Skip to main content
Accrual means people earn leave as time passes, instead of getting a lump sum once a year. Turn it on per policy in Settings → Time off → Policies.

​
What it is, in one sentence

Every time a full month (or a full year) goes by, the policy adds a fixed amount to everyone’s balance.

​
When to use it

  • New joiners should not get a full year’s leave on day one.
  • You want the balance to reflect time served, month by month.
  • You are moving off a spreadsheet that already worked this way.
Leave accrual off and use an opening balance instead when everyone gets a fixed allowance each year that you top up by hand.

​
The settings

Open a policy and switch Enable accrual on. The policies table shows this as 1.5/mo or 20/yr, or Off.

​
How it works

1

A period has to finish first

A month only pays out once it has fully elapsed. January’s accrual lands when January is over, not on 1 January.
2

A daily job credits what is due

Once a day, TimeTracker credits every period that finished since the last time it looked, and moves a marker forward.
3

Nothing is ever credited twice

The marker is the guard. Running twice on the same day adds nothing. Missing several days and catching up credits each missed period exactly once.
4

Each credit is written to the ledger

An Accrual row appears in the balance history, with System as the actor.
Periods are whole calendar months or whole calendar years. There is no “every 4 weeks” or “on payday” option.

​
A worked balance

Sarah Lin joins Northwind Studio on 10 March. The Annual leave policy is:
  • Unit: days
  • Accrual: 2 days, Monthly
  • Prorate new hires: on
  • Opening balance: off
March has 31 days. She joined on the 10th, so she works 22 of them – 10 March to 31 March inclusive is 22 days. At the end of June her accrued figure is 1.42 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 7.42 days. She has taken nothing, so: Now she books 3 days and it is approved: Turn Prorate new hires off and March would credit the full 2 days instead, making her end-of-June accrued 8 days.

​
Prorating explained

Proration only ever touches the first period – the one the person joined in. Every period after it is credited in full. The fraction is the part of that period they were with you:
Someone who joins on the first of a month gets the full amount, because they worked the whole period.

​
When accrual starts

On the very first run for a person and policy, the engine starts from the later of:
  • the day the person joined the workspace, and
  • the day the policy was created.
That second rule matters. Without it, someone who joined three years before you created the policy would be back-credited three years of leave in one lump. Someone who joins after the policy exists still starts from their own join date, and prorates from there.

​
Expiry

Switch Unused balance expires on and an accrual whose one-year horizon has already passed is not credited.
Expiry stops old accruals from being credited late. It does not claw back balance someone already earned. To remove earned-but-unused balance, post a negative adjustment – see /time-off/leave-balances.

​
Year-end negative reset

Set separately, in the negative balance section of the policy. When Reset at year end is on and a balance is negative at a year boundary, a Year-end reset row brings it back to exactly zero. Positive balances are never touched. They carry forward.

​
What pauses accrual

Switching Time Off back on does not back-credit the paused months. Balances would otherwise drift and be wrong on the day you switch it on. If you need the missed periods, post an adjustment.

​
Checking someone’s accrual

1

Open Time Off → Balance

Find their row for the policy.
2

Open the row menu → History

The ledger lists every movement.
3

Read the Accrual rows

Each one shows the amount, the date the period closed, and System as the actor, with the note Scheduled accrual.

​
Permissions

Accrual itself runs automatically. Nobody triggers it.

​
Common questions

No. The choices are monthly and yearly, on calendar boundaries.
Shortly after the period closes, on the next daily run. A January accrual shows up in early February.
Only from the day the policy was created, or their join date if that is later. A brand-new policy credits nothing until its first period closes.
There is no cap. Balance keeps growing until it is used or adjusted down.
Yes. Accrual is based on calendar periods and membership, not on days worked after the first period.
No. Past ledger rows are never rewritten. The new amount applies from the next period that closes.

​
Troubleshooting

Leave balances

Where accrued sits in the five figures.

Leave policies

Where the accrual settings live.

Request time off

Spending what you earned.

Export leave

Take balances out for payroll.