The distribution and accounting glossary

Plain explanations of the words used in van sales, stock, credit and the books, each with a worked example and how Axon Suite handles it.

150 terms

A

Account lockout: Account lockout is a security control that blocks sign-in to an account for a period after a set number of wrong passwords, to stop passwords being guessed.
Accounts payable: The money a business owes its vendors for goods or services already received and billed but not yet paid.
Accounts receivable: The money customers owe a business for goods or services already delivered and invoiced but not yet paid.
Accrual: An accrual is an entry that records income or an expense in the period it was earned or incurred, before the invoice is issued or the cash changes hands.
Aging report: A report that groups unpaid invoices or bills by how many days they are past their due date, by customer or vendor.
API integration: An API integration is a connection in which two software systems exchange data automatically through their application programming interfaces, instead of people retyping it.
Approval workflow: An approval workflow is a set of steps a document must pass, such as draft, submitted and approved, before it can take effect, with each step done by someone authorised.
Audit trail: An audit trail is a chronological record of changes made in a system, showing who made each change, when, and what the data was before and after.
Available stock: Available stock is the quantity of an item that can still be promised to a new order: stock on hand less what is already reserved for other orders.

B

B2B ordering: B2B ordering is the way business customers, such as retailers, place orders with their supplier online at their own agreed prices, rather than through a rep or by phone.
Backorder: A backorder is the part of a customer order that cannot be filled from stock now and waits to be supplied when new stock arrives.
Balance sheet: A statement of what a business owns, what it owes and what belongs to its owners on one day, in which assets always equal liabilities plus equity.
Bank reconciliation: The check that the cash balance in the books agrees with the bank statement, after explaining items one side has and the other does not.
Barcode: A machine-readable code printed on a product or its packaging that identifies the item, and often the pack size, when scanned.
Base unit: The base unit is the unit in which an item’s stock is held and valued, usually the smallest one it is sold in, with every other unit converted to it.
Beat plan: A beat plan groups a rep’s outlets into beats, each a cluster of nearby customers covered in one day, and sets which beat is worked on which day.
Bin location: A bin location is a specific, named spot inside a warehouse, such as a shelf, rack position or floor bay, where stock is stored and recorded.
Buy X get Y: Buy X get Y is a promotion in which a customer who buys a set quantity of one item receives a quantity of the same or another item free.

C

Cash collection: Cash collection is the work of receiving payment from customers for what they owe, in cash, by card, cheque or transfer, and recording it against their invoices.
Cash over and short: Cash over and short is the difference between the cash a till or collector should hold and the cash actually counted, and the ledger account that difference is posted to.
Cashier shift: A cashier shift is the period one cashier works a till, opened with a counted float and closed by counting the drawer against what it should hold.
Chart of accounts: The list of every account a business posts to, grouped into assets, liabilities, equity, revenue and expenses, and often arranged as parents and children.
Check-in: A check-in is the record a field rep makes on arriving at a customer, stamping the time and location and opening the visit, which a check-out later closes.
Control account: A general ledger account that holds the total of a subledger, such as receivables, payables or inventory, so the two can be checked against each other.
Cost centre: A part of a business, such as a branch, warehouse or van route, whose costs are tracked separately so its results can be reported on their own.
Cost of goods sold (COGS): What the goods a business sold during a period cost it to buy, charged against revenue to give gross profit.
Credit control: The policies and daily work that decide which customers get credit, how much and on what terms, and how unpaid invoices are followed up.
Credit hold: A credit hold stops an order or account from going further because the customer is over their credit limit or overdue, until someone authorised releases it.
Credit limit: A credit limit is the maximum amount a customer may owe the seller at any one time before further sales on credit are stopped.
Credit note: A credit note is a document a seller issues to reduce what a customer owes on an earlier invoice, for returned goods, an overcharge or an agreed allowance.
CSV import: A CSV import loads many records into a system at once from a comma-separated values file, in which each row is a record and each column a field.
Customer statement: A document listing a customer’s invoices, payments and credits over a period, with the running balance after each and the amount owed at the end.
Customer visit: A customer visit is a field rep’s call on one outlet, from arrival to departure, during which the rep sells, takes orders, collects payment or checks the shelf.
Cycle count: A stock count that covers a small part of the warehouse at a time, on a rolling schedule, instead of one full count of everything.

