💬 Feature requires activation. Contact your Qargo Account Manager if you do not see this option available.
Summary
What is this feature?
Expected vs Actual Costs allows a side-by-side comparison of what a trip was expected to cost (at the time of planning) versus what it actually cost once completed.
Why does it exist?
Before this feature, the original planned cost was overwritten when a trip was executed. There was no way to look back and see whether a trip cost more or less than expected, or to track planning accuracy over time.
How does it work?
Planned status: Qargo calculates costs based on your rate cards and charge configurations.
Calculations are stored as the Expected amount — a snapshot of the cost while the trip is still in Planned status (or earlier).
In Transit or beyond:
Expected amount is locked and any changes made after that point — for example, extra km driven, a manual override, or a purchase invoice received from a subcontractor — are reflected in the Actual amount only.
Prerequisites
Before the Expected vs Actual Costs columns are visible, the following must be in place:
Feature activation - this feature is controlled by a setting that is turned off by default.
Cost calculations configured - rate cards or internal cost calculations must already be set up in Qargo for expected costs to be calculated. See the Cost calculation trip article for guidance on how to set these up.
Terminology
Term | Meaning |
Expected amount | The cost of a charge as calculated while the trip was in Planned status or earlier. Locked when the trip moves to In Transit. |
Actual amount | The current charge amount — reflecting the final cost after operational data, manual adjustments, or purchase invoice matching. This is what gets sent to your accounting package. |
Where to find expected costs
The expected and actual cost columns appear in three places on a trip, once the feature has been enabled:
Trip detail - P&L section: The clearest side-by-side view. Shows total expected costs versus total actual costs for the trip.
Order summary: Expected and actual cost columns are visible for each order linked to the trip.
Charge table: The individual cost lines on the trip each show an Expected amount column alongside the standard cost column.
Expected and actual costs on the purchase invoice detail view
Expected cost data is now visible directly on the purchase invoice detail view, removing the need to open each linked trip's P&L section to compare planned and invoiced amounts.
What you’ll see
When Has expected charges is enabled, two columns appear on the purchase invoice:
Expected cost — The cost expected when the trip was planned.
Cost difference — Expected cost minus actual cost.
Positive = subcontractor charged less than expected.
Negative = subcontractor charged more than expected.
No additional setup is needed. If the feature is disabled, the invoice stays unchanged.
Refreshing the expected amount
You can update the expected cost for example, after correcting a planning error before a trip departs.
Open the trip detail page.
Find the charge you want to update.
Click Recalculate.
Select Update expected amount.
This updates the expected cost to the current actual cost. You can do this while the trip is Planned or In Transit.
Reporting on expected vs actual costs
Use dashboards/BI reporting to analyse expected vs actual costs.
The following fields are available on the purchase invoice line items:
expected_charge_amountexpected_charge_amount_tenant_currency
In-app filtering and sorting by cost difference is not currently available.
Common Use Cases
Check planning accuracy
A trip was expected to cost €120, but the actual cost was €132.
The €12 difference helps the planner see that the trip cost more than expected.
Check subcontractor invoices
The expected cost was €120, but the subcontractor invoiced €132.
Finance can quickly spot the difference and check why the invoice is higher.
Review trip profitability
After a trip, an operations manager can compare the expected and actual costs.
This can help identify routes or resources that regularly cost more than planned.
Analyse cost trends
Finance can use BI dashboards to compare expected and actual costs across routes, subcontractors, or time periods.
This helps identify patterns and improve future cost planning.
Limitations
Expected costs are only available for trips planned after the feature was enabled.
You cannot currently filter or sort by cost difference in the app.
Expected and actual costs are internal only and are not shown to customers or subcontractors.
There are no automatic alerts when actual costs exceed expected costs.
Deleting and re-adding a charge, or changing the price list for an assigned resource, resets the expected cost.
Charges added directly to invoices without a linked cost rate card do not have an expected cost.
Troubleshooting
Issue | What to check |
Expected cost columns are not visible on the trip | The feature may not be enabled for the account. Contact Qargo support to have it activated. |
The expected cost is empty for some charges | The charge may have been added after the trip moved past Planned status, or the charge was deleted and re-added. Only charges that existed while the trip was in Planned status will have an expected cost. |
Expected cost equals actual cost even after the trip is completed | If no changes were made to costs after planning (same km, no manual adjustments, no purchase invoice with a different amount), expected and actual costs will be the same. This is normal. |
Expected costs are available for some trips but not others | Only trips planned after the feature was enabled will have expected cost data. Earlier trips will show empty values for expected costs. |
Cost variance data is not showing in the BI dashboard | Confirm with the data team that the BigQuery pipeline for expected/actual cost data has been set up. BI connectivity requires a separate setup step. |