Expense Schedules and Escalations

Generate your expense schedules and escalations in Expense Schedule / Escalations. Your expense schedule determines the amount and frequency of payment. You can also apply taxes to the expense, change your proration method, opt to pay in arrears, or use custom payment coverage.

When you add an expense schedule, Approval Status is Review. The approver can approve the schedule in the Approve Payment window. You cannot set Approval Status when you add an expense schedule.

If you change an expense setup with approved schedules, the current and future schedules are set back to Review status. Changing an individual approved expense schedule sets its approval status to Review.

Add Expense Schedule with Escalation on Fixed Interval

Add an expense schedule that escalates on a fixed interval using the Expense Setup Wizard.

1. In Expense Setup List, select the expense setup record you want.

2. In Expense Schedule / Escalations, click Add Expense Schedule.

3. In the dialog box that opens, asking if you want to use the Expense Schedule Wizard, click Yes.

4. Complete the Add Expense Schedule window.

   • Begin Date / End Date: Enter the begin date and end date of the expense schedule or click Calendar to select the date.

     Rentable Area and Area Unit automatically populate.

   • Starting Amount Is: Enter the starting amount of your recurring expense.

   • Payment Amount / Annual Amount / Rate: Select the type of starting amount.

   • Type of Escalation: Select from:

     • None: No escalation.

     • Lump Sum: Recurring expense escalates by a lump sum, for example: $2,000 every five years.

     • Percent: Recurring expense escalates by a percentage, for example: 5% every five years.

   • Escalate Every (years): Number of years between escalations.

   • Amount: Amount or percentage of the escalation.

5. Click Generate Expense Schedule.

   The expense schedule displays in the Expense Schedule / Escalations table.

6. Click Save Changes in the Actions menu on the rightmost side of the page.

Add Expense Schedule without Escalation on Fixed Interval

Manually create an expense schedule that does not escalate on a fixed interval using the Add Expense Schedule dialog.

1. In Expense Setup List, select the expense setup record you want.

2. In Expense Schedule / Escalations, click Add Expense Schedule.

3. In the dialog box that opens, asking if you want to use the Expense Schedule Wizard, click No.

4. Complete the Add Expense Schedule window.

   • Begin Date / End Date: Enter the begin date and end date of the expense schedule or click Calendar to select the date.

   • Hold Flag: Select if this recurring expense should be listed as on hold.

     The Hold flag flows from the recurring expenses to the transaction record to show that the payment is on hold. The Hold flag will NOT prevent rent from being generated. Review Hold and Processed Flags.

   • Payment Amount: Enter the monthly payment amount.

   • Annual Amount: Enter annual payment amount.

   • Rate: Enter a rate. For example, $25 per square foot.

   • First Payment / Last Payment: Enter an amount to override.

   • Calculate Amounts: Select Payment Amount / Annual Amount / Rate to use for calculations and click Calculate Amounts.

     The appears below the Payment Amount, Annual Amount, First Payment, and Last Payment fields.

   • Description

   • Adjustment Method Type: Adjustment method types are user-defined and information-only. Common adjustment method types include Consumer Price Indexes (CPIs), Fixed Amounts, and Percentages. This field is used for reporting.

   • Adjustment Method: Enter the reasoning for the adjustment in the field. This is information-only, enabling you to enter why you made the adjustment.

   • Option Rent: Identify the expense schedule record as part of an option, as opposed to an expense schedule included in the original term of the contract.

   • Primary Tax / Secondary Tax / Tertiary Tax: To override the amount of taxes calculated by the system, enter the dollar amount and fields in the Override Amount column.

     The system automatically estimates the amount of taxes you will pay based upon the tax rate of your asset’s associated entity.

     The system will calculate these values based upon the proration method you chose for your expense setup record.

     Do not enter 0 in these fields. These fields are used in the scenario that a user needs to override a pre-calculated tax amount.

   • Additional Comments

5. Click Add.

   The new expense schedule appears in Expense Schedule / Escalations.

6. Repeat the steps in this section to add additional expense schedules.

   You can create multiple expense schedules per expense type.

7. Click Save Changes in the Actions menu on the rightmost side of the page.

Edit an Expense Schedule

1. In Expense Setup List, select the expense setup record to edit.

   The expense setup data populates on the page.

2. In Expense Schedule / Escalations, click Edit in the Actions column of the record.

3. Make your changes in the Edit Expense Schedule window that opens.

4. Click Update.

5. Click Save Changes in the Actions menu on the rightmost side of the page.

Link an Expense Schedule to a Contract Term

Link an expense schedule to a contract term from the Edit Expense Schedule window. If the Contract Term field does not display, your System Administrator may have created a custom page layout for your company. They can create a copy of the global page layout so you can view this field.

1. Select the expense setup record whose expense schedule you want to edit from the Expense Setup List at the top of the page.

   The expense setup data populates on the page.

2. In Expense Schedule / Escalations, click Edit in the Actions column of the record.

   The opens.

3. In the Edit Expense Schedule window, select the Contract Term at the bottom of the window.

   Click the Magnifying Glass next to the Contract Term to view details about the term.

4. Click Update.

5. Click Save Changes in the Actions menu on the rightmost side of the page.

Delete an Expense Schedule

1. Select the expense setup record whose expense schedule you want to delete from the Expense Setup List at the top of the page.

   The expense setup data populates on the page.

2. Scroll down to the Expense Schedule / Escalations table.

3. Click Delete in the Actions column of the record.

   A dialog opens, asking you to confirm your choice.

4. Click Yes.

   The page refreshes, and the expense schedule is deleted. It no longer appears in the Expense Schedule / Escalations table.

5. Click Save Changes.

   This displays in the Actions menu on the right side of the page.

   The page refreshes. Your changes are saved.

Update expense schedules

Update expense schedules with changes to escalation then recalculate future payment schedules, helping you with compliance and reducing your manual work.

Contact Accruent Support to enable the enableEscalationIncrease feature in your firm.

1. In the Contract navigate to Payment Info > Recurring Expenses using the links in the Navigation Pane on the leftmost side of the page, then select the Expense Setup page in the upper-right corner.

2. In Expense Schedule / Escalations, click Update Expense Schedule.

   If the option does not display, the enableEscalationIncrease feature switch may not be enabled in your firm.

3. Complete the Update Expense Schedule dialog that opens:

   • Escalate schedules by (%): Enter a percentage by which to escalate schedules.

   • Effective date: Select the schedule date range from which to apply the change.

     If there are schedules with a Begin Date after today, all those schedules are listed.

     If the list is empty this could be because there are no Expense Schedules that begin after today. This can occur if you create Expense Schedules without selecting Type of escalation or if Type of escalation is set to None when you create Expense Schedules.

   • Payment Amount / Annual Amount / Rate: Select the value you want to update.

4. Click Update.

The system updates all payment schedules where the Begin Date is later than or equal to Effective Date. The new payment amount for each schedule is calculated as the prior period’s payment amount increased by the new escalation percentage. The change is recorded in the audit log and the expense status is set to Review.