Expenses and staff advances

Money that goes out of the business and isn't buying stock: rent, salaries, electricity, transport. Record it as an expense and your profit is worked out correctly. Money lent to a staff member is an advance, not an expense.

Record an expense#

Owner and branch managers can record expenses. Go to Expenses → New expense:

1. Branch: the branch the cost belongs to. Business-wide costs (head-office rent, for example) are owner-only: tick that option.
2. Category: rent, salaries, electricity and so on. The owner can add their own categories under Expenses → Categories.
3. Amount and date.
4. Which account it was paid from. The money comes out of that account's balance.
5. Paid to (optional): a supplier or other person you've added.
6. A short description, then Record expense.

The expense gets a number like EX-MAIN-000001. The list shows a total of everything matching your filters (voided ones are left out).

Made a mistake?#

Void the expense with a reason. The money goes back into its account, and the expense stays on record marked voided. Business-wide expenses can only be voided by the owner.

Staff advances#

When you lend money to someone who works for you, don't record it as an expense: you expect it back. Go to Staff advances → New advance (owner and branch manager):

1. Choose the employee (a person you've added as an employee in Customers & suppliers).
2. The amount and the account it came from.
3. Save. It shows as open until it's repaid.

When they pay it back, open the advance and record a repayment, either:

• Cash back: they hand the money back (pick the account it goes into), or
• Salary deduction: it's taken from their pay. This counts as that much salary paid.

A repayment can't be more than what's owed, and repayments are final. When it reaches zero, the advance shows as settled. You can void an advance only before any repayment.

Money still owed by staff shows as an asset in your reports.