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DRAFT Use the Allocations tab to split costs across locations or departments in your organization. For example, you might have head office costs such as marketing and advertising that you want to divide up amongst your retail branches.
For example, suppose your head office has a cost pool of 1 million dollars to spend on Marketing expenses but each of the individual branches pays their share of that cost. The proportion each branch pays could be a percentage, or it could be based on their revenue, margin, or headcount value.
The Allocations feature allows you to view the raw data from ERP alongside the refined data in Phocas. The allocations you set up in Budget and Forecasts are available in Financial Statements.
Add the Allocation tabManaging multiple entities within a single organization is crucial for accurate financial budgeting and forecasting. Whether dealing with different branches, subsidiaries, or departments, the ability to efficiently allocate resources is an important part of the budgeting process.
The Allocations tab, available in financial budgets and forecasts, allows you to split costs, revenue, and other items across different areas of your organization. This ensures each area, such as a branch or department, bears its fair share of that allocated item and as a result, you can create more accurate budgets and forecasts. The Allocations tab is particularly useful in multi-branch businesses where certain expenses, such as advertising or administrative costs, are incurred by the head office but need to be allocated to all retail branches.
Add the Allocation tab
You can create grouped allocations, where multiple accounts are allocated in the same manner, or individual allocations, where specific accounts are handled separately. To get the best allocation experience, we recommend you use grouped allocation approach.
Add the tab using one of these methods:
Click the Tab menu > Add tab > Allocations.
Click the Add button at the bottom of the workbook, select the Allocations tab type, then click Add.
Click Add allocation, then select one of these allocation rule options:
Grouped (recommended): Allocates a group of accounts in the same way. The source account matches the destination, for example, the allocation of the Head Office Remuneration account to the remuneration accounts of each branch.
Individual: Allocates costs accounts on a case-by-case basis. Grouped: Allocates a group of costs in the same wayThis option is suitable when you want the allocation behavior of a single account to be different from all other grouped allocation rules. The source of the allocation is different from the destination, for example, the allocation of the Head Office Loan Interest account to the UK branch’s Foreign Exchange account. Typically, this option is only used in complex (tall) account structures.
Set up
grouped allocationsa grouped allocation rule
Allocation groups sit at a specific dimension level. The levels correspond to those in the workbook setup. If you have multiple hierarchy levels in the workbook, you must specify this level before adding any allocation group rules.
Image AddedIn the Allocation tab setup, click select the grouping level from the drop down list in the top-right corner.
Click Add allocation > Grouped.
Select the account(s) to allocate from. In the Profit and Loss statement that displays, locate and select the applicable cost account(s) .Select the account(s) to allocate tofrom and click Allocate from.
Click the Edit button in the top-right of the grid and select To. In the list that displays (trading entities), select the applicable itemsaccounts, then click Allocate.
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In the grid, you'll see an allocation group with the accounts you’re allocating from, and underneath, you'll see where those accounts are being allocated to.(Optional) Edit the name of the allocation group to something more descriptive. Click the group header and overwrite the name.
Click Save and finish.
Set up
individual allocationsan individual allocation rule
In the Allocation tab setup, click Add allocation > Individual.
In the Profit and Loss statement that displays, locate and select the applicable account(s) to allocate from and click Allocate from.
Click the Edit button in the account row in the grid and select To. In the list that displays, select the applicable accounts then click Allocate.
Click Save and finish.
Explore the allocation tabs
After you complete the allocation setup, the two worksheet tabs are automatically generated for youAllocations tabs appear in the workbook: Allocations and Assumptions. The purpose and use of each tab differs depending on whether you added group or individual allocation rules.
Allocations tab
The Allocations tab outlines what is happening to each account that you selected in the setup.
In group allocations, this tab might be useful for troubleshooting purposes but typically, you won't need to use it often. For example, in the image below, the group is allocating everything evenly. Taking a closer look at the first row, you can see that in July, the UK holding entity has $666,778 for salaries (100%) which will be allocated evenly to three trading entities, each one getting 33%. To see exactly how much each of the UK holding salaries entity will get, hover over the border line on the left of the Total column and click the pink Allocation button that displays. Because, in this case, the salaries are being allocated evenly, each entity will get 22,259 to add on top of their original budgeted salaries.
