Set up a staff costs line before you add your team

Every team member you add needs a home in your forecast: a cost line their salary links to. Most charts of accounts already have one. Checking for it as soon as you connect your accounting software, before you start on People, means you can add your team in one go.

1. Check your chart of accounts for a staff costs line

Once your accounting software is connected, look through your chart of accounts for a line along the lines of Staff salaries or Wages. When you come to add a team member, sherloc lists your overhead, expense and depreciation lines in the Associated cost picker, so a pay line will appear there for you to choose. Wages held under cost of sales (direct costs) won't appear in the list.

If you want to see different groups of staff broken out separately later (permanent and part-time, say, or different teams), it's worth having a line for each group at this point, since every person links to one line.

Example: in Xero, this usually sits as an overheads line on your income statement, alongside your other cost lines.

2. Add one now if it's missing

Some charts of accounts keep pay under a general heading, or leave it out altogether if payroll runs through a separate system. If nothing suitable turns up, add an expense account for it in your accounting software now, before you go any further, as there's nothing else in your forecast yet to lose by reconnecting at this point.

3. Pick it as the Associated cost for each team member

With the line in place, go to People and add your team. For each person, open the Associated cost field (it reads Select a cost line until you choose) and pick your staff costs line. The field is required for every person, so you can't save a team member until you've chosen one. This keeps their salary properly separated from your other overheads rather than sitting inside a general expenses line.

Example: adding someone on an annual salary of £45,000 and choosing Staff salaries as their Associated cost means £3,750 a month shows up on the Staff salaries line in your forecast (the annual salary, adjusted for pro rata, divided by 12), not lumped in with general overheads.

4. Check the numbers

Look at People and the Expenses (overheads) screen to confirm each team member is showing on the line you expect. That screen shows monthly figures, so check the total is your team's annual salaries, adjusted for pro rata, divided by 12.