Reallocations

Overview

A Reallocation moves already-invoiced value from one proposal item to another within the same project, without changing how much your client has been billed.

Nothing goes to the client. No money changes hands. The total invoiced on the project stays exactly the same. All that changes is which proposal item (and which nominal account) the value sits against.

You'll find Reallocations under the Billing group in the main navigation, alongside Sales Orders, Invoices, and Payments.

When would you use one?

Reallocations exist to correct the distribution of invoiced value after the fact. Typical reasons:

• Value was invoiced against the wrong proposal item. The invoice total was right, but the wrong line was billed.
• The proposal was restructured after invoicing. Items were split, merged, or renamed, and the historic invoiced value now sits in the wrong place.
• Value needs moving between nominal accounts. The amount is correct but it's been coded to the wrong account.
• Work in Progress looks wrong on individual items. Because WIP is calculated per proposal item as value minus invoiced, misallocated invoicing shows one item over-billed and another under-billed, even though the project as a whole is correct.

In each case, raising a credit note and a fresh invoice would work, but it would also send two documents to your client for a problem that is purely internal. A Reallocation fixes the coding without touching the client relationship.

The golden rule: it must net to zero

Every Reallocation must add up to zero. You take value off one line (a negative amount) and put the same value onto another (a positive amount).

Kompass enforces this. If your lines don't net to zero, the Reallocation won't save; you'll get an error telling you it must balance. Equally, a Reallocation that is entirely zeros won't save either: it has to actually move something.

This is what guarantees a Reallocation can never quietly become an invoice or a credit note.

Creating a Reallocation

1. Go to Billing → Reallocations and click Create.
2. Choose the Client and Project. Like any invoice, a Reallocation belongs to exactly one project — you cannot move value between projects.
3. The Type is fixed to Reallocation and cannot be changed. You're in the Reallocations area, so Kompass won't let you save anything else.
4. Fill in the Date (and any notes, tags, or contacts you want on the record).
5. In the allocation table, enter your movements:
   • A negative amount on the proposal item you're taking value from.
   • A positive amount on the proposal item you're moving value to.
   • Each line also carries a Nominal Account, so you can move value between accounts as well as between items.
6. Check the lines balance to zero, then Save.

Naming

Kompass names Reallocations automatically as {project reference}-R{number}   — for example 24-0871-R01  , then -R02  , and so on. The R   marks it as a Reallocation, distinguishing it from invoices (24-0871-01  ) and credit notes (24-0871-C01  ). You can overwrite the name if you want; Kompass won't clobber a manual edit.

What a Reallocation does not do

This is the important part, and it's where most questions come from.

Because tax is always zero, a Reallocation moves net value only. If tax has been mis-stated as well as mis-coded, a Reallocation is not the right tool, you'd need a credit note and a corrected invoice.

Where Reallocations appear

Reallocations have their own list and never appear on the main Invoices list. The two lists are completely separate: Invoices shows invoices and credit notes; Reallocations shows only Reallocations. There's no Type filter on the Reallocations list, because everything in it is the same type.

On a project, Reallocations are counted separately from invoices and credit notes, so a project's invoice count isn't inflated by internal corrections.

Approval workflow

Reallocations follow the same workflow as invoices:

Created → Submitted → Approved → Posted

They can also be Rejected (from Submitted or Approved) or Voided (from Approved or Posted). If your permissions allow, you can skip steps; submitting, approving and posting in one action.

Whether a Reallocation counts towards your figures depends on your organisation's configured value status (Approved by default), exactly as it does for invoices. A draft Reallocation hasn't moved anything yet.

Editing and locking

A Reallocation locks down in the same circumstances as an invoice. For example once it's been synchronised to your accounting system. Posted Reallocations restrict editing to metadata only (notes, tags, files) unless you have the permission to edit posted records.

Accounting sync

If your organisation is connected to an accounting system, Reallocations sync as journal entries; debit and credit lines that mirror the movement you recorded, with no tax. Once your accounting system has finalised the entry, Kompass locks the Reallocation and stops editing it.

Permissions

Reallocations use the invoice permissions, there is no separate set. The relevant ones are the standard view / add / change / delete on invoices, plus the workflow permissions (submit, approve, reject, post, void) and, where applicable, the permissions to change approved or posted records.

A worked example

A project has two proposal items: Topographic Survey and Measured Building Survey.

1. You invoice the client £10,000. By mistake, the whole £10,000 is coded to Topographic Survey, but £4,000 of it was really for the Measured Building Survey.
2. The client has paid. The invoice total is correct, so a credit note would be the wrong answer: you'd be crediting the client for money you're entitled to.
3. Instead you create a Reallocation on that project with two lines:
   • Topographic Survey: −£4,000
   • Measured Building Survey: +£4,000
4. The lines net to zero, so it saves. You approve and post it.
5. The project is still £10,000 invoiced. But Topographic Survey now shows £6,000 invoiced and Measured Building Survey shows £4,000, so each item's Work in Progress is right, your reporting by service and department is right, and the client never saw a thing.