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Uniform stock management for healthcare linen rooms: the coordinator app, the phone counter and the staff app, for your own server. Built from a113353 on 2026-09-15. Licensed under the Functional Source License (FSL-1.1-ALv2).

docs/manual/reports/cost-centres.md

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+---
+title: Cost centres
+section: reports
+order: 2
+summary: How an issue reaches a cost centre, why each issue keeps the price of the day it went out, and what moving a person between departments does to the reports.
+screen: Settings › Places & cost centres
+role: Admin
+keywords: cost centre, cost center, department, ward, override, price, unit cost, re-price, valuation, move staff, transfer, unallocated
+---
+
+## Where the cost centre comes from
+
+A cost centre belongs to a department, and a person belongs to a department. When the reports group an issue, they look up the person it was issued to and use, in this order:
+
+1. **Their cost centre override**, if one is set on their staff record.
+2. **Their department's cost centre**, from `Settings › Places & cost centres`.
+
+If neither gives a code, the issue falls under an em dash on Overview and under `UNALLOCATED` on the journal. Finance cannot post that line, so the Journal tab marks it; see [Journal export](/docs/reports/journal-export).
+
+## Setting departments and codes
+
+`Settings › Places & cost centres` lists each department or ward with its cost centre and the number of staff on it. An Admin can edit both boxes in place, and each change saves as you type. To add one, enter a name such as `Ward 4A` and a code such as `RGH-4010`, then press `Add`; both are required.
+
+- A name already on the list is refused, including when you rename a department to it.
+- Renaming a department moves its staff and any orders filed under the old name to the new name.
+- A department with staff on it cannot be removed.
+- Two departments may share a code. The journal then gives them one line.
+
+On a staff record, `Cost centre override` offers the codes already on your departments, or `None — derived from department`. The profile shows the result followed by `— override` or `— from department`. See [Staff register](/docs/people/staff-register).
+
+## The price on the day
+
+When a garment is issued, the issue stores the catalogue cost of that garment at that moment as its unit cost. This is true at the counter, on a pickup, and when a delivery goes straight to the person who ordered it. An issue from the pre-loved pool stores $0.
+
+In an exchange, the garment that came back keeps its original unit cost, and the replacement stores the catalogue cost on the day of the exchange. A partial return splits the row, and both halves keep the unit cost. See [Exchanges and returns](/docs/counter/exchanges-and-returns).
+
+Every issued figure on Reports is quantity times that stored unit cost. An issue with no stored cost (a row from before costs were stored) falls back to today's catalogue cost.
+
+## Why nothing is re-priced
+
+Changing a garment's cost in the catalogue updates the catalogue and records the old and new cost with your name. It does not touch any issue. A journal for a month finance has already posted totals the same after a supplier raises its prices.
+
+Three figures are not price-on-the-day. Valuation and Shrinkage use the current catalogue cost, and so does the value saved on Pre-loved. Those figures move when a catalogue cost changes.
+
+## Moving a person between departments
+
+The cost centre is not stored on the issue. The reports work it out from the staff record each time the screen opens. When you change a person's department or cost centre override, every issue they have ever had moves to the new cost centre, including issues in months already closed. Changing a department's code moves the issues of everyone on that department in the same way.
+
+> **Careful** Changing a department, an override or a department's code re-files that history in every month, so a reprinted journal for a posted month will no longer match what finance posted.
+
+If a person transfers at month end, print the month-end pack and export the journal first, then change the record. The unit costs stay as they were.
+
+## What is written
+
+| Record | Change | Undo |
+|---|---|---|
+| Department | Name and cost centre; a rename also renames it on staff and orders | Edit the boxes back |
+| Staff record | Department and cost centre override | Edit the record back |
+| Catalogue cost | New catalogue cost and a cost change entry; issues untouched | Enter the old cost |