spends a lot of effort to get these steps right.

But there’s another shipping task that doesn’t get as much attention and is just as daunting as the actual shipping: Coding your shipments to your general ledger (or any internal reporting system). 

If you’re in an accounting role, you know you spend hours on this mind-numbing task, but the rest of your team might not realize what a burden it places on the whole company.

 

Problems with general ledger coding

You’re probably spending several hours a week manually coding packages, determining the costs to allocate to various departments, or how much to bill clients.

This becomes an even bigger problem because carrier invoices aren’t consistently laid out and are often a maze of surcharges and fees that’s tough to untangle. You might be trading a lot of emails with shipping managers, trying to understand what’s really going on with an invoice.

G/L coding is a highly manual process for most organizations, and like any other process done by hand, it has pitfalls.

  1. It’s a time suck. G/L coding just plain takes up a bunch of your day – time that could be put to better use on tasks that actually add value to your business.
  2. It’s prone to errors. Switching between screens or between paper documents and accounting software leaves a lot of room for coding mistakes. Missing data and mis-entered information on invoices cause you to have to manually research and correct these issues before you can even code them to your G/L correctly.
  3. It’s delayed. Waiting on and then manually coding shipping invoices means you’re often looking at your shipping costs from days or weeks ago. This means you can’t easily correct any operational issues quickly.

 

Benefits of a general ledger coding service

The automation of the coding process significantly reduces the time spent coding packages and the risk of errors that’s associated with any manual process. A general ledger coding service can streamline the process and give you valuable data at the same time. 

  • It’s faster. When your shipping data and your G/L are matched automatically, you’re going to have more time for the other things on your to-do list.
  • It’s more accurate. Manual coding mistakes won’t be an issue, and if something has been entered incorrectly on the invoice and it doesn’t match up, an automated system will flag it so you can find the issue.
  • It tells you how operations are going and how costs are trending. Your general ledger holds a lot of valuable information. For instance, if shipping costs at a specific warehouse are rising, you’ll be able to see that trend much faster, dive into what might be causing the increase and find a solution before it becomes an issue.

 

General ledger coding isn’t all about accounting

A general ledger coding service isn’t just about keeping a monotonous task off your plate in accounting – though it will certainly check off that box. It’s about creating time for tasks that add value to your bottom line and bringing you data that can change your business for the better. Your whole team will benefit from automating a process that’s dragging your company down.

Topics: Accounting & Finance, Carrier Invoice Auditing
Topics

Check out related resources at Sifted.

PARCEL Forum 2024: Key Takeaways and Insights

PARCEL Forum 2024: Key Takeaways and Insights

In September, PARCEL Forum ‘24 brought top professionals from the small-package industry to Dallas. They discussed ...
Read More
Unpacking the (True) Impact: 2025 FedEx GRI Analysis

Unpacking the (True) Impact: 2025 FedEx GRI Analysis

As the summer temperatures start to cool down, the shipping world heats up. Peak season looms. Demand surcharges ...
Read More
Supply Chain Contingency Planning: Using Logistics Intelligence To Mitigate Risks

Supply Chain Contingency Planning: Using Logistics Intelligence To Mitigate Risks

Globalization is slowing down, and the world is doing everything to fix it and reduce modern-day supply chain ...
Read More
2024 FedEx & UPS Demand (Peak Season) Surcharge Guide

2024 FedEx & UPS Demand (Peak Season) Surcharge Guide

Please note: This article focuses on Ground and Express charges. For a full breakdown of international and other ...
Read More
The 2025 General Rate Increase (GRI) is Coming… What We Expect and How to Prepare

The 2025 General Rate Increase (GRI) is Coming… What We Expect and How to Prepare

As the 2025 General Rate Increase (GRI) approaches, businesses across industries are bracing for the potential ...
Read More
Invoice Auditing 101: How to Audit FedEx & UPS Invoices Accurately

Invoice Auditing 101: How to Audit FedEx & UPS Invoices Accurately

Did you know that on select days annually, both FedEx and UPS pause their money-back guarantees? These blackout ...
Read More
PARCEL Forum ’24 – Sifted’s Roundup

PARCEL Forum ’24 – Sifted’s Roundup

This September, the supply chain’s leading experts will converge in Texas for PARCEL Forum ‘24, the premier ...
Read More
Network Optimization 101: The Impact of Carrier Diversification on Supply Chain Resilience

Network Optimization 101: The Impact of Carrier Diversification on Supply Chain Resilience

FedEx and UPS had the same GRI for 2024 at 5.9%. Down 1% from 2023’s 6.9% increase. American businesses are facing ...
Read More
How To Implement Artificial Intelligence To Boost Your Supply Chain Operations

How To Implement Artificial Intelligence To Boost Your Supply Chain Operations

By 2027, the global last-mile delivery market is expected to soar past $200 billion, up from $108.1 billion in ...
Read More
How Amazon Is Using AI To Become the Fastest Supply Chain in the World

How Amazon Is Using AI To Become the Fastest Supply Chain in the World

Did you know that Amazon has been using machine learning and AI for more than 25 years? Yes, 25 years! That’s ...
Read More
Survey: Consumer Home Delivery Preferences

Survey: Consumer Home Delivery Preferences

In the eCommerce landscape, the way brands interact with their customers is evolving. While optimized store ...
Read More
How to Evaluate Carrier Performance Across Diverse Networks

How to Evaluate Carrier Performance Across Diverse Networks

Carrier Diversification allows businesses to: 1.  Compare and choose the most cost-effective shipping rates. 2.  ...
Read More

How Sifted Works

Connect to
your account

Sync
your data

Power your
dashboards

Get Your Logistics
Intelligence Demo

Strategic ways to prevent loss down the line

Services you could be utilizing right now for savings

Ways to cut material costs without cutting quality

Shipping Insights & Alerts
Get updates and track the things impacting your business most

Decision Support
See how supply chain adjustments pay off before you pay out

Carrier Management
Streamline how you manage your carrier operations and contracts

Business Automation
Let software do what it does better than people can

Blog
Discover news, tips, and industry best practices

DIM Weight Calculator
See how DIM is impacting you

Podcast
Hear from industry experts on LeaderShipping

Case Studies
Learn how other brands use
Logistics Intelligence

Carbon Calculator
Calculate your CO2 Emissions

Guides
Download free reports and
expert how-tos

Demo
Get a personalized tour of our software

About Sifted
Get to know Logistics Intelligence

Unboxed Newsletter
Subscribe for parcel news, predictions & tips

Logistics Intelligence
For parcel shippers

Let's get you to the right place!

SIFTED DASHBOARDS
For parcel shippers

AMAZON
Redirect to Valence Intelligence Login

Not sure if you have an account? Email [email protected].