D

Data export: A data export copies records out of a business system into a file, such as an Excel workbook or a CSV file, to be analysed, shared or loaded elsewhere.
Days sales outstanding (DSO): A measure of how many days, on average, a business takes to collect payment after a credit sale, worked out from receivables and credit sales.
Dead-letter queue: A dead-letter queue is a holding place for messages between systems that still failed after their retries, kept so they can be inspected, replayed or cancelled rather than lost.
Debit note: A document a buyer raises to reduce the amount owed to a vendor, for goods returned or a price allowance agreed after billing.
Delivery fee: A delivery fee is a charge added to an order to cover the cost of bringing the goods to the customer’s address.
Direct store delivery: Direct store delivery is a distribution method in which the supplier delivers goods straight to each retail outlet, bypassing the retailer’s central warehouse.
Dispatch: Dispatch is the step of assigning each order that is ready for delivery to a driver or rep, sending it out and following it until it is delivered.
Double-entry bookkeeping: The system in which every transaction is recorded in at least two accounts, with total debits equal to total credits.
Duplicate bill: A duplicate bill is a vendor invoice recorded more than once in the books, which overstates what is owed and can lead to the same invoice being paid twice.

E

E-invoice: An invoice issued in a structured electronic format, digitally signed and shared with the tax authority under an e-invoicing scheme.
E-invoicing device: A registered signing unit, holding its own key and certificate, that a seller uses to sign each e-invoice before it is issued or reported.
End-of-day settlement: End-of-day settlement is the daily reconciliation of a rep’s cash, collections and remaining stock against what the day’s loads and sales say they should be.
ERP: ERP, or enterprise resource planning, is software that runs a business’s core processes, such as sales, purchasing, stock and accounting, in one system on shared data.
Exchange rate: The price of one currency in another, used to convert a foreign-currency document into the currency the books are kept in.
Expiry date: An expiry date is the date after which a product should no longer be sold or used, set by the maker and recorded against each batch of goods.

F

FEFO: First expired, first out: a picking rule that sends out the stock with the nearest expiry date first, whatever order it arrived in.
Field mapping: Field mapping is the set of rules that pairs each field in one system with the matching field in another, and translates values such as codes between them.
Field return: A field return is goods a rep takes back from a customer during a visit, recorded on the spot so they can be approved, received into stock and credited.
Field sales rep: A field sales rep is a salesperson who works on the road, visiting customers at their premises to sell, take orders, collect payment and keep the account active.
Field supervisor: A field supervisor is the manager of a team of field sales reps, responsible for their routes, coverage, sales and cash, and for coaching them on the road.
FIFO: First in, first out: a costing method that charges each sale at the cost of the oldest units still in stock.
Fiscal year: The twelve-month span a business uses for its accounts and annual reports, which may start in any month, not only in January.
Free goods: Free goods are units of stock given to a customer at no charge, usually as a bonus on a purchase, a promotion reward or a sample.
Functional currency: The currency a company keeps its books and reports in, into which every document in another currency is translated at an exchange rate.

G

General ledger: The complete record of a business’s accounts, holding every debit and credit posted to each account in the chart of accounts.
Goods issue: A goods issue is the posted record of stock leaving a warehouse, for a sale or another purpose, which lowers the stock balance and values what left at cost.
Goods receipt: A document recording the goods actually received from a vendor, usually checked against the purchase order they were ordered on.
Goods received not invoiced (GRNI): A liability for goods that have arrived but whose vendor bill has not yet been entered, so their cost is booked when the stock comes in.
Gross margin: Gross margin is gross profit, revenue less the cost of goods sold, shown as a share of revenue: how much of each sale is left to cover expenses.

H

Held sale: A held sale is a partly rung-up cart that a cashier sets aside without completing, so the till is free for the next customer until the cart is recalled.

I

Income statement: A report of revenue, costs and expenses over a period, showing gross profit and net income; also called the profit and loss statement.
Inventory management: Inventory management is the practice of tracking what stock a business holds, where it is kept and what it cost, from the day it arrives until it leaves.
Invoice discount: An invoice discount is a reduction applied to a whole invoice or order rather than to one line, given as a percentage or an amount of the total.
Invoice QR code: A QR code printed on an e-invoice that carries key invoice details and its signature, so a buyer or inspector can check the invoice with a phone.

J

Journal entry: A record of one transaction in the books, listing the accounts it debits and credits, with total debits equal to total credits.
Journey plan: A journey plan is a rep’s fixed schedule of customer visits, set by weekday and in visiting order, and repeated week after week.

K

Kit: An item sold as a single line but made up of other items, whose components leave stock when the kit is sold.

L

Last-mile delivery: Last-mile delivery is the final stage of getting an order to the customer, from the local warehouse or vehicle to the customer’s door.
Line discount: A line discount is a reduction applied to a single line of an order or invoice, lowering the price of that one item rather than the whole document.
List price: A list price is the standard price of an item as published on the seller’s price list, before any negotiated discount or special price.
Lot number: An identifier given to a batch of goods made or received together, carrying details such as the manufacture and expiry dates.

