Contents of this article are applicable to the following users
Tier: All
Platform: Web
Access Level: Owner
When an employee ends a leave period with a negative balance, (for example, they took more leave than they were entitled to) StaffAny automatically