Allocate airtime costs across departments
Put the cost centre on the request when it’s approved. At month-end, use that record to assign the cost of each completed order to the team, project or branch that used it. Leave unknown costs visible until someone can trace them.
Allocation hierarchy
| Basis | Use when | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Named recipient’s department | Individual staff allocation | Approved roster or request |
| Outlet or branch | Retail or field operations | Outlet code and order record |
| Campaign or project | Time-limited activity | Approved budget and campaign ID |
| Shared overhead | No direct attribution is practical | Documented allocation method |
By Freepaid · Published
Put the cost centre on the request
Include department, branch, project or campaign code on the purchase request. If your order system accepts a reference or metadata field, use it consistently. If not, maintain a mapping file that links each internal order reference to the approved cost centre. Do not put sensitive personal information into a supplier reference just to identify the department.
Agree who pays before you order. If one batch serves several departments, keep the split by recipient or quantity so finance can reproduce it at month-end.
Split a batch and its fees
In a R1,200 batch, Operations approves 40 orders of R20 each and Sales approves 20 at the same value. That assigns R800 to Operations and R400 to Sales. If there’s a R30 supplier fee, your finance policy should say whether to split it by value, order count or another basis. A split by value adds R20 to Operations and R10 to Sales.
Handle unassigned spend
Create a suspense or unassigned category only as a temporary holding place with an owner and deadline. Ask the requester or manager to identify the purpose using the original order reference. If the purpose cannot be established, escalate it under finance policy. Avoid spreading it evenly as a shortcut.
Review repeated unassigned items. They may signal missing cost centre fields, inadequate request approvals or an export that does not carry internal references. Correct the process at source and preserve old records rather than rewriting history without an audit trail.
Reconcile and report consistently
At month end, match supplier orders, charges and credits to cost centres. Check that allocated totals equal the reconciled business total. Show unassigned spend separately, with count, amount, age and next owner. Explain any shared-cost allocation in report notes so department managers understand what they are seeing.
Ask finance to approve the allocation rules and review exceptions. If you use SIMcloud for direct recharge, check whether the export includes the fields you need to match each order to its cost centre.
Keep one record when responsibility changes
When a team transfers a cost after close, retain the original assignment and post the approved transfer against the same order reference. Record the previous and new cost centres and the reason. The departmental totals can change while the total supplier spend for the period stays the same. Have finance check both views.