Project Financials

The Financial tab gives you a complete picture of a project's revenue, costs, and profitability. From here you can review category-level breakdowns, apply discounts, configure tax rates, override pricing, and generate quotes and invoices — all from a single, unified view.

Accessing the Financial tab

Open a project and click the Financial tab in the project detail navigation. Access to this tab requires the can_view_project_financials permission. Users without this permission will not see the tab in the navigation bar.

Important: The Financial tab is hidden on sub-projects. Because sub-project costs automatically roll up to the parent project, all financial management takes place at the parent level. This prevents duplicate accounting and ensures a single consolidated view. See the Sub-Projects article for details on cost rollup behaviour.

Financial breakdown by category

The Financial tab organises figures into four primary cost categories:

• Equipment Rental — Revenue from equipment hire charges and associated equipment costs
• Crew Costs — Labour expenses for assigned crew members, calculated from their hourly or fixed rates and scheduled hours
• Transport Costs — Vehicle hire, fuel, mileage, driver costs, and any third-party haulage fees across all transport assignments
• Additional Costs — Miscellaneous line items such as power supply, insurance surcharges, accommodation, or client-requested extras

Each category displays three columns — Revenue, Cost, and Profit — so you can immediately see which areas of the project are most and least profitable.

Profit margin calculations

NexusRMS calculates profit margins at two levels:

• Per category — Each of the four categories shows its own margin percentage, letting you identify whether equipment, crew, transport, or additional costs are affecting overall profitability
• Overall project — A combined profit margin is displayed at the bottom, representing total revenue minus total costs across all categories

Margins update in real time as you add equipment, assign crew, schedule transport, or modify line items.

Financial formula

NexusRMS calculates the project final total using the following formula:

final_total = (base − discount) + ((base − discount) × tax_rate / 100)

The base value is the system-calculated total_value — the sum of all line items across the four cost categories. If a price_override is set, it replaces total_value as the base in the formula. Discounts are subtracted before tax is applied.

Price override

In some situations, the final price agreed with a client differs from the calculated total — for example, when a fixed-fee package has been quoted verbally. The price_override field allows you to enter a manual total that replaces the system-calculated total_value as the base figure in all financial calculations. When a price override is active, it is clearly flagged in the UI so that team members understand the displayed total does not reflect the sum of individual line items. Removing the price override reverts the project back to the calculated total_value.

Discounts

Discounts can be applied at two levels:

• Line-level discount — Apply a percentage or fixed-amount discount to an individual line item (e.g., 10% off a specific piece of equipment). Line-level discounts are applied first, before project-level calculations.
• Project-level discount — The project model provides two discount fields: discount (a fixed monetary amount) and discount_percentage (a percentage of the total). When both are present, the fixed discount is applied first, then the percentage discount is applied to the reduced subtotal.

All discounts are applied before tax is calculated, ensuring the tax amount reflects the actual amount the client will pay.

Tax configuration

The default tax rate is inherited from Configuration > Financial Settings, but you can override it on a per-project basis using the tax_rate field. NexusRMS supports different tax rates for organisations operating across multiple jurisdictions. The tax amount is calculated after all discounts have been applied, following the formula described above.

Multi-currency support

If your organisation works with international clients, you can set the project currency to any supported currency. Exchange rates are configured under Configuration > Financial Settings > Currencies. All financial figures on the project — including quotes, invoices, and reports — are displayed in the selected currency.

Additional Costs tab

The Additional Costs tab is a separate tab on the project detail page dedicated to miscellaneous line items that do not fall under equipment, crew, or transport. Each additional cost entry includes the following fields:

• Description — A label describing the cost item
• Category — A classification for reporting and grouping purposes
• Quantity — The number of units
• Unit price — The price charged to the client per unit
• Subrental cost — The cost you pay a supplier for this item, if applicable
• Profit margin percentage — The target margin on this cost item
• Supplier — The supplier providing the item or service (supplier_id)
• Requires subrental — A toggle indicating whether this item needs to be sourced from an external supplier
• Notes — Free-text notes for internal reference

The system automatically calculates three derived values for each additional cost: total_price (quantity × unit_price), total_cost (quantity × subrental_cost), and profit (total_price − total_cost). These figures feed into the Financial tab under the Additional Costs category.

Generating quotes and invoices

From the Financial tab, click Generate Quote or Generate Invoice to create a document pre-populated with all project financial data. The project has dedicated relationships for quotes, invoices, and supplier invoices, each accessible from the Documents tab. Generated documents include all line items from the four cost categories, with discounts and tax applied according to the project's financial configuration.

Payment terms

Each project can be assigned a payment_terms_id that determines the payment conditions for generated invoices — such as "Net 30", "50% upfront, 50% on completion", or "Due on receipt". Payment terms are configured in Configuration > Financial Settings > Payment Terms and can be overridden on a per-project basis.

Sub-project cost rollup

When a project has sub-projects, the parent Financial tab displays a consolidated view that includes costs from all child sub-projects. Equipment rental, crew costs, transport costs, and additional costs from every sub-project are aggregated into the parent's four-category breakdown. A single quote or invoice covers the entire event. The Financial tab is hidden on sub-projects themselves to prevent confusion.

Tips

• Use price override sparingly — While convenient for fixed-fee packages, price overrides obscure the relationship between line items and the total. Always add a note explaining why the override was applied.
• Track additional costs diligently — Miscellaneous costs are often overlooked but can significantly affect profit margins. Record generator hire, accommodation, and third-party services as additional costs rather than absorbing them.
• Review profit margins per category — If a project is profitable overall but crew costs show a negative margin, it may indicate under-pricing of labour. Use per-category margins to identify and correct pricing imbalances.
• Set payment terms early — Assign payment terms before generating the first quote so the client sees clear payment expectations from the outset.

Next steps

Continue to the next article to learn about dates and time periods, where you will configure the project schedule and control how rental durations affect pricing.