M

Minimum order value: A minimum order value is the smallest order total a seller will accept, set so that each order covers the cost of picking, delivering and invoicing it.
Mobile printing: Mobile printing is printing invoices and receipts in the field on a portable printer, often paired with the rep’s phone, so the customer gets a paper copy on the spot.
Multi-company: Multi-company is the ability of one business system to run several legal entities side by side, each with its own books, currency, numbering and users.

N

Negative stock: Negative stock is an on-hand quantity below zero in a stock system, recorded when more of an item is issued from a location than the books show it holds.
Net 30: Net 30 is a payment term meaning the full invoice amount is due 30 days after the invoice date.
Number sequence: A number sequence is the rule and counter a system uses to give each new document of one type a unique number, usually with a prefix and in order.

O

Offline mode: Offline mode lets a mobile app keep working without a network connection, saving each action on the device and sending it to the server once the signal returns.
Online order: An online order is an order a customer places themselves through a website or app, which reaches the seller already keyed, priced and ready to be fulfilled.
Opening balance: The balance an account carries at the start of a period, or on the day a business moves to a new system, brought forward from the old books.
Opening float: An opening float is the cash, in notes and coins, placed in a till at the start of a shift so the cashier can give change from the first sale.
Order fulfilment: Order fulfilment is the work of turning a confirmed order into delivered goods: reserving the stock, then picking, packing and shipping it to the customer.
Order to cash: Order to cash is the full sales cycle, from receiving a customer’s order through shipping, invoicing and collecting payment, until the money is in the bank.
Outstanding balance: An outstanding balance is the amount a customer still owes at a given moment: everything invoiced to them less everything they have paid or been credited.
Over-receipt: An over-receipt is a goods receipt for more than the quantity still open on the purchase order, whether the supplier sent extra or the delivery was miscounted.
Overdue invoice: An overdue invoice is one that is still unpaid, in whole or in part, after the due date set by the payment terms agreed with the customer.

P

Pack size: Pack size is the number of base units in one pack, carton or case of an item, such as 24 bottles to a carton or 6 cans to a tray.
Partial receipt: A partial receipt is a goods receipt that records only part of a purchase order’s quantity, with the remainder left open on the order until it arrives or is cancelled.
Partial shipment: A partial shipment sends only some of an order’s lines or quantities now, with the rest following in one or more later shipments.
Payment terms: Payment terms are the agreed conditions for when an invoice must be paid, such as a number of days after the invoice date or after the end of the month.
Period close: The process of finishing a month’s or year’s accounts and stopping any further postings into that period.
Perpetual inventory: Perpetual inventory is a method of stock accounting in which every receipt, issue and adjustment updates the quantity and value of stock as it happens.
Physical inventory: A physical inventory, or stocktake, is a full count of every item in a warehouse at one time, compared with the book figures and corrected for the difference.
Point of sale: A point of sale (POS) is the place and the system where a retail customer’s purchase is rung up, paid for and given a receipt.
Posting: The step that turns a document or journal from a draft into a permanent record in the ledger, after which it is corrected only by another entry.
Presales: Presales is a distribution method in which a rep visits the customer to take an order, and the goods are delivered later from the warehouse, usually the next day.
Price list: A price list is a table of the selling or buying prices of items, often per unit and quantity, that applies to a customer, a channel or a period.
Price override: A price override is a change a user makes to the price a system has proposed for a line, replacing the list price with one typed by hand.
Procure to pay: Procure to pay is the full buying cycle, from raising a purchase order through approval, receiving the goods and recording the vendor’s bill, to paying the vendor.
Product assortment: A product assortment is the set of items a business chooses to offer to a given channel, store or customer group, out of its full range.
Promotion: A promotion is a temporary offer, such as free goods, a lower price or a bundle, designed to make customers buy more or try a product.
Purchase order: A document a buyer sends to a vendor stating the items, quantities, prices and terms of an intended purchase.

Q

Quantity break: A quantity break is a point on a price list at which the unit price drops because the customer buys at least a set quantity of the item.
Quotation: A quotation is a written offer to a customer stating the goods, prices and terms the seller will honour if it is accepted before an expiry date.

R

Refund: A refund is money a seller pays back to a customer, usually after goods are returned or an overcharge is found, reversing all or part of an earlier payment.
Retained earnings: The accumulated profit a business has kept rather than paid out to its owners, carried in equity on the balance sheet from one year to the next.
Return authorisation: A return authorisation, often called an RMA, is the seller’s approval for a customer to send goods back, given before the return is accepted into the warehouse.
Reversing entry: A journal that mirrors an earlier one, with every debit and credit swapped, to cancel its effect while leaving both on record.
Role-based access control: Role-based access control (RBAC) is a way of managing system access in which permissions are granted to roles, and users gain access by being given a role.
Route sales: Route sales is a field sales model in which reps serve their customers along a repeating route, calling on each outlet on set days to sell, deliver or take orders.

