Full Time Contractor Accrual
=============================

Most leave types accrue on a calendar schedule — a fixed number of days per month, or a lump sum once a year. The **Full Time Contractor** accrual behaviour is different: leave accrues based on :doc:`business days <business-days>` actually worked, which suits contractors and freelancers who only earn leave for the days they actually work.

Setting It Up
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Select **Full Time Contractor** from the **Accrual Behaviour** dropdown when creating or editing a leave type under **Settings → Leave Types**.

.. note::
   For this accrual behaviour, the **Days** field changes meaning. Instead of "days per annum," it becomes the number of business days that must be worked to accrue **1 day** of leave — for example, 17 for annual leave or 26 for sick leave. If left blank, it defaults to 17.

How It Works
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Whenever something happens that could affect the balance — a leave request is submitted, approved, declined, or cancelled — TeamHub recalculates the balance for that leave type from scratch:

.. code-block:: text

   Days Worked = Business Days Since Opening Date − Approved Leave (any type)
   Days Owed   = floor(Days Worked / Days Required Per Accrual)
   New Entry   = Days Owed − Days Already Posted

See :doc:`business-days` for exactly how "business days" is calculated — including working-day schedules and public holiday / custom calendar exclusions.

Only the difference between what's owed and what's already been posted is added as a new entry, so nothing is ever double-counted, and a day only appears once it's fully earned.

Positive and Negative Accrual
--------------------------------

**Positive accrual** is the normal case: as an employee works more days, the total owed crosses the next whole-day threshold and TeamHub posts a new **accrual** entry for the difference.

**Negative accrual** can happen because the balance is always recalculated from scratch rather than simply added to. If an employee's leave is **backdated** or approved after the fact for dates already counted as worked, the recalculated total can drop *below* what's already been posted. When that happens, TeamHub posts a negative **adjustment** entry that claws back the difference.

.. note::
   A negative adjustment is expected, automatic behaviour, not an error — it almost always means a leave record was added or changed for a date in the past.

Balances Can't Be Manually Edited
------------------------------------

Because the balance is continuously reconciled from the formula above, manually adding, editing, or deleting an opening, accrual, or adjustment entry on a contractor-accrual leave type is blocked for regular admins — the next automatic run would just recalculate over it. System administrators retain the ability to edit or delete existing entries for support purposes.

Frequently Asked Questions
----------------------------

**Why did a negative entry appear on this employee's balance?**
   A leave record affecting the days-worked calculation — usually a backdated or late-approved booking — reduced the number of days actually worked, so the system posted a corrective adjustment.

**Why can't I add or edit a balance entry for this leave type?**
   Contractor-accrual leave types reconcile their own balances automatically, so manual entries are blocked for regular admins. Contact a system administrator or `support </support>`_ if a correction is genuinely needed.