---
title: "How do I allocate a cost?"
slug: "how-do-i-allocate-a-cost"
updated: 2026-06-10T11:26:23Z
published: 2026-06-10T11:26:23Z
canonical: "help.cintra.co.uk/how-do-i-allocate-a-cost"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.cintra.co.uk/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How do I allocate a cost?

Now that your **Cost Analysis Structure** is set up, you can set up rules within **Cintra iQ**, according to how you want your costs to be analysed when you extract Cost Analysis data. The rule set up is based on pay elements.

You can also group multiple pay elements together under a costing category so that you can apply cost analysis rules to categories of pay elements rather than individual pay elements.

**Cost Allocations** are used when a particular payment item or category (a category is used to group payment items that will behave in the same way) will be assigned to a different cost code account and/or department from the employee’s default account.

## To allocate costs

> [!TIP]
> **Example:** I want to allocate the Cost Category: Overtime to Account: 50100.

1. Navigate to the **Account Mappings** window. Go to **Cintra iQ**: Payroll > Payroll Set up > Accounting.
2. Navigate to the **Cost Allocations** tab.
3. Within the **Default Cost Allocations Per Costing Category** pane, right-click: **New**. The **New Cost Allocation** window appears.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/fc2cda72-4645-4b36-96bf-60439ec11f11/Images/Documentation/204001064036.png)
4. Select the desired **Cost Category** from the drop-down list.
5. Change the **Percentage**, if you want to split the cost between multiple accounts by percentage.
6. Check the **Summarise To Account** check box.
7. Select the desired **Account** from the drop-down list.
8. Select the desired **Dept** from the drop-down list. ![](https://cdn.document360.io/fc2cda72-4645-4b36-96bf-60439ec11f11/Images/Documentation/204001064039.png)
9. Click the **OK** button. The new entry is added to the **Default Cost Allocations Per Costing Category** pane. ![](https://cdn.document360.io/fc2cda72-4645-4b36-96bf-60439ec11f11/Images/Documentation/204001064040.png)
10. Click the **OK** button.