Cleaning

This Overheads code records the cost of cleaning incurred in running the business. As an expense account, it normally carries a debit balance: debit entries increase the balance (recording new costs) and credit entries decrease it (for example, correcting an error or a refund received).

Real-world examples

Office or retail

An office or shop pays a contract cleaner for an evening clean several times a week, invoiced monthly at £480 (£400 net of VAT) — a debit of £400 to 7801 (Cleaning), a debit of £80 to 2201 (Purchase Tax Control Account), and a credit of £480 to 2100 (Creditors Control Account).

Food production or manufacturing

A food producer requires specialist deep-cleaning to meet food-safety or environmental-health standards, carried out to a higher specification and more frequently than a routine office clean, and invoiced accordingly. A specialist cleaning invoice of £1,080 (£900 net of VAT) is a debit of £900 to 7801, a debit of £180 to 2201, and a credit of £1,080 to 2100 — the entry is identical to the office example, but the cost per visit reflects the regulatory standard being met rather than just square footage.

Commonly confused with

Because code 7800 (Repairs and Renewals) sits right next to this one in Overheads, it's a common mis-posting target. Code 7801 is specifically for cleaning, while 7800 covers repairs and renewals — similar in nature, but keeping them separate is what makes the overheads section of your management accounts meaningful rather than a single lumped total.

What a mis-posting here costs you

An error posting to Cleaning won't change total overhead spend, but it will distort the overheads breakdown that's usually reviewed line by line each month to spot cost creep.

Other codes in Overheads