What this page is for
An expense category is what every expense is grouped under — Rent, Utilities, Repairs and maintenance, and whatever else suits the business. Each category books to its own account on the chart of accounts, so the categories you set up are what shape your profit and loss.
Everyone whose role can view expenses sees this list. Adding or changing a category needs a role that can manage accounting.
The columns:
- Code: the account it books to.
- Name: the category's own name.
- Monthly budget: what it is budgeted to cost each month, where one is set.
- Status: Active, or Inactive once retired.
How to…
How to add a category
- Press Add a category.
- Type the Name.
- Type a Monthly budget, if you want one to compare spending against, leaving it blank otherwise.
- Press Create category.
How to rename a category or change its budget
Open the row, change the Name or Monthly budget, and press Save changes.
A name already used by another category is refused, naming the clash.
Worked examples
Supermarket
Tumaini Supermarket sets up Utilities, Rent, Wages (casual) and Repairs and maintenance, giving Utilities a monthly budget of KES 15,000.00 so a bill running well over it stands out at a glance.
Restaurant and bar
The Acacia Grill & Bar adds a category Entertainment licensing partway through the year, for a cost it did not previously track separately, leaving its existing categories exactly as they were.