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 Carrier Diversification 101

Parcel Carrier Diversification 101

Last mile delivery has never been more important to businesses. In 2023, the global last mile delivery market was ...
Read More
RILA LINK 2024 Recap: The Cutting-Edge of Retail Supply Chains

RILA LINK 2024 Recap: The Cutting-Edge of Retail Supply Chains

At the end of February, supply chain leaders from the nation’s largest retailers converged in Dallas for the ...
Read More
Sifted’s Caleb Nelson Named 2024 “Pros to Know” Award Recipient

Sifted’s Caleb Nelson Named 2024 “Pros to Know” Award Recipient

KANSAS CITY, Missouri - Sifted, the trailblazer in Logistics Intelligence™ is proud to announce that Caleb Nelson, ...
Read More
Meet Sifted at LINK 2024

Meet Sifted at LINK 2024

At the end of February, the top supply chain leaders from some of the nation’s largest retailers will converge in ...
Read More
Parcel Carrier Comparison Guide

Parcel Carrier Comparison Guide

In the intricate landscape of parcel shipping today, shippers navigate a complex web of carriers, each with its ...
Read More
Amazon Shipping, Seller Fulfilled Prime, and More: Matt Snyder’s Insights and Advice to Sellers in 2024

Amazon Shipping, Seller Fulfilled Prime, and More: Matt Snyder’s Insights and Advice to Sellers in 2024

Amazon took the supply chain world by storm in 2023. They announced Amazon Shipping, a FedEx and UPS competitor ...
Read More
2024 Shipping Industry Outlook: Top Trends Driving Down Costs + How to Capitalize

2024 Shipping Industry Outlook: Top Trends Driving Down Costs + How to Capitalize

Over the last few years, soaring shipping costs, unpredictable rate hikes, and a challenging logistical landscape ...
Read More
Sifted Celebrates Achievement as 2023 Top Tech Startup by Food Logistics, Supply & Demand Chain Executive

Sifted Celebrates Achievement as 2023 Top Tech Startup by Food Logistics, Supply & Demand Chain Executive

Kansas City, Mo – Sifted, a leader in Logistics Intelligence, has been recognized as a 2023 Top Tech Startup by ...
Read More
11/27/23 Parcel News Update

11/27/23 Parcel News Update

1. Amazon’s Volumes Surpass FedEx and UPS Amazon delivered more parcels in 2022 than UPS, according to internal ...
Read More
11/20/23 Parcel News Update

11/20/23 Parcel News Update

1. USPS Announces Tentative Rate Increases for 2024 The United States Postal Service has announced rate increases ...
Read More
11/13/23 Parcel News Update

11/13/23 Parcel News Update

1. Experts Share Attention-Grabbing Items from 2024 GRIs Supply Chain Dive interviewed industry experts, including ...
Read More
2023 Holiday Shipping Deadlines

2023 Holiday Shipping Deadlines

It’s the most wonderful time of the year? It will be if your customers receive their orders on time. The major ...
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

Are you an FBM (fulfillment by merchant) Amazon seller?

Check out our Marketplace Intelligence solutions to protect your bottom line.

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

Seller Insights
Measure and monitor with confidence.

Sales Visualization
Shed new light on your sales data.

Fee Analyzer
Understand the impact of ever-changing FBA fees.

FBA Audit & Recovery
Secure money you’re owed from Amazon.

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

Thought Leaders
Meet the people behind the technology

Guides
Download free reports and expert how-tos

Demo
Get a personalized tour of our software

About Sifted
Get to know Logistics Intelligence

Logistics Intelligence
For parcel shippers

Marketplace Intelligence
For Amazon FBA sellers

Let's get you to the right place!

SIFTED DASHBOARDS
For parcel shippers

AMAZON Marketplace Intelligence

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