What are Allocations?
Allocations let you take the balance of an account — or individual transactions — and split them across different classes (departments) and/or locations based on percentages you define. This is useful when an expense like rent or insurance needs to be distributed across multiple departments or office locations for reporting purposes.
Allocations live inside your Close workflow, directly below the Accruals section. They are available for clients on the Scale plan.
Allocation Types
There are two types of allocations you can create:
Account — Takes the full account balance for the current close period and distributes it across classes and/or locations by the percentages you set.
Transaction — Takes individual transactions from an account and distributes them across classes and/or locations by the percentages you set.
When to use each type:
Use Account when the entire balance of an account should always be split the same way (e.g., rent is always 50/50 between two offices).
Use Transaction when only certain line items need allocation, or when different transactions in the same account need different splits.
Hiding the Allocations Section
If a client doesn't need allocations, you can hide the section so it doesn't clutter the close workflow.
Navigate to the client's Close page.
Find the Allocations section header.
Click the three-dot menu (⋯) next to the section name.
Select Hide Section.
The section will no longer appear in the close tasks for that client. You can re-enable it later from the same menu.
Adding an Allocation Task
Allocation tasks define what you want to allocate. Each task is tied to a specific account or transaction type.
In the Allocations section of your close, click Add task.
In the modal that appears, select the Type:
Account — to allocate an entire account balance.
Transaction — to allocate individual transactions.
Select the Source account by searching for the account name (e.g., search "rent" to find "Building & property rent," or "insurance" to find insurance-related accounts).
Click Save.
A success message will confirm the task was created. The new task now appears in your Allocations section.
Setting Up an Allocation by Class
If classes are enabled for your client, you can split an account balance or transaction across departments.
Open the allocation task you just created.
Click Add allocation.
Select Allocate by Class.
Select Allocate by Percentage or Amount.
For each class you want to include:
Select the destination class from the dropdown.
Enter the percentage or amount to allocate to that class.
Click Add class to add additional lines.
Repeat until your percentages total 100% or your amounts total the entire period account balance.
Example: To split rent expense across three departments, you might set up:
Class | Percentage |
Operations | 20% |
Sales | 30% |
Engineering | 50% |
Setting Up an Allocation by Location
If locations are enabled for your client, you can split an account balance or transaction across office locations.
Open the allocation task.
Click Add allocation.
Select Allocate by Location.
Select Allocate by Percentage or Amount.
For each location:
Select the destination location from the dropdown.
Enter the percentage or amount to allocate to that location.
Click Add location to add additional lines.
Repeat until your percentages total 100% or your amounts total the entire period account balance.
Example: To split Legal expenses across two offices:
Location | Percentage |
San Francisco | 50% |
New York | 50% |
Setting Up an Allocation by Account
You can split an account balance or transaction across various accounts.
Open the allocation task.
Click Add allocation.
Select Allocate by Account.
Select Allocate by Percentage or Amount.
For each destination account:
Select the account from the dropdown.
Enter the percentage or amount to allocate to that account.
Click Add account to add additional lines.
Repeat until your percentages total 100% or your amounts total the entire period account balance.
Example: To move payroll expenses to Cost of Goods Sold
Location | Percentage |
Cost of Goods Sold | 30% |
Salaries | 70% |
Setting Up a Transaction Allocation
Transaction allocations work similarly to account allocations, but instead of distributing an entire account balance, you select and allocate individual transactions.
In the Allocations section, click Add task.
Select Transaction as the Type.
Select the Source account — this is the account containing the transactions you want to allocate (e.g., "Dues & Subscriptions").
Click Save.
Once the task is created, you'll see the individual transactions from that account for the current close period. From here you can:
Allocate a transaction: Click Add allocation on a specific transaction, then assign class and/or location splits with percentages just like you would for an account allocation.
Exclude a transaction: If a particular transaction doesn't need to be allocated, click Exclude to skip it. This is useful when only some transactions in an account need to be distributed — for example, if most transactions in Dues & Subscriptions already have the correct class, but a few need to be split across locations.
After setting your splits, click Post to finalize. Excluded transactions will remain unaffected.
Posting an Allocation
Once your allocation percentages are set and total 100%, you can post the allocation to generate the journal entries.
Review the allocation summary to confirm the class/location splits and percentages are correct.
Click Post.
The allocation will be applied to the current close period. You can then click View to see the posted allocation details.
Note: Allocations currently apply to the latest close period only.
Viewing and Editing Allocations
After an allocation has been posted, you can review or modify it.
To view: Click the View button on the allocation task to open a detail modal showing the current allocation splits.
To edit: Click Edit allocation within the detail view. You can then adjust percentages, add or remove classes/locations, and re-post the updated allocation.
Deleting an Allocation Task
To permanently remove an allocation task:
Open the allocation task.
Click Delete.
The task will be removed from the Allocations section entirely. If you only need to skip the task for the current period, use Exclude instead.
Refreshing QuickBooks Data
If account balances or transaction data have changed in QuickBooks, you can pull the latest data into your allocations.
Click the three-dot menu (⋯) or overflow menu on the allocation task.
Select Refresh QuickBooks data.
This will sync the latest balances from QBO so your allocation percentages apply to up-to-date figures.
Tips & Best Practices
Percentages must total 100%. Ensure all account, class, or location splits add up before posting.
Classes and Locations must be enabled for the client in order to use those allocation dimensions. If you don't see the class or location toggles, check your client's QuickBooks settings.
Refresh before posting. If transactions or balances have changed in QuickBooks, refresh the data before posting your allocations to ensure accuracy.
Review after posting. Use the View button to verify the allocation was applied correctly.