In individual allocations, this tab is where you edit the allocations. By default, the values in the From accounts are allocated evenly across the To accounts. When in pre-allocation mode, you can edit the percentages in the To account rows (as indicated by the yellow cells) to change the way in which the items are allocated. Your changes are automatically reflected in the Main tab when you view it in post-allocation mode.
Allocations (Assumptions) tab
The Allocations (Assumptions) tab outlines how you want to allocate your costs. You can edit the values in this tab (when is applicable to group allocations only. This tab is where you edit the allocations. When in pre-allocation mode, you can edit the percentages in the To account rows (as indicated by the yellow cells) to change the way in which the costs items are allocated. Your changes are automatically reflected in the Main tab , when you view it in post-allocation mode.
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| After you set up the allocations, you can For example, you might
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Suppose you decide that you no longer want to allocate the costs equally between trading entities but instead allocate in proportion to their revenue.
You can then see that based on a revenue allocation, AUS Trading is now going to get 45.23% of the UK Holding's remuneration. Back on the Main tab, the changes are automatically reflected in the post-allocation values. For example, the pre-allocation remuneration value for AUS Trading is 2,717,099, but in post-allocation mode, it is 3,480,113 (the pre-allocation value plus 45% of the UK Holdings remuneration costs,). |
View allocations on the Main tab
On the Main tab, use the Pre allocation / Post allocation button at the top to switch between viewing the pre-allocation and post-allocation values.
For example, in the image below, in pre-allocation mode, the total remuneration is $12.6 million, with $1.6 million for UK Holding. In post-allocation mode, the total remuneration remains the same but there’s nothing in for UK Holdings, as it's now sitting in equal proportions with the three trading entities.
The values in the Allocations (Assumptions) tab are not editable when you are in post-allocation mode. Switch to pre-allocation mode to activate the cells for editing.
Set up more allocations
You can easily add more costs to your allocation group simply by right clicking on allocations and editing the setup. I can then for example, let's say we want to also allocate our marketing costs in the exact same way. So we could change our from accounts to also pick up my UK holdings marketing accounts and it will allocate those in proportion to revenu
The next step is to add or import the employee data. If you want help to do so, you need to invite headcount users before you can assign them to tasks in the workflow.
and select the accounts that you want to allocate. A replica of P&L displays on the right side of your screen. Same hierarchy as main budget with Total column that helps you understand the values you are dealing wiht.
You want to take an account that exists in the P&L and distribute it between multiple other accounts.
Commonly, these are centralised costs that occur at the head office.
The account(s) you select display in the grid int he setup window.
Expand the account row and click Add accounts to.
Select the accounts you want to receive the allocated amount. Typically branches / divisions / regions.
Multi select in the usual manner.
Whenever To accounts are already selected, clicking this tab returns to the worksheet they are on, expands to reveal all of them, and scrolls to reveal the first one and as many others as possible.
Whenever To accounts are not already selected (for example, when setting up a new allocation), clicking this tab displays the budget worksheet in its original state: nothing selected, all levels collapsed.
User can add/remove selections via any means necessary in the worksheet (search, browse, level reorder, etc)
Workflow rules apply - only ‘owned’ items can be allocated.
Selections are listed in the allocations panel along with a total.
Selections remain selected (blue highlight) in the worksheet.
Only one selection per level is permitted. In the example shown, there is one selection per branch.
Select the allocation method, either:
Evenly - each item(?) gets the same percentage, to a sum of 100%
or Manually. - you can enter amount for allocation distribution.
Troubleshooting
Why can’t I edit the values in the Allocations tab?
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Firstly, ensure you are in pre-allocation mode. Click the Pre/Post allocation button at the top of the workbook.Secondly, ensure you've been assigned to the rows in the workflow.
I’m an administrator and I added the Allocations tab but I can’t edit any values there.
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By default the workflow sits with the budget owner, so you need to assign yourself to the row(s) to put them in edit mode.Why can’t I see the allocations in the Main tab?
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Ensure you are in post-allocation mode. Click the Pre/Post allocation button at the top of the workbook.
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