Feature · Service margins
Margin on every line, before you approve the bill
Invoice Harbour reads the third-party rate as your cost, applies your service rates to the client price, and computes the margin on every line. Multiple pricing approaches per group of services, applied consistently across every invoice.
Why it matters
A thin margin found at month-end is a problem already paid for
Most providers know roughly what their service margins are supposed to be. The hard part is catching the bills where the actual margin has slipped, before they are approved and posted to the finance system. By the time the finance report surfaces a problem, the cash has already moved.
Invoice Harbour brings the sell rate, the supplier cost, and the margin into the same view as the bill. The decision to approve a line happens with the margin visible, in dollars and percent, line by line and across the whole invoice.
How it appears on the invoice
Sell, buy and margin, line by line
Every line on the invoice carries the pricing method, the sell rate, the supplier cost and the resulting margin in dollars and percent. The whole invoice rolls up to a single total margin so reviewers can see the bottom line at a glance.
- Third-party rate read straight from the supplier invoice as the cost
- Service rate applied automatically to set the client price
- Pricing approach per group of lines: cost passthrough, fixed rate, percentage markup or bespoke rule
- Margin in dollars and percent on every line and across the invoice
- Thin or negative margins highlighted before the bill is approved
How it works
Three steps, margin in real time
01
Service rates loaded
Your service rates and pricing rules live in Invoice Harbour. Cost passthrough, fixed published rates, percentage markups and bespoke rules per group of services, configured once.
02
Cost read from the bill
When a supplier invoice arrives, the cost on each line is read from the bill. Where an agreed third-party rate is configured, the bill is checked against it and any variance is flagged. Your service rate sets the client price.
03
Margin checked before approval
Each line shows sell, buy and margin in dollars and percent. The whole-invoice margin rolls up so problem services are caught before the bill is approved.
Frequently asked
Service margins, common questions
What pricing approaches does Invoice Harbour support?
Several approaches per group of services: the supplier's cost passed straight through to the client, a fixed published rate regardless of cost, a set percentage markup applied to the supplier's cost, or bespoke rules for unusual cases. Different lines on the same invoice can use different approaches, so a single bill can mix cost-passthrough items with marked-up and fixed-rate components.
Where does the supplier cost come from?
The cost is read straight from the supplier invoice as the bill arrives, so the margin reflects what the supplier actually charged. If you have an agreed third-party rate set up for that service in your care platform, Invoice Harbour brings it in and compares it to the bill. When the supplier charges above the agreed rate, the line is flagged before approval so your team can decide whether to query it or pay as-is.
How is the client price set?
Your service rates are held in Invoice Harbour and applied to the matched service on each line. When a margin is too thin or negative, it is highlighted on the invoice so your team can adjust before approving. Business-wide markup rules can be applied consistently across every invoice.
Is the margin shown per line or per invoice?
Both. Each line carries its own sell, buy, margin in dollars and margin in percent. The whole invoice rolls up to a single margin figure so a finance reviewer can see the bottom line at a glance and drill into any line that looks off.
How does this help with Support at Home pricing decisions?
Under Support at Home, the gap between what you pay a third party and what you can charge a client decides whether a service is sustainable. Seeing the margin at the moment of approval, rather than at month-end, is how providers catch problem services before they accumulate. Pricing rules can be updated as the market shifts, and the next invoice picks them up automatically.
See your margins, line by line
Bring us five of your real supplier invoices and we will show you the margin on every line, with your service rates applied. Twenty minutes, no slides.