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Summary

• A comprehensive guide for entering and managing recoupable expenses in Tone's Cost tool
• Required fields include description, transaction date, amount, cost type, and cost mapping
• Cost entries progress through statuses: Draft → Ready for reporting → Accepted → Reported
• Transaction dates determine which reporting period a cost is assigned to
• Costs can be mapped to individual contracts or shared across multiple contracts via track/release mapping
• Artist advances should not be entered in the Cost tool

Continue reading for more details!

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After logging in, navigate to the Costs page. In this part of the app, you can browse, filter, and/or add your company’s recoupable expenses.

Please note: do not enter artist advances in this section.

How to enter a new cost entry:

1. Click “Go to last row”

2. Enter a description (required). Since this appears on artist statements, make it specific and relevant to your artists.

3. Enter a transaction date (required).

   1. Note: Tone uses the ISO date format by default (YYYY-MM-DD). If you're copying and pasting information from an accounting system that uses a different date format, you can change Tone's settings by clicking the three-dot icon in the header.

      Costs_Changing date format.mp4

4. Enter an Amount (required).

   1. Note: This should match the amount listed on a receipt or invoice. Tone always uses your home currency.

5. Select a cost type (required). This categorization is important when contracts have specific cost terms. For example, if a contract recoups only 25% of marketing costs, then just 25% of that cost entry will be charged to the contract.

   1. Note: the cost types options are not editable, currently. If you need a custom cost type, please reach out to Tone support.

6. Assign a cost mapping (required). This determines which contract(s) will recoup the cost. Map to a single contract when one party is responsible for the cost, or map to a track or release when a cost is shared across multiple contracts.

   1. Note: you may map costs to draft contracts. Just be sure to finalize the contract and its cost rates.

7. Report period: The transaction date works together with the cost mapping to determine the reporting period. For example, if a contract receives quarterly statements, a cost dated 11-15-2024 or November 15, 2024 would be assigned to the Q4 2024 royalty period.

   1. Note: You can override the report period or skip reporting a cost entirely. To do this, click on the the cost’s Detail Panel.

8. Status: If the cost entry has all the required information, and you’re ready to include it in the assigned report period, click submit. Only submitted cost entries are included in royalty periods.

   • Draft: A cost entry that lacks required information and cannot yet be reported.
   • Ready for reporting: A cost entry that has all required information, but hasn’t been submitted for reporting.
   • Accepted: A cost entry that's been submitted for reporting but hasn't yet been applied to a specific period.
   • Reported: A cost entry that has been applied to a specific period. Click on the report period to view the cost in the period.

Tips & FAQs

Filter your view

To focus on unreported costs when dealing with many entries, use the status filter to hide reported costs.

Attach receipts

Upload receipts or invoice PDFs to cost entries to make Tone your single source of truth for expenses. These attachments are for your internal reference only and won't be shared with artists.

Should I post advances to the Cost tool?

No, advances are not considered Costs.