SAP TM Freight Settlement Explained

SAP TM freight settlement is often harder to understand than planning or execution because it sits at the intersection of logistics, pricing, purchasing, billing, and finance. This article explains how charge master data, charge calculation, accrual posting readiness, settlement processing, and cost distribution work together in SAP Transportation Management. From a practical consulting perspective, this article shows how transportation costs become financially relevant, how settlement documents connect execution with follow-on processes, and why cost distribution is important for billing transparency and financial control. The focus of this article is on making the underlying logic easier to understand for experienced SAP TM users, without losing the connection to real-world project scenarios.