Which nominal do I use for Marketing?

[Jaki]

I am setting up a new company for a food retailer and would like to know where on the nominal ledger Marketing should go. I believe it should be in the 6000,s but a colleague thinks it should go in the 8000,s

[brucedenney]

Both of you are right.

The answer is entirely dependant on the Business Owner/Managers view of "Marketing" and what gets posted into Marketing.

Some owners see it as an overhead, some see it as a semi-direct cost.

For some Marketing would be costs like, designing the corporate logo.

For some Marketing might be the cost of having a man in a chicken suit in the high street.

For some Marketing would be the cost of the leaflets handed out.

So the answer is to look at what gets posted, talk the owner/manager and determine what is right for that business.

Of course it is perfectly acceptable to have multiple Marketing accounts and to post different types of marketing into the corresponding account.

Personally, marketing is a vague term, I would avoid it. The person posting to the nominal may have an entirely different view as to what is marketing.

You could say the man in a suit is "promotion" 6000 the leaflets are "advertising" 5000 and the chicken suit is "marketing" 8000

You just need to have a little perspective, we need to be practical and representative.