By default, you use categories (also known as general ledger accounts) within the administration. But what if, for example, you have multiple leased cars and all the expenses for these cars are booked under the same category? You would then only have an overview of the total costs, but not the costs per car.
Creating a separate general ledger account for each car is an option, but you probably want to keep your chart of accounts tidy. In that case, you can use cost centers. This way, you can create a cost center per car, for instance based on the license plate, to separate the costs per car.
Using cost centers
Create cost centers
To create cost centers, follow the steps below:
Navigate to Settings in the left-hand menu;
Choose Cost centers and click on New;
In the Code field, enter a unique code that will help you recognize the cost center during bookkeeping;
In the Description field, provide a description of the cost center;
Click Save to create the cost center.
Making the cost center available
Once a cost center is created, it can be used. You can also decide whether a cost center should be mandatory for certain general ledger accounts.
To link a cost center to a general ledger account, follow the steps below:
Navigate tot Settings in the left-hand menu;
Choose General ledger accounts;
Open the general ledger account where you want to use a cost center;
In the Cost Center dropdown, choose one of the following options:
None: No cost center is required when booking this account;
Optional: A cost center can be selected, but it's not mandatory;
Mandatory: A cost center must be selected when booking this account;
Click Save to apply the changes.
Using cost centers
When booking to a general ledger account that has a linked cost center, an extra dropdown for cost centers will appear. If you’ve set the cost center to Optional, you can complete the booking without selecting a cost center. However, if it is set to Mandatory, you must select a cost center to save the booking.
