Introduction
Cost centre movements tell Ledgy which cost centre (for example a legal entity or a department) each stakeholder belonged to, and from which date. Ledgy uses this data to split share-based payment expenses by cost centre in your financial reports.
Who this is for: admins with permission to manage financial reports. You need this permission to upload or change cost centre movements.
Cost centre movements are only used in Financial Reporting. They do not change the stakeholder location history, stakeholder custom fields or any other stakeholder data.
The most important rules:
Every upload replaces all your cost centre movements. Ledgy does not merge your file with the saved data. Any row that is not in your file is deleted. If you upload only this month's new movements, all older movements are removed.
Always start from a freshly downloaded file. The file you download from Bulk edit already contains all your saved movements. Keep those rows and add your changes.
Ledgy does not ask you to confirm which rows will be removed before it replaces the data, so check your file before you upload it.
Add movements for every stakeholder who has grants. Stakeholders without movements have no cost centre in your reports.
Use the same cost centre type (for example Legal entity) in every row.
How it works
For each stakeholder, you add one row per cost centre with the date the stakeholder started there. You do not enter end dates. Ledgy works them out: each cost centre ends the day before the stakeholder's next cost centre starts, and the latest cost centre stays active.
Example: Anna works for Ledgy UK from 1 January 2023 and moves to Ledgy CH on 1 July 2024. You add two rows for Anna:
Ledgy UK, start date 01.01.2023
Ledgy CH, start date 01.07.2024
Ledgy treats Ledgy UK as Anna's cost centre from 1 January 2023 to 30 June 2024, and Ledgy CH from 1 July 2024 onwards.
In the reports, Ledgy allocates the expense of each vesting tranche to the stakeholder's cost centres, using the cost centre attribution method you choose for the report period (see Step 4).
Step 1: Open cost centre movements
Go to Reporting > Financial
On the Financial reporting home page, find Manage additional data sources
Next to Cost centre movements, click Set up. If movements already exist, click the arrow button instead
If you see Upgrade instead, cost centre movements are not included in your plan. Contact your Customer Success Manager to learn more.
The page shows all your saved movements in a table.
Step 2: Download the file and fill it in
Click Bulk edit
In Step 1: Download file, download the Excel file. It contains all the movements that are currently saved
Update the file in Excel and save it. Do not change the column titles
Columns
Each row is one cost centre for one stakeholder. A stakeholder who moved between cost centres has several rows. All five columns are required in every row.
Stakeholder ID: the ID of an existing stakeholder. Select it from the dropdown and do not edit it
Stakeholder name: the stakeholder's name. It must match the Stakeholder ID exactly
Cost centre: the name of the cost centre. You can enter any text, but always use exactly the same spelling. Ledgy treats "Ledgy UK" and "Ledgy-UK" as two different cost centres
Cost centre type: Legal entity, Department, Division, Region or Other. Use the same type in every row. The type does not change the calculations and is for record keeping only
Start date: the date the stakeholder started in this cost centre
Why some rows only have a name and an ID
The downloaded file lists all your stakeholders:
Stakeholders who already have movements get one row per saved movement
Stakeholders who have no cost centre yet get one row with only the Stakeholder ID and Stakeholder name filled in
You cannot upload these incomplete rows as they are. For each one, either fill in Cost centre, Cost centre type and Start date, or delete the row. Deleting an incomplete row does not remove any data, because that stakeholder has no saved movement. You only need rows for stakeholders who have grants.
Rules for each stakeholder's rows
The first cost centre must start on or before the stakeholder's first grant date. Otherwise the upload still works, but the report flags those grants as missing a cost centre (see Why does a grant show as missing a cost centre?)
Two rows for the same stakeholder cannot have the same start date
When the rows are sorted by start date, two rows next to each other cannot have the same cost centre. A stakeholder can move back to an earlier cost centre later, for example Ledgy UK, then Ledgy CH, then Ledgy UK again
The order of the rows in the file does not matter. Ledgy sorts each stakeholder's rows by start date, so you can add new rows anywhere, for example at the bottom
Step 3: Upload the file
In Step 3: Upload file of the Bulk edit window, upload your saved file
Ledgy checks the file. If there are errors, fix them in Excel and upload the file again
When the file is valid, Ledgy shows Great, looking good. Ready to import with the number of cost centre movements in your file
Click Edit now
Check the number before you click Edit now. The number shown is how many rows your file contains, and these rows replace everything that is saved. For example, if you had 300 movements and added 34 new ones, the number should be 334. If it is much lower than you expect, your file is probably missing existing rows. Do not continue: download a fresh file and add your changes again.
