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Blog · Board and management reporting

Price realisation by customer: invoiced price against list, and the discounts nobody approved

How a manufacturer or distributor measures the discount each customer actually receives from invoice lines against the list price at the time: realisation per customer per product line, the approved discount from the price agreement, the unapproved discount that is the difference, the customers whose effective price has drifted down through overrides, and the identity that ties realisation to the ledger.

The short answerPrice realisation per customer is invoiced value over the same lines at list price at the invoice date, from the invoice lines and a dated price list. The price agreement gives the approved discount; the difference between the agreed and the actual is the unapproved discount, given line by line through overrides. Ranked by unapproved value, the list shows the customers whose effective price drifted, the reps whose overrides drive it, and the products where it concentrates. Realisation sums to the ledger, so the leak is a defensible figure.

A company's price list says one thing and its invoices say another, customer by customer, line by line, and the difference is made of overrides that each seemed small. This guide sets out price realisation per customer against list, the agreed discount, the unapproved remainder, and the three views that come from one set of lines.

The measures

Per invoice line:

List value = quantity × list price on the invoice date Realisation = invoiced value ÷ list value Agreed value = list value × (1 − agreed discount for the customer and product) Unagreed discount = agreed value − invoiced value, floored at zero

Per customer, per product line, per rep: the same, summed.

The rows you need

  • Invoice lines: invoice, customer, product, date, quantity, invoiced value, rep, override or approval reference where held.
  • Price list: product, list price, effective dates.
  • Price agreements: customer, product line, agreed discount, effective dates.

Customer and rep identifiers only.

The identity

Σ invoiced value = ledger revenue Σ list value − Σ agreed discount − Σ unagreed discount = Σ invoiced value

A line with no list price on its date fails it and is listed: a new product not on the list, or an undated price change.

A worked view, per customer

Customer Invoiced List value Realisation Agreed discount Agreed value Unagreed Trend
2207 $1.41m $1.86m 76% 20% $1.49m $80,000 Widening
4471 $0.84m $1.20m 70% 30% $0.84m none On agreement
9034 $0.52m $0.61m 85% 10% $0.55m $30,000 Stable

Customer 2207 has an agreed twenty percent and receives twenty-four, and the four points have grown each quarter. Customer 4471 has a larger discount and every cent of it was agreed.

Per rep

Rep Invoiced Unagreed discount Share of invoiced Lines overridden
R-04 $6.1m $310,000 5.1% 1,900
R-11 $4.8m $40,000 0.8% 140

Rep R-04 gives away five percent of revenue in discounts nobody agreed. That is the conversation, with the customers and the products named.

Where it goes wrong

Price list undated. Every line before a price change looks discounted.

Agreements not carried. The whole discount looks unapproved and the list is useless.

Realisation alone. Seventy percent is fine at an agreed thirty. The unagreed remainder is the figure.

Per product only. The customer whose price drifted is invisible in a product average.

Every month, list to invoice

Mapped once and dated, the invoice lines, the price list and the agreements produce realisation, the agreed and unagreed discounts, and the three views every month. Covirage builds this from the exports as they are. The board reporting solution describes the setup, and the margin by account guide covers what the unagreed discount does to contribution.

Questions people ask

What is the list price?

The price on the company's own price list for the product on the invoice date, dated so that a price change mid-year is applied from its effective date. Without a dated price list, realisation cannot be computed; with one, it is a join.

Is every discount below agreement unapproved?

Every discount below the agreement is unagreed. Some were approved case by case: a promotion, a clearance, a competitive match with sign-off. Where the system carries an approval reference on the line, those are separated. Where it does not, the report shows unagreed discounts and the category manager identifies the approved ones, and the gap in the approval process is its own finding.

Why per customer rather than per product?

Both, and per rep. Per product shows where list is unrealistic. Per customer shows drift in a relationship. Per rep shows who is giving it away. The same lines produce all three views.