Location Transfers with Costs
A Location Transfer with Costs is the variant of the Location Transfer you use when, while moving items from one warehouse to another, you want AdmCloud to automatically spread indirect costs (freight, insurance, customs, etc.) across those items, so they arrive at the destination Location with a higher unit cost than the one they left with.
What is it and what is it for?
When you save a Location Transfer with Costs, AdmCloud internally creates two documents in a single operation: an outgoing one at the source Location (at the original cost) and an incoming one at the destination Location (at an adjusted cost that includes the proportional share of the indirect costs you selected). You only see one screen — the system does the cost split for you.
You'll use it, for example, when you receive imported goods at your main warehouse, pay freight or insurance tied to that reception, and then move part of that stock to a branch: the cost that reaches the branch can include the matching share of freight and insurance, instead of carrying only the original purchase cost.
If you only need to move stock without recalculating its cost, use the regular Location Transfer instead — it's simpler and doesn't require having indirect costs available to distribute.
How the distributed cost is calculated
AdmCloud adds up the cost of every item you're sending out (quantity × outgoing cost) and compares it against the amount of the indirect-cost documents you marked as selected:
- Add up the total cost of the outgoing items (for example, $1,000).
- Add up the indirect costs you selected from the available documents (for example, $150 of freight and insurance).
- Calculate a distribution factor: 1 + (indirect costs ÷ outgoing cost). In the example: 1 + (150 ÷ 1000) = 1.15.
- Multiply each item's cost by that factor to get its liquidated cost at the destination Location. An item that left at $100 arrives at $100 × 1.15 = $115.
The difference between each line's liquidated cost and its original cost is shown on Details as Indirect Cost, along with the percentage it represents of the final cost.
Screens in this area
| Screen | What it does |
|---|---|
| List | Every transfer with costs, with filters by date and subsidiary. Customizable columns: number, date, source and destination Location, subsidiary (if your plan has it enabled), and whether the document is void (hidden by default). |
| Create / Edit | A form with the source and destination Location, the table of items to send, and the table of indirect-cost documents available to select and distribute, plus file attachments. |
| Details | A read-only view with two separate tables: the outgoing items (at their original cost) and the incoming items (with their original cost, the indirect cost assigned to them, and the final liquidated cost), plus the indirect-cost documents that were applied. It includes the buttons to Edit, Duplicate, Print, Delete or Void depending on your privilege, view the Journal Entry, and open the Liquidation Report. |
| A printable or PDF layout with the outgoing and incoming items, their costs, the indirect-cost documents that were applied, and a signature block for whoever dispatches and whoever receives. | |
| Liquidation Report | A variant of the print layout focused on the cost breakdown: original cost, indirect cost assigned, liquidated cost and the percentage increase for each item. |
How to create a transfer with costs step by step
- Open the list and click Create. You need the "add" level of the Inventory Transfers permission.
- Pick the source Location and the destination Location. Both must belong to the same subsidiary and can't be the same Location.
- Add the items to move, with their quantity, unit of measure and outgoing cost. Depending on your company's active modules, you can also set the source and destination Bin, Lot, serial numbers, a Customs Declaration or Attributes on each line. If every line uses the same source Bin or the same destination Bin, type the value on the first line and click the blue arrow in that column header to copy it down to the rest of the detail. The bin only goes to lines whose item uses bins; if a line is left out, AdmCloud tells you.
- Set the Landed Cost Code (in-transit cost code) that holds the indirect costs you want to distribute; doing so automatically loads the cost documents available for that code.
- Check the indirect-cost documents you want included in the split (for example, the freight bill and the insurance bill). Only the ones you check are added up.
- Attach a supporting file if you need one.
- Save. AdmCloud numbers the document automatically, deducts stock from the source Location, calculates the liquidated cost and adds it to the destination Location, and generates the matching accounting entry. No prior authorization is required.
Key fields
| Field | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Number | The transfer's automatic numbering; it can't repeat or be changed once created. |
| Date | The document's date; it must fall within an open Inventory period. |
| Subsidiary | Required only if your plan has subsidiaries enabled. |
| Source Location | The warehouse the goods leave from; it must belong to the transfer's subsidiary. |
| Destination Location | The warehouse that receives the goods at their liquidated cost; it must belong to the same subsidiary and can't match the source. |
| Reference | Free text to note the reason or an external identifier for the transfer. |
| Outgoing items (lines) | Item, quantity, unit of measure and outgoing cost; depending on active modules, also source/destination Bin, Lot, Serials, Customs Declaration and Attributes, plus per-line comments or dispatch instructions if your company uses them. |
| Landed Cost Code | The in-transit cost code the available indirect-cost documents are pulled from for this transfer. |
| Indirect-cost documents | The list of bills or receipts (freight, insurance, customs, etc.) you can check to include their amount in the liquidated-cost calculation. |
| Original cost | The item's unit cost as it leaves the source Location, before any indirect costs. |
| Indirect cost | The share of the selected indirect costs assigned to that line, calculated automatically. |
| Liquidated cost | The final unit cost the item arrives at the destination Location with: original cost plus its indirect cost. |
| Files | Supporting attachments for the transfer, such as an external delivery note. |
Validations when saving
- The source and destination Locations must belong to the same subsidiary as the transfer.
- The source Location can't be the same as the destination Location.
- You must add at least one item to the transfer, within the maximum number of lines allowed per document.
- If you set a Landed Cost Code, it must exist — you can't reference an in-transit cost code that isn't registered.
- Serialized items need their serial numbers, Lot-tracked items need a valid Lot, and items that use Bins need a source and destination Bin — in every case the item must be configured to support that feature.
- Items with a Customs Declaration configured require one, and items with variants require their Attributes.
- The unit of measure is required and must be included in the item's unit-of-measure plan.
- The cost can't exceed the maximum allowed limit per item.
- The Inventory period covering the document's date must be open.
- Stock must be available at the source Location for the quantity you're sending.
- The document number cannot change when editing, and it can't be repeated with one that already exists.
Availability, permissions and conditions
- Access is controlled by the "Inventory Transfers" permission, with separate levels to add, edit, delete and void.
- This feature requires your company to have the Inventory module, the Inventory Transfers feature, and the Landed Costs feature all active at the same time. If any of them is missing, the screen shows a "feature not available on this edition" message.
- On the Enterprise plan, it additionally depends on your company's Inventory module being active.
- The Bins, Serials, Lots, Attributes and Customs Declaration fields only show up if your company has the Advanced Inventory module active.
- The indirect-cost documents available for selection depend on having Landed Cost Codes with in-transit costs registered.
Tips and common pitfalls
Want to see how the cost was split? Open the transfer's Details and check the incoming items table: it shows, line by line, the original cost, the indirect cost assigned and the final liquidated cost, along with its percentage.
Don't see any cost documents to select? Check that you set the correct Landed Cost Code and that it has in-transit cost documents (such as freight or insurance bills) registered and not yet checked.
Don't need to distribute indirect costs? Use the regular Location Transfer instead — the inventory outcome is the same, but without the overhead of selecting cost documents.