Procurement & landed cost
Purchase price is only the beginning. Freight, duties, clearing, exchange effects and other direct costs have to reach the order, batch or item correctly.
Import, Distribution & Project Supply
Financial control for businesses where goods, orders and cash keep moving.
Importers, distributors, project suppliers and export-oriented businesses carry financial exposure across procurement, inventory, trade, receivables, tax and banking at the same time. The finance function has to preserve visibility from the first purchase order to the final collection.
01Import & trading businesses
Businesses managing overseas procurement, landed cost, foreign currency, documentation and trade finance.
02Distribution & wholesale
Businesses carrying inventory, receivables, supplier exposure and margin across products, branches or channels.
03Project supply & export operations
Businesses where order execution, banking, tax, shipment economics and customer commitments have to stay aligned.
The commercial reality
The margin can disappear somewhere between purchase order and payment.
In trade and distribution, profit is shaped long before the sale is booked. Procurement terms, freight, duties, inventory holding, financing cost, tax, exchange exposure, customer credit and shipment execution all influence what the order finally earns.
Inventory & order exposure
Stock ties up cash while open sales and purchase orders create commitments that management has to see before they become accounting balances.
Receivables & supplier obligations
Margins can look healthy while cash remains trapped in customer balances or supplier payments fall due before collections arrive.
Banking & trade finance
Letters of credit, export documentation, running finance and long-term facilities depend on timely records and financial information that match the trade cycle.
Tax & export treatment
Sales tax, withholding, income tax and export-related treatment have to follow the transaction correctly without creating avoidable compliance risk or working-capital pressure.
ERP & real-time reporting
Management needs one view of open orders, purchase commitments, stock, outstanding invoices, payables, batch cost and shipment economics while the business is still moving.
Where the numbers travel
Every shipment carries more than the product.
It carries procurement cost, tax, financing, inventory exposure, customer commitments and margin. The financial system has to keep that chain visible while the transaction is still live.
- 01The order creates a commitment
Purchase terms, sales commitments and delivery expectations start shaping cash before goods physically move.
- 02Procurement builds the cost
Supplier price, freight, duties, processing and other direct costs accumulate into the economics of the batch, shipment or order.
- 03Inventory absorbs working capital
Goods may sit in transit, processing, storage or distribution while funding and supplier obligations continue to run.
- 04Banking and tax move liquidity
LCs, facilities, export documentation, sales tax, withholding and other requirements determine how easily the cycle can keep moving.
- 05Management needs the true order economics
The final question is not only whether the goods were sold, but what the order, batch or shipment actually contributed after the full financial cycle.
Client case
When growth depended on knowing the economics of every batch, order and shipment.
Actual ESC client. Food and agricultural processing and export business. Identity withheld for confidentiality.
An export-oriented food and agricultural products company imports heavy processing machinery, procures agricultural produce locally, adds value through processing and packaging, and sells finished products into international markets. Its operations also include a significant pink salt supply chain built around processed and packaged products rather than raw commodity export.
The business invests in capital equipment, purchases raw produce, processes goods in batches, holds inventory, fulfils export orders and manages shipments to Gulf markets. Each step changes the cost, cash requirement and financial exposure attached to the product.
Management needed reliable order costing, procurement tracking, batch and shipment economics, inventory visibility, receivables, payables and open-order reporting while the transactions were still in motion. At the same time, tax, annual audit requirements, banking facilities and trade documentation had to keep pace.
We manage the accounting and reporting framework, support annual audit requirements, handle tax compliance and routine revenue-authority matters, advise on long-term borrowing and trade-finance arrangements, and use the ERP to connect procurement, stock, sales, purchases, invoices, payables, batch costing and shipment reporting.
Senior management has a real-time operating view of outstanding sales and purchase orders, customer invoices, supplier payables, inventory and the economics of batches and shipments. Financial information is available for both external reporting and day-to-day commercial decisions.
They add value to the product. We make sure the financial system shows where that value is created, funded and earned.
How we support the sector
Financial work organised around the movement of goods and cash.
The useful answer rarely sits in one report. Trade and distribution performance depends on how accounting, tax, audit, ERP, banking and management information work around the same order, inventory and cash cycle.
Accounting, order costing & reporting
Books, close, landed cost, batch or shipment economics, receivables, payables and reporting designed around how goods are procured, moved and sold.
Accounting & reporting →Tax planning & compliance
Income tax, sales tax, withholding and transaction-level tax matters considered alongside imports, exports, local procurement and working-capital requirements.
Tax & corporate advisory →Audit support & financial scrutiny
Financial records, supporting schedules, inventory information and controls prepared and reviewed so annual audit requirements and external scrutiny are easier to manage.
Audit & assurance →ERP, inventory & live order visibility
Systems connecting sales orders, purchase orders, procurement, inventory, invoices, payables and costing so management can see the commercial position while orders are still open.
ERP & business systems →Banking, trade finance & capital funding
Import and export LCs, banking documentation, routine trade requirements, working-capital facilities and longer-term borrowing for capital assets.
Banking & trade advisory →Management insight & CFO advisory
Order economics, batch and shipment profitability, working-capital visibility, cash planning and financial interpretation for commercial and investment decisions.
Financial & CFO advisory →Where engagements usually begin
Trade businesses usually feel the pressure in cash before the accounts explain it.
The first symptom may be margin erosion, an LC requirement, old receivables, excess stock, supplier pressure or weak order visibility. We start with the commercial consequence and trace it back through the financial cycle.
Management cannot see the economics of an open order
Sales value is known, but procurement cost, freight, duties, financing, tax or other direct costs are not visible early enough to judge the order properly.
Stock, receivables and payables are consuming too much cash
The business is trading, but working capital is stretched across inventory, customers and suppliers with limited visibility over what should move first.
Banking requirements are slowing the trade cycle
LCs, export documentation, facility renewals or capital funding require financial information that is not ready when the transaction needs it.
The ERP records transactions but not the commercial position
The system contains orders and invoices, yet management still relies on manual work to understand open commitments, true margin, inventory exposure or cash requirements.
Start with the commercial issue
Make the financial system keep pace with the trade cycle.
Tell us where visibility is breaking down; orders, inventory, costing, tax, banking, receivables, systems or cash. We will start with the business consequence and work back to the financial issue underneath it.