A company's success often lies in how it manages its finances, including properly allocating costs to different line items. To ensure the development and competitiveness of a company, it is essential to devote part of the budget to professional training costs. Answer the question “which accounting account for training costs?” is therefore crucial to enable both optimal management of resources and rigorous monitoring of these expenses.
Training costs: what are we talking about?
Training costs generally refer to all expenses incurred by the company to provide its employees with access to training dedicated to developing their skills. These costs are essential to support the development of staff skills and thus contribute to the sustainability of the company. Training costs include several elements:
- Educational costs, relating to the intervention of a trainer or the purchase of training materials;
- Space rental costs for holding training sessions;
- Transportation and accommodation costs for employees and trainers if necessary;
- Catering expenses;
To properly structure your budget, don't forget to classify your expenses with the correct accounting accounts. There are resources on the internet like this guide for account for your expenses to make sure you make the right choice.
The principle of accounting for training costs
The accounting for training costs follows the general principles of business accounting. This involves allocating each training expense to a specific account to ensure traceability and precise monitoring. Thus, there are different accounting accounts which allow these expenses to be recorded and distributed according to their nature.
Current charges accounts
Current expenses are those which frequently occur in the normal operation of a business. They include in particular:
- 6251: Staff training – Educational costs;
- 6254: Staff training – Other costs (transport, accommodation, etc.);
- 6256: Training of business leaders and managers;
It is appropriate to distinguish costs relating to salaried staff (6251 and 6254) from those relating to managers (6256). This distinction will allow a better analysis of the costs incurred by the company and will contribute to the implementation of a suitable training plan.
Depreciation and amortization accounts
Some long or complex training courses require the acquisition of educational materials, such as software, computer hardware or even licenses. In this case, training costs are accounted for differently:
- 6811: Allocations to depreciation of fixed assets;
- 6815: Allocations to depreciation of charges to be distributed;
These accounts make it possible to spread the cost of acquiring these media over the expected duration of use and thus smooth out the financial burden over time.
Management of training costs: best practices
For optimal management of training costs, it is important to follow certain recommendations:
- Clearly distinguish the different categories of costs: this will facilitate allocation to the various accounting accounts and improve understanding of expenses incurred;
- Establish an annual budget: estimating training costs for the year in advance makes it possible to better anticipate financing needs and to more easily control actual expenses;
- Regularly monitor changes in costs: periodically check that the expenses incurred correspond to the allocated budget and adjust if necessary;
- Regularly update the accounting accounts: good account keeping promotes transparency of financial information and facilitates decision-making regarding training;
