SOURCE: Vacation Tracker TITLE: How Do I Set Up and Configure Accruals? URL: https://vacationtracker.io/knowledge-base/how-do-i-set-accruals/ LANG: en PUBLISHED: 2021-10-04 UPDATED: 2026-09-07 READING: 5 min SUMMARY: How Do I Set Up and Configure Accruals? # How Do I Set Up and Configure Accruals? # How Do I Set Up and Configure Accruals? By default, employees get their full Yearly Leave Quota at the start of the year. Accruals change that. Instead of granting everything upfront, the quota is distributed in smaller portions on a regular schedule (monthly, semimonthly, biweekly, or weekly) so employees earn leave as they work. Plan Accruals are available on the Complete plan only. If you're on Core, the Accruals section won't appear in your leave policy editor. Users will receive their full Yearly Leave Quota upfront on the leave-year start date. Your company gives employees 120 hours of PTO per year. With monthly accruals, each employee earns 10 hours each month instead of getting all 120 hours upfront. ## How to Enable Accruals - Sign in at app.vacationtracker.io (https://app.vacationtracker.io/signin). - In the left-hand menu, expand Leave Setup and click Locations. - Click Edit Leave Policies on the Location you want to configure. - Click the edit icon next to the leave policy you want to update. - Scroll down to the Accruals section. - Open the Accrual Type drop-down and choose your schedule. ![Accrual Type drop-down showing None, Monthly, Semimonthly, Biweekly, and Weekly options](https://cms.vacationtracker.io/uploads/helpdesk_artikal_how_do_i_set_accruals_first_image_place_cb4ea01c85.png) ## Accrual Type Options Choose the schedule that matches how your company distributes leave. Click any option below for details. None (Default) The full Yearly Leave Quota is available from the start of the year (or the employee's start date). No gradual earning, so employees can use their entire balance right away. Lisa starts with 20 PTO days available on January 1st. She can book all 20 days in February if she wants. Monthly Leave accrues once per month. The yearly quota is divided by 12, and that amount is added to the User's balance once per month. The exact accrual date depends on whether your policy is set to award the accrual at the beginning or the end of each accrual period (configured separately on the policy). With a 24-day annual quota and monthly accruals, a User earns 2 days per month. After three accrual events have landed, they'll have 6 days available (assuming none used). Semimonthly Leave accrues twice per month (24 times per year). The yearly quota is divided by 24, and that amount is added on each of the two accrual dates each month. The two accrual dates are configurable by the Admin on the leave policy. Common choices are the 1st and 15th, but you can pick any two days that match your payroll cycle. Note: semimonthly is twice per month, not every two weeks. That's biweekly (described below), which lands 26 times per year, so the per-accrual amount is slightly smaller for the same annual quota. With 120 hours per year and semimonthly accruals, a User earns 5 hours twice each month, which suits companies running semimonthly payroll. Biweekly Leave accrues once every two weeks (each accrual period is 14 days), which works out to 26 accrual events per year. The yearly quota is divided by 26, and that amount is added on the same weekday every second week. Vacation Tracker sets that recurring day from your accrual period and shows it right below the schedule. For example, "Users will accrue 0.58 (15/26) days every second Monday." Because a year holds 26 biweekly periods but only 24 semimonthly ones, the amount earned per accrual is a little smaller than semimonthly for the same annual quota. Biweekly is the right fit if your company runs a two-week (every-other-week) payroll cycle. With a 26-day annual quota and biweekly accruals, a User earns exactly 1 day every two weeks (26 ÷ 26). After four accrual events, they'll have 4 days available (assuming none used). ## Additional Accrual Settings Once you've selected an accrual type (anything other than None), a few more options appear below the schedule. Click any option below for details. Current Accrual Period A read-only field that shows the date range of the accrual period currently in progress. Vacation Tracker calculates it automatically from the accrual type you picked, so there's nothing to set here. On a monthly schedule, the Current Accrual Period might read 2026-08-01 to 2026-08-31. Next Accrual Awarded On The date the next accrual will be added to each User's balance. Vacation Tracker fills this in based on your schedule, and you can adjust it if you need the first accrual to land on a specific day. Just below it, the app shows the exact amount that will accrue, for example "Users will accrue 1.25 (15/12) days on the 1st of a month." Allow Requesting Accrual-based Leave in Advance Lets employees request leave based on the days they are projected to accrue, not only the balance they have already earned. If someone knows they will have accrued enough days by the time the leave takes place, they can submit the request now even though the balance isn't available yet. Set to No (the default), employees can only request days they have already accrued. A User has 3 accrued days today but will have 6 by August. With this setting on, they can request a 5-day trip in August now. With it off, the request would be blocked until the balance catches up. Pause Accruals When User Is Deactivated Temporarily suspends accruals for any User who is deactivated. When that User is reactivated, their accruals automatically resume, so their balance stays accurate for the time they were actually active. This is set to Yes by default. Enable Accrual Cap Sets a ceiling on how much leave an employee can build up through accruals. The cap is defined as a multiple of the annual accrual rate rather than an exact number of days, and it's turned Off by default. For the full setup steps, see How Do I Set Up an Accrual Cap? (https://vacationtracker.io/knowledge-base/how-do-i-set-an-accrual-cap/) ### What's Next? How Do I Set Up an Accrual Cap? (https://vacationtracker.io/knowledge-base/how-do-i-set-an-accrual-cap/) How Do I Create and Configure Leave Policies? (https://vacationtracker.io/knowledge-base/how-do-i-create-and-configure-leave-policies/) How Do I Set a Brought Forward (Rollover) Policy? (https://vacationtracker.io/knowledge-base/how-do-i-set-a-brought-forward-rollover-policy/) Need help? Contact our Support team via email (mailto:hello@vacationtracker.io) or chat (#), Monday to Friday, 9 AM – 5 PM EST.