Create and Apply Allocations In Rillet

Managing shared expenses across teams or departments can be tricky, especially when you want accurate cost tracking without extra manual work. Allocations in Rillet make this simple—you create rules once, then apply them to transactions, and the system automatically splits the costs. This ensures fair distribution, accurate reporting, and less time spent making manual journal entries.

With allocation rules, you can decide who gets charged and by how much, whether it’s equally, based on headcount, or by a custom percentage. Once set up, you can apply these rules to bills and other transactions in just a few clicks.

Understanding Expense Allocations in Rillet

Expense allocations help you fairly split shared costs—like software, office rent, or support services—across the departments or teams that actually use them. Instead of charging the full amount to just one part of the business, you can spread the expense based on whatever makes the most sense: headcount, usage, revenue, or another metric you choose.

In Rillet, allocations are flexible. You decide how to break things down and where the costs should go. This makes your financial reporting more accurate and helps each team understand the true cost of running their part of the business. It’s also useful for budgeting, cost control, and performance tracking.

Simply put, allocations give you a clearer picture of where money’s going—and why.

To Create an Allocation Rule:

1. Click your company logo in the lower-left corner.

2. Go to Organization Settings.

   
3. Select Accounting in the left-hand menu and scroll to the Allocation Rules section.

4. If this is your first allocation rule, start entering details directly. If you want to create an additional rule, click + Add Rule.

   Note: You can create as many rules as needed.

5. Enter a Name for the allocation rule.

   Note: Choose a clear, descriptive name so it’s easy to identify later.

   
6. Select a Dimension to determine how the allocation will be split:

   • Department: Shows your list of departments (e.g., Customer Success, Design, Product, Engineering).

   • Location: Shows your organization’s locations (e.g., Boston, Chicago, Dallas, New York).

   • Stage: Shows your business stages (e.g., Enterprise, Growth, SMB).

     
7. Choose one or more groups from the list that appears based on your selected Dimension.

   
8. Set the allocation percentages:

   • Equally: Rillet splits the cost evenly across selected groups.

   • Headcount: Splits costs proportionally by the number of people in each group (only if enabled in your account).

   • Custom: Manually assign a specific percentage to each group. Enter values so they total 100%.

     • After selecting the allocation percentages, click Apply to confirm the distribution.

       
9. Click Save Changes to store the allocation rule.

   

To Apply an Allocation Rule to a Transaction:

1. Go to Accounts Payable > Bills.

   
2. Create a new bill or open an existing one.

   
3. Enter the bill information, such as Vendor, Bill Number, and Payment Terms.

   
4. Select Allocate in the Department field of the line item.

5. Select the allocation rule you want to apply.

6. Click Save to apply the rule.

   

The bill will display a percentage allocation tag to indicate that the cost is split across multiple groups.

View the Journal Entry Impact

After saving, open the bill’s journal entry to confirm the allocation. You’ll see the cost split according to the rule you applied (e.g., 50% Engineering, 25% Operations, 15% Design, 10% Product).

Allocation rules remove the need for manual journal entry splits, making complex cost sharing faster, more accurate, and easier to maintain.