A receipt can look complete before its cost is complete. The goods arrive on Tuesday. The freight bill arrives on Friday. Your records need to explain both events.
Start by deciding what the operational figure is for. A receipt-level landed cost can help you compare deliveries and review a product-cost update. It should not be described as historical COGS or a complete accounting valuation unless your accounting process actually establishes that.
Choose a basis before allocating
In this example, line A is 20 units at $20 each: $400 in goods. Line B is 10 units at $60 each: $600 in goods. The total goods value is $1,000 and freight is $150. We use USD throughout to keep the example focused on allocation.
A goods-value allocation gives line A 40% of the freight, or $60, and line B 60%, or $90. The landed unit costs become $23 and $69. A quantity allocation gives the 20-unit line $100 and the 10-unit line $50. Their unit costs become $25 and $65.
Neither example proves the economically best allocation for every shipment. Bulky or unusually heavy items may need a different policy. The important step is to choose a basis you can explain and apply it consistently to the selected lines.
Where does the freight go?
Change the numbers to see how value and quantity allocations differ. This example runs in your browser; nothing is sent to us.
Illustration only. Allocations reconcile to the cent; displayed per-unit values are rounded to two decimals. Taxes, exchange rates and invoice matching are outside this example.
Treat the late invoice as a new event
Suppose you originally recorded $100 freight and later learn the final amount is $150. Do not overwrite the first receipt and leave an earlier approval appearing current. Keep the original record, add a dated revision for the changed charge and show which approval now needs review.
The reviewer should see the original total, the changed component and the new allocation. A reference to the freight invoice helps explain why the revision exists. If a product-cost update has already been approved, the new approval must use the changed basis, rather than replaying a decision made before that invoice existed.
Keep currency and exclusions visible
A supplier invoice can be in one currency while the store uses another. Preserve the original amount. If you convert manually, record the rate, its date and source alongside the converted result. An undocumented rate makes later comparisons difficult even when the arithmetic is correct.
Keep excluded amounts separate from the allocation. For example, a merchant may designate a recoverable tax as excluded from landed cost. The app should record that choice; it should not decide the merchant’s tax treatment. Confirm that policy with the person responsible for the accounts.
Understand the Shopify cost field
Shopify stores a cost-per-item value on a product or variant. Its documentation explains that previous sales are not recalculated simply because that value changes later. Replacing the field is therefore different from revising receipt history.
For Merchavelo Inventory, the selected update basis is the latest finalized receipt’s landed unit cost. The review needs to make clear that Shopify’s field applies across locations. Our receipt revisions explain the operational history; they do not turn a shared product-cost field into a location-specific accounting ledger.