Finance
Advance ledger
Money you front to the steamship line or customs on a customer's behalf, and the proof that holds the container until it is paid back in full.
In drayage a brokerage often pays the steamship line (SSL) or customs on the customer's behalf so a container can be released. The advance ledger tracks that money. It is a release gate first and a ledger second: a load with an advance cannot move until the customer has paid it back in full, which means the principal plus your company's advance fee.
- Where
- Finance → Advance ledger (/advances)
- Who can open it
- Advances · view. By default: Owner, General Manager, Finance Manager
- Who can record proof
- Someone holding the Finance Manager, Accounts Team or Owner role (and able to open the screen)
- Who can release a short payment
- The Owner only (Advances · approve plus the Owner role)
- Advance fee
- Set per company on Company profile. Default $75
- Saves to
- Advance, the load feed, notifications and the audit log
Where advances come from
An advance is opened when a load is created with the SSL or Customs advance ticked on New load. The advance's fee is copied from your company's advance fee at that moment. The load's feed says "advance opened, the load cannot move until it is received in full".
What you see
Filters
| Filter | Shows | Colour |
|---|---|---|
| Holding a box | Every advance not yet cleared (awaiting or short) | Red |
| Short paid | Money arrived but less than is due | Red |
| Nothing yet | Waiting on the customer | Amber |
| Cleared | Received in full, or released by the owner | Green |
| All advances | Everything | Grey |
Charts show Held vs cleared (awaiting, short, received) and Held by payee.
When any advance is short paid, a red banner reads "N short payments — release needs the owner, in writing."
The ledger
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Container | The container being held |
| Status | Awaiting customer, Short — owner only or Cleared |
| Customer | Who owes the advance back |
| Fronted to | The steamship line or customs broker you paid, marked "steamship line" or "customs" |
| Due | Principal plus fee |
| Fee | Your advance fee |
| Received | What has arrived |
| Short | What is still missing |
| Proof | The payment reference, or "None". Hover it for the amount and date |
Blocking advances are listed first, oldest first.
Check a reference
At the bottom, Check a reference lets you type a wire or SWIFT reference and see how it will be stored (uppercase, letters and digits only) and whether it is free or already used — refused. It saves nothing.
The rule
Record proof of an advance
Click Record proof
The button is in the page header. It opens "Record proof of advance".Choose the advance
Each advance is listed by container, load, customer and the amount due.Enter the proof
Fill in Reference (the bank or SWIFT reference), Amount received and Date received. All three are required.
Save
If the amount covers principal plus fee, the advance is Cleared and the container can be released. If it is less, the advance is marked Short and waits on the owner.
How the reference is checked
- It is stored uppercase with every space, dash and symbol removed:
swf-844 121becomesSWF844121. - It must be 6 to 40 characters after that clean-up.
- It must not be used on any other advance. A database index enforces this, so two people saving the same reference at the same moment cannot both succeed.
| Message | Why |
|---|---|
| "Only finance, accounts or the owner can record proof of an advance." | Your role is not one of those three |
| "The advance on LD-… is already cleared. Nothing to record." | Someone already recorded it |
| "Reference … is already recorded on LD-…. One reference proves one payment." | The reference is taken |
| "A transaction or SWIFT reference is at least six characters." | Too short after clean-up |
Who is told
- The load's sales agent is notified: "Advance cleared on LD-…" or "Advance short paid on LD-…".
- When it is short, every Owner is notified in red: "Short advance on LD-… … Only you can release it, in writing."
- The load's feed gets a line with the amount, reference and date.
- An audit entry
advance.proofkeeps the before and after values.
Release a short payment (owner only)
Sometimes the owner decides to release a container even though the customer paid a little less. Only the owner can do this, and the reason is kept on the record.
Click Owner override
It opens "Release a short payment". For anyone but the owner, or when nothing is short, the button is disabled ("Only the owner can release a short payment.").Pick the short payment
Only advances in the Short state can be released.Write the reason
At least 12 characters: "Write a sentence. This is the record of why the container went out short."Confirm
Tick "I am releasing this container against a short payment", then click Release short.
The advance becomes Cleared, with the owner's name and reason stored on it. The load feed says "Owner released the advance $… short. Reason: …", the sales agent is notified, and an audit entry advance.override records the shortfall.
The server refuses an override when the advance is already cleared, or when nothing has been received yet ("Record the proof first.").
Related
- New load: where an advance is opened
- Company profile: the advance fee
- Load record: the advance shows on the load and blocks its movement
- Freight rules