Common upload errors and how to fix them
A required field is empty: a row is missing the Cost centre, Cost centre type or Start date. This is usually one of the incomplete rows described above. Fill in the missing fields or delete the row
Stakeholder ID is not valid: the ID does not belong to an existing stakeholder. Use the ID from the downloaded file and do not edit it
Stakeholder name is not matching the stakeholder Id: the name was changed or has a typo. Use the name exactly as it appears in the downloaded file
Cost centre types must be the same: your file uses more than one cost centre type. Use one type in every row
The cost centre movement start dates must not be the same for a stakeholder: two rows for the same stakeholder have the same start date. Remove the duplicate or correct one of the dates
Consecutive cost centre movements must be different: a stakeholder has the same cost centre in two rows in a row (by start date). Delete the later row, because the stakeholder did not move
Step 4: Choose how expenses are allocated
When you generate a report period, open the Cost centre attribution section of the report settings. You choose a method separately for Equity-settled grants and Cash-settled grants:
Pro-rate (default for equity-settled grants): Ledgy splits each tranche's expense by the number of days the stakeholder spent in each cost centre during the tranche's amortisation period
Current cost centre (default for cash-settled grants): Ledgy assigns 100% of the tranche's cumulative expense to the cost centre the stakeholder is in at the opening or closing balance date, even if the stakeholder spent part of the amortisation period elsewhere
You cannot choose a different method for individual grants.
Step 5: Review your reports
Expensing report: a tranche gets a separate row for each cost centre it is allocated to, with cost centre columns such as Cost centre, Mobility factor and Mobility amortization method. You can group any view by cost centre. The built-in Cost centres view is already grouped by cost centre, stakeholder, grant and tranche
The cost centre columns and the Cost centres view only appear once your company has cost centre movements
Disclosures report: you can group it by cost centre to see quantities per cost centre. Disclosures uses the cost centre the stakeholder was in on the grant date (the issuing cost centre) and does not pro-rate
For an explanation of each cost centre column, see Financial Reporting: Expensing report columns explained.
How to add new movements (for example every month)
Open Cost centre movements and click Bulk edit
Download a fresh file. Do not reuse an older file, because it may not contain changes made since then
Keep all existing rows that have a cost centre
Add one row for each new movement. You can add the rows anywhere in the file
For new stakeholders, make sure their first cost centre starts on or before their first grant date, for example on their employment start date
Fill in or delete the incomplete rows (stakeholders with only a name and an ID)
Upload the file and check that the number of movements equals your existing rows plus your new rows before you click Edit now
If you have locked reports: do not change the cost centre name or the start date of a row that a locked report already used. Ledgy matches the rows of a locked report by cost centre, cost centre type and start date. If you change them, the next report cannot continue from the locked report for that row. It shows the old row reversed and a new row starting from zero. To record a change, keep the old row and add a new row with a start date after the closing date of the locked report.
Why does a grant show as missing a cost centre?
In the report, you may see Action needed to complete your report with this message: "The following grants have no cost centre assigned as of the grant date. Please add a stakeholder cost centre with a start date on or before the grant date."
Ledgy shows this when a stakeholder has cost centre movements, but their earliest start date is after the grant date. Ledgy then cannot allocate that grant's expense to a cost centre.
Common causes:
A stakeholder only has a row that starts recently (for example this month), but their grant is older
Older rows were missing from the uploaded file, for example after uploading only new movements. The earliest remaining start date is then later than the grant date
A start date was entered incorrectly
How to fix it:
Note the grants listed in the message
Download a fresh file from Cost centre movements > Bulk edit and find the earliest row for each affected stakeholder
Add a row, or change the start date of the earliest row, so that the first cost centre starts on or before the grant date
Upload the complete file again
Good to know: stakeholders with no movements at all are not flagged by this message. Their expense simply has no cost centre and shows without a cost centre when you group by cost centre. Check that every stakeholder with grants has at least one row.
Frequently asked questions
I uploaded only my new movements and the older ones disappeared. What happened?
Each upload replaces all saved movements with the rows in your file. Rows that are not in the file are deleted. To restore them, upload a file that contains the full history again, for example a file you saved before, plus your new rows. To avoid this, always download a fresh file and add your changes to it.
Can I upload rows with empty fields?
No. Every row needs Stakeholder ID, Stakeholder name, Cost centre, Cost centre type and Start date. Rows that only have a stakeholder name and ID belong to stakeholders without a cost centre. Fill them in or delete them. Deleting them does not remove any data.
Do I have to add new movements at the bottom of the file?
No. The order of the rows does not matter. Ledgy sorts each stakeholder's rows by start date. What matters is that the file contains all existing rows plus your new rows.
Can I upload movements for both legal entities and departments?
No. Ledgy allocates expenses at one cost centre level only, and every row must use the same cost centre type. Choose one level, for example Legal entity or Department.
I already have a custom field for cost centre. Can I use that?
No. The cost centre logic does not read from custom fields or from the stakeholder location history. You must upload the data in Cost centre movements.
Can I sync stakeholder movements with my HR system?
Not at this time. Stakeholder movements must be uploaded with the Excel file.
Can I customise the cost centre attribution method per grant?
No. You choose the method per settlement type (equity-settled or cash-settled) when you generate a report period.
Can the Disclosures report be grouped by cost centre?
Yes. You can group Disclosures to see quantities by cost centre. Disclosures allocates quantities to the cost centre the stakeholder was in on the grant date (the issuing cost centre) and does not pro-rate.
Does this change the stakeholder's location history?
No. Cost centre movements and the stakeholder location history are separate and do not affect each other.