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How do I spread my costs?

Written by Ryan Voerman
Updated over a year ago

When you prepay for items like insurance for a full year but want to spread the cost over the year, you can use the cost spreading functionality. These prepaid expenses or deferred liabilities relate to later periods, and they are managed through transitory entries.

Spread costs

Check the settings

Before you can spread costs, ensure your settings are correct.

Note: For administrations created after 2024, these settings are already configured automatically. If so, skip ahead to Spreading costs on a purchase invoice.

Add a journal

To create a journal, follow the steps below:

  1. Navigate to Settings in the left-hand menu;

  2. Choose Journals and click on New;

  3. Create a journal with the following details:

    1. Number: 43;

    2. Description: Uitgestelde posten;

    3. Type: Supplemental entries;

    4. Contra account: Keep it empty;

    5. Extracomptable: activate;

  4. Save to create the journal.

Add a general ledger account

To create a ledger, follow the steps below:

  1. Navigate to Settings in the left-hand menu;

  2. Choose General ledger accounts and click on New;

  3. Create two ledgers with the following details:

    1. Ledger 1:

      1. Number: 1250;

      2. Description: Transitorische posten inkoop;

      3. Type: Balance;

      4. Account type: Normal account;

    2. Ledger 2:

      1. Number: 1252;

      2. Description: Transitorische posten verkoop;

      3. Type: Balance;

      4. Account type: Normal account;

  4. Save after each one to create the ledger.

Checking financial settings

To check and set the accounting settings, follow the steps below:

  1. Navigate to Settings in the left-hand menu;

  2. Choose Accounting settings;

  3. Review the Deferred sales and expenses section.

  4. Ensure the following fields are filled in:

    1. Deferred items journal: 43 - Uitgestelde posten;

    2. eneral ledger account deferred purchasing: 1250 - Transitorische posten inkoop;

    3. General ledger account deferred sale: 1252 - Transitorische posten verkoop.

  5. Save to apply the changes.

Spread costs on a purchase invoice

Once your settings are configured, you can spread the costs. To do so, follow the steps below:

  1. Navigate to Expenses in the left-hand menu;

  2. Choose Purchase invoices and click on New;

  3. Open the tab Extra settings;

    1. Activate the settings Spread costs;

    2. Spread from date: Enter the Start date for spreading, especially if you are applying it retroactively;

    3. Number of periods: Specify the number of periods over which the costs should be spread;

  4. Fill in the rest of the invoice details;

  5. Save to book the purchase invoice.

Viewing transitory entries

All transitory purchase and sales invoices are available in an overview. The overview provides all necessary details such as the invoice number, customer or supplier, invoice date, and the status of the transitory entry (active or completed).

To view this summary:

  1. Go to Advanced in the left-hand menu;

  2. Select Transitory Entries.

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