CampControl Cost Tracking & Foreign Currency Mgmt
In our previous newsletter, we discussed cost controls and the
major problem of the delay between the purchasing
of items and when the cost is recorded in the accounting system.
This delay can be as long as 2 or 3 months, depending on how well
organised both your suppliers and accountants are or merely as a
result of invoicing cycles.
When you have many people purchasing items (your Geo's and camp
support staff) and many people paying for items (your accountants
and pay clerks), where these groups are often not in the same
location, you have a potential nightmare on your hands!
CampControl's cost controls help provide answers the following
questions:
- What invoices have we not yet paid?
- What have we bought that we don't yet have an invoice for?
- Are the invoices that we're paying correct?
- Who approved what got bought?
We've leveraged the Cost Controls and added
Cost Tracking, so now you'll be in a better
position to answer these questions:
- How much money have we spent this month on each project?
-
How much money do we have in unpaid invoices?
- Will we run out of money before the end of the season?
- Our office in Mongolia is spending in local currency - what
did they spend last month in US dollars?
Being online, this information is available from anywhere that
has an internet connection - at an airport between flights, a coffee
shop, your office or your accountant's office. At any time in
the season you can print out a report,
that is completely up-to-date,
detailing your
expenses.
Authorisation and payment responsibilities can easily be delegated
to the right staff for efficient operation of the company with
minimal emailing and telephone communication.
How it works
CampControl implements the following workflow, in terms of cost
tracking, for each order:
- A CampControl user enters a purchase order (or request to
purchase) and includes the estimated cost of
the item(s) being purchased. Foreign currencies are
automatically converted to a common currency, configured in your
account, thus making it suitable for reporting.
- A manager authorises it for purchase, checking the cost as well
as ensuring the purchase is coded to the correct project(s),
activity codes and cost code (authorisation is optional
or mandatory, depending on the configuration of the CampControl
account)
- The items are bought and sent to camp.
- A manager prints off a report showing what has been spent as
well as what is still payable.
- Some time later (perhaps 2 or 3 months) the invoice arrives, a manager checks
it against the records in CampControl with what was actually
delivered and authorises it for
payment if it is acceptable.
- The accounting staff pay the invoice and mark it as "Paid" on
CampControl.
Note that the estimated cost is
entered right at the beginning of the order and is
built into the workflow, ensuring the
information you have is always up-to-date. Along with the cost
controls, you can be sure that the information is checked and is
correct.
As Company Manager you maintain
oversight of the purchasing process with access to all the
information you need for responsible management, while at the same time keeping
your involvement to a minimum and allowing your staff to work
efficiently.
Consequently, budgeting for the following year becomes less
burdensome as historical purchasing records are readily at hand for cost-estimation purposes.
List of CampControl Modules
For first-time readers of our newsletter, here
is a summary list of modules provided by CampControl:
| Work Logs |
Tasks |
Inventory Control |
Sample Custody |
| Drill Progress Logs |
Calendar |
General Orders Control |
Photo Management |
| Vehicle Logs |
Helicopter Logs |
Travel Orders Control |
Document Management |
| Custom Logs |
Custom Reports |
Air Charter Control |
Standard Reports |
Test Drive CampControl
There are two quick ways to try out
CampControl and see how it can improve your efficiency:
(1) Click around inside our Exploration Manager Demo Account - fun
to do because it's full of real exploration data (see top left of our Home Page);
(2) Create a 14-day Free Trial account, configure it to the
locations you operate in and the users who will use it, and
customise it to your company's existing accounting standards. [Contact
us if you need free assistance with this trial setup stage.]
Be sure to read our
next newsletter:
Introducing the Staff Scheduling Module
Click here for Sign Up Options
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