Job costing is the process of tracking all revenue and costs associated with a specific contract, route or delivery job, so that the profitability of each piece of work can be measured accurately. In logistics and haulage, job costing is the foundation of contract management: without it, a business can report a healthy overall margin while unknowingly subsidising loss-making contracts with profitable ones. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central includes a jobs module that allows distribution and haulage businesses to track actual costs, revenue and margin at contract or route level in real time.
How job costing works in Business Central
In Business Central, a job is created for each contract, route or project that needs individual profitability tracking. Revenue from sales invoices, subcontractor costs, driver time, fuel and vehicle costs are all posted to the relevant job through the job ledger. Business Central calculates the margin in real time as postings accumulate, so an operations manager or finance director can see whether a contract is on track without waiting for a month-end report. The general ledger remains balanced throughout, as job postings flow through to the correct income and cost accounts automatically.
Job costing in practice
- A haulage business sets up a job in Business Central for each major customer contract, posting driver wages, subcontractor costs and fuel against the job. At month-end, the finance director reviews contract-level profitability without needing a spreadsheet.
- A distributor uses job costing in Business Central to compare the cost per pallet delivered across different routes, identifying two routes that are consistently loss-making due to low load factors.
- A logistics manager uses Business Central job data to prepare the annual contract renewal for a major supermarket customer, presenting a cost-based pricing justification supported by 12 months of actual job cost data.
- An operations director uses Power BI connected to Business Central to rank all active contracts by margin, focusing commercial attention on the accounts at risk of becoming unprofitable as costs rise.
How Advantage implements job costing in Business Central
Advantage configures Business Central's jobs module for haulage and distribution clients, setting up contract structures, cost allocation rules and revenue recognition postings. We build management reporting in Power BI on top of the job data so leadership teams can see contract profitability, margin trends and at-risk contracts at a glance.
Read our guide to job costing for haulage and distribution →
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about job costing for logistics and distribution businesses using Business Central.
