Let’s take a look at what is possible with the item charge assignment functionality.
Item charge assignment in Business Central lets you split container-related costs, such as customs and insurance, onto the specific sales shipment lines they relate to. This creates value entries tied to the original item ledger entries.
When you assign an item charge that comes from a purchase order, it becomes a non-inventoriable cost amount on the sales side. This means the cost is recorded as a value entry but is not posted to the general ledger.
Because the non-inventoriable cost is not posted to the GL, you won’t see it in the statistics on the sales order or the sales shipment. The amount is still stored on the value entries, so you can pull it out of Business Central into a BI system such as Power BI or other reports.
You can apply item charges on both the sales side and the purchase side, which lets you add cost as well as charge the customer.
Following container costs down to the sales shipment lines
If you open the outbound container list, you can see a container with a number of posted shipment lines relating to different sales shipments. Entering one of the shipments, for example number 40, shows two different sales shipment lines.
From those sales shipment lines you can look at the related item ledger entries. Drilling further down, you can see the sales cost, the cost amount, and the non-inventoriable cost.
How customs and insurance become non-inventoriable cost
When you open the value entries for one of those item ledger entries, you can see entries such as customs and insurance that come from a purchase order. These costs originate from charge items, which is why they are recorded as non-inventoriable cost amount.
Those lines are applied directly to the posted sales invoice, not to the original item ledger entry. This matters when stock and sales don’t line up one to one. For example, you might buy 500 items and put them on stock, but only sell ten on a specific container. The container-related costs should then be split onto only those sales shipment lines, which in turn affects the sales invoice.
Why the cost doesn’t appear in the sales statistics
The challenge with a non-inventoriable cost amount is that it is not posted to the general ledger. It exists on the value entries for statistics only. If you look at the statistics on the sales order and the sales shipment, you won’t find it.
So even though the amount is there, for example 600 and 465, you won’t see it in the statistics on the correlated posted sales invoice or sales shipment. The figure is still stored on the value entries.
Getting the cost out into reporting
Because the value entries hold the data, you can take it out of Business Central into a BI system such as Power BI or into other reports. The mechanism creates value entries tied to specific item ledger entries, and you can use it on both the sales and the purchase side. That lets you add cost and, if you want, charge the customer.
Q&A
What does item charge assignment do in Business Central?
It creates value entries tied to specific item ledger entries, letting you split costs such as customs and insurance onto the relevant sales shipment lines. You can use it on both the sales side and the purchase side, to add cost or to charge the customer.
Why don’t container-related costs show up in the sales statistics?
Costs coming from charge items on a purchase order are recorded as non-inventoriable cost amounts on the sales side. A non-inventoriable cost is not posted to the general ledger and is held on the value entries for statistics only, so it doesn’t appear in the statistics on the sales order, sales shipment, or posted sales invoice.
How can I report on non-inventoriable costs if they aren’t in the statistics?
The amounts are stored on the value entries, so you can pull them out of Business Central into a BI system such as Power BI or into other reports.
What happens when I buy more items than I sell on a container?
If you buy 500 items into stock but sell only ten on a specific container, the container-related costs are split onto only those sales shipment lines and affect the corresponding sales invoice, rather than being applied across the full original item ledger entry.