Cost Control
You can mark a cost item as paid, and you know what changes on its account.
When an invoice is paid, enter the paid amount on its cost item. KOSMA then counts the item towards **Paid** instead of **Expected**. To edit cost control, your licence must cover it, see [what your licence includes](/kb/article/what-your-licence-includes). In the cost control grid, select the item's account first. KOSMA opens the **Cost Items** panel under the account's row.
Double-click the item's **Paid** cell and type the amount. If you are subject to VAT, enter the net amount, as in the budget. KOSMA empties **Expected** and fills **Pay Date** with the item's **Date**.
If the payment went out on another day, double-click **Pay Date** and enter that day. A cash flow plan built on this set places the payment on the **Pay Date**. It does not use the **Date**. If an account's cash flow rule points at a past date and the item has no **Pay Date**, the plan treats the rule as outdated. See [plan against a cost control set](/kb/article/plan-against-a-cost-control-set).
Each time you change **Paid**, KOSMA sets **Pay Date** back to the **Date**. After a correction, enter the pay date again. If you empty **Paid**, KOSMA empties **Pay Date** too.
Once the item has a **Paid** amount and a **Pay Date**, KOSMA greys out the **Cashflow** and **Taxes** panels in **Cost Item Details**, and you can no longer change its cash flow rule.
A cost item never counts towards both at once.
| Column | What happens | | ------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Expected** | Falls by the item's expected amount | | **Paid** | Rises by the amount you entered | | **Free** | Is **Forecast** minus **Paid** minus **Expected** | | **Forecast** | Falls only as far as the cost items exceed the forecast you set |
**Forecast** shows the larger of two amounts: the forecast you set for the account and the sum of its cost items. On a consolidated account, **Forecast** is always the sum of its cost items, see [consolidate an account](/kb/article/consolidate-an-account) and [how a forecast is formed](/kb/article/how-a-forecast-is-formed).
Nothing needs correcting. For example, you expected €4,000 and the invoice reads €3,850. You enter 3,850. **Expected** falls by 4,000 and **Paid** rises by 3,850. **Forecast** falls only as far as the account's cost items still exceed the forecast you set, and the rest of the €150 appears in **Free**. Two examples:
- If the account's cost items were at most the forecast you set, **Forecast** stays and **Free** rises by €150. - If they add up to more than the forecast you set even after the payment, **Forecast** falls by €150 and **Free** stays at 0.
What appears in **Free** is forecast you have not assigned yet: either you still plan to spend it, or the forecast was that much too high.
**Most paid amounts come from an import.** **Paid** and **Pay Date** usually come from an import of your accounting data. Enter them by hand only for items no import has covered yet, see [import accounting data](/kb/article/import-accounting-data).
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