Record and categorize your shop's expenses

Expenses is where you write down what the business spends, so the Reports screen can show what is left after costs. Every location has its own Expenses screen, organised by week (Sunday to Saturday, in UTC).

There are two kinds of entries:

• One-off expenses, such as a box of supplies. You add them to the week's list of expenses.
• Standing expenses, which repeat on their own, such as rent or weekly towel laundry. You set them up once and choose how often they repeat: Weekly or Monthly.

Weekly standing expenses are added to the week's list for you the first time you open that week, and never twice. Monthly standing expenses are different on purpose. They are listed beside the week but are not part of the week's expense total. Reports shows them separately and uses them to work out "True net".

Expenses is open to every owner, and to other users the shop has authorized for the location. Zelun does not file taxes or produce an accounting ledger from this; it is a simple record that feeds your own reports.

• Pick the right location. Use the location switcher in the header. The Expenses menu item opens the last location you used.
• Decide your categories. A category has a Category name and a Kind: Stock (Existencias in Spanish), Fixed, Fee or Other. The kind lets Reports group your costs, for example "Fixed" costs against "Stock" costs.
• Know how the amount is typed. The amount field is called Amount (cents): type the amount in cents (centavos), so one peso is 100. Once saved, amounts show as normal money in your company's currency.

Add a one-off expense

1. Open Expenses in the Money section of the menu.
2. Use the week arrows (Previous week, Next week) to find the right week.
3. On the row at the top of This week, choose a Category (from list), or type a name in Category if you do not have one yet.
4. Type the Amount (cents).
5. Check the Date. It starts as the first day of the week at midday. If you change it, keep the same format.
6. If the cost belongs to one staff member, type their staff ID in Staff id (optional). It then also appears in that person's pay figures.
7. Press Add.

Fix or remove an expense

1. Find the row in the week's list. Rows are grouped by day, each day shows its subtotal, and a kind tag shows next to the category.
2. Change the amount in the row and press Save, or press Delete and confirm.
3. If you delete a weekly standing row that was added for you, that week stays without it. The following weeks still get theirs.

Add a category

1. Under the list, press Add category.
2. Type the Category name and choose the Kind.
3. Press Create. The panel also lists the categories you already have and how many expenses use each one this year. Names must be different from each other, upper or lower case alike, so adding the same name twice is refused ("A category with that name already exists.").

Expenses saved with only a typed name, without a category from the list, still count and show as Uncategorised in the groupings by kind.

Set up a standing expense

1. In the Standing panel, press New standing.
2. Fill in the Amount (cents), the Category (from list) or Category, and the Cadence: Week or Month.
3. Fill in the start date field (labelled Start at, with the date format in brackets). You may also fill in the end date field (End at, optional) and add a Note (optional).
4. To attribute it to someone, type their staff ID in Staff id (optional).
5. Press Create standing.

Each rule in the panel shows its amount, whether it is Weekly or Monthly, and a line like "Next stamps" with the date it will next be recorded.

Change the price of a standing expense

1. Press Open on the rule.
2. Fill in the Effective from field, the date the new amount starts, and set the new amount. This ends the old rule on that date and starts a new one, so weeks before it keep the old amount.
3. Press Save standing. To stop a rule, press Delete and confirm the question about stopping it.

Read the week

• Week total (in the header and again in the dark band at the bottom of the list) is the sum of the rows in the week's list. It never includes monthly standing amounts.
• Next to it you see how it compares with the previous week.
• Where it went breaks the week down by category, biggest first, and By kind groups the same week by Stock, Fixed, Fee, Other and Uncategorised. These always add up to the week total.

Nothing. Expenses are internal and clients never see them. The indirect effect is that you can price and run the shop with a clearer picture of what is left after costs.

• Typing the amount in pesos. The field expects cents. Entering 250 records two pesos fifty.
• Looking for monthly rent in the week total. Monthly standing is listed beside the week and used for "True net" in Reports, not in the week's expense total.
• Adding the same recurring cost by hand each week. Use a weekly standing expense instead.
• Creating a category twice. The name must be unique, and the panel shows how often each one is used.
• Expecting to delete a category that is in use. It cannot be removed while expenses or standing rules still point to it.
• Typing a date in another format. Keep the format the Date field starts with.

Reports and the pay figures use what you record here.