S

Sales force automation: Sales force automation (SFA) is software that plans, records and reports a sales team’s field work, such as visits, orders, collections and targets, from a phone and an office screen.
Sales invoice: A sales invoice is the document a seller issues to a customer stating what was sold, at what price and tax, and how much is owed and by when.
Sales order: A sales order is a seller’s confirmed record of what a customer has agreed to buy, at what price and when, before the goods are shipped and invoiced.
Sales return: A sales return is goods a customer sends back after a sale, recorded so the stock is received back and the customer is refunded, credited or sent a replacement.
Sales territory: A sales territory is a defined area or group of customers assigned to one rep or team, so that every account has a clear owner.
Serial number: A serial number is a unique code given to a single unit of a product, so one unit can be told apart from every other unit of the same item.
Service area: A service area is the geographic zone a business delivers to, often with its own delivery fee, prices and the staff who cover it.
Shrinkage: Shrinkage is the loss of stock between what the books record and what is physically there, caused by theft, damage, expiry, miscounting or recording errors.
Simplified invoice: A shorter tax invoice issued to a buyer with no tax number, usually a consumer, carrying fewer details than a full tax invoice.
SKU: Stock keeping unit: an internal code that identifies one distinct product a business stocks, down to its size, flavour or pack.
Stock adjustment: A stock adjustment is a document that raises or lowers the recorded quantity of an item in a location, to match the physical stock after a count, damage or loss.
Stock movement: A stock movement is a recorded change to the quantity of an item in one location, such as a receipt, an issue, a transfer or an adjustment.
Stock on hand: Stock on hand is the quantity of an item physically held in a warehouse, bin or van at a given moment, whether or not it is promised to an order.
Stock reservation: A stock reservation is a hold placed on a quantity of stock for a specific order, so the same goods cannot be promised or sold to another customer.
Stock transfer: A document that moves stock from one location to another, such as between warehouses, bins or vehicles, without changing the total the company holds.
Stock valuation: The money value of the stock a business holds at a point in time, worked out from quantities on hand and the costing method.
Store credit: A credit balance a seller holds for a customer, usually after a return, that the customer uses against later purchases instead of receiving money back.
Subledger: A detailed record, such as open customer invoices or stock by item, whose total should equal one account in the general ledger.
Subsidiary: A subsidiary is a company owned or controlled by another company, the parent, while remaining a separate legal entity with its own books and tax registration.
Supplier: A supplier, also called a vendor, is a business that provides goods or services to another business under agreed prices and payment terms.

T

Tax invoice: An invoice that meets the tax rules for a VAT sale, naming seller and buyer with their tax numbers, so the buyer can reclaim the VAT charged.
Three-way match: A check that a vendor bill agrees with both the purchase order and the goods receipt, in quantity and price, before it is approved for payment.
Trade discount: A trade discount is a reduction from the list price given to a business customer, usually as a percentage, and shown on the invoice before tax is worked out.
Trial balance: A list of every ledger account with its debit or credit balance at a date, used to check that total debits equal total credits.
Two-factor authentication: Two-factor authentication (2FA) is a sign-in method that requires a second proof of identity, such as a one-time code from a phone, in addition to the password.

U

Unit of measure: The unit an item is counted, bought or sold in, such as a piece, a carton or a kilo, with conversions between them.
Unit price: A unit price is the price of a single unit of an item, such as one piece or one carton, which multiplied by the quantity gives the line amount.

V

Value added tax (VAT): A tax charged at each stage of supply on the value added, collected by sellers and paid to the tax authority less the VAT they paid on purchases.
Van load: A van load is the stock moved from a warehouse onto a sales van before a route, recorded so that the van’s own stock balance is always known.
Van sales: Van sales is a distribution model in which a rep drives stocked goods to customers and sells, invoices and collects payment on the spot during the visit.
VAT-inclusive price: A VAT-inclusive price is a selling price that already contains value added tax, so the amount the customer pays equals the price shown.
Vendor bill: An invoice received from a vendor, recorded in the books as an amount the business owes and must pay by the due date.
Visit frequency: Visit frequency is how often a rep calls on a given customer, such as twice a week, weekly or every other week, set by the customer’s value and needs.

W

Warehouse: A warehouse is a physical place where a business holds stock, recorded in its system as a location with its own on-hand quantities and value.
Webhook: A webhook is an automatic HTTP call that one system sends to an address in another system as soon as a chosen event happens, carrying the event’s data.
Weighted average cost: A costing method that values every unit of an item at the average cost of all units on hand, recalculated whenever new stock arrives.