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A Cost Rate is used to evaluate the cost to the practice of any time or expense that is posted to the Time Ledger, the use of Cost Rates are optional and can be turned on or off under the General tab of the Time Ledger Options.
To create a new Cost Rate:
Log into the Time Ledger as a user who is allowed to change and assign Cost Rates. Click here for more information on staff allowances.
Click File.
Select Cost Rates.
Click New.
This will display the new Cost Rate screen, the following information must be completed:
This is a unique code that relates to the Cost Rate. This code will be used when selecting a the Cost Rate to use for a time or expense posting. If the user is not able to see Cost Rates (as defined under Allowances when on the Staff Maintenance screens) the Identifier can be used by the user to recognise a Cost Rate.
The code that is used for the Cost Rate Identifier will be determined by your practice requirements, however the following suggestions may be applicable to you:
Staff Initials
This solution assumes each staff member will have their own Cost Rate, by using their initials the rate can be easily identified as belonging to that staff member.
Staff Initials Plus...
If multiple Cost Rates are going the be used for a staff member, the staff initials with extra identification information can be used to identify a rate. For example, the initials followed by the percentage of the standard rate or the hourly value of the rate.
Staff Group
If rates are going to be used for multiple staff members (for example, those on the same level), that group could be used for the Rate Identifier. For example PTN for all
partners, MAN for all managers, and so on.
Rate Value
The hourly charge rate could be used as the identifier giving instant recognition of the Cost Rate assigned to the staff member. Remember, using this suggestion would render the Cost Rate visibility permission useless (see Allowances on the Staff Maintenance screens for more information).
It is recommended that the staff members initials are used as the Cost Rate Identifier.
It is possible to change the identifier on a Cost Rate at a later date if desired. This will have no negative effect on existing postings using that rate (that is, the information will automatically be converted to the new rate retrospectively). For more information on changing Cost Rate Identifiers see the Changing Cost Rates topic.
Enter a brief description about the rate being used, this may be the staff member the Cost Rate relates to, the group of staff in the system or the rate itself.
A date must be entered which relates to when the Cost Rate will be valid from. If a posting is made before this date a warning will be produced by the system. To select the Effective date from a calendar Click the magnifying glass to the right of the field.
It is possible to have multiple Effective dates on a single Cost Rate, for example, after an annual salary review you may want to increase the Cost Rate, but postings made prior to that date retain the previous rate. For more information on setting up multiple Effective dates for existing Cost Rates see Changing Cost Rates.
In the Rate Per Hour field enter the cost per hour in pounds and pence for the Cost Rate you are creating. The rate must always be entered for an hour regardless of how you post time, for example, units, decimal or hours and minutes (for more information on posting options see the Time Entry screen in the Time Ledger Options topic).
You may require a zero Cost Rate for partners registered with the system. For this purpose enter 0.00 in the Rate Per Hour.
Once you have entered the information on this screen as desired click Insert to save the changes to the system. If you are not happy with the information you have entered, click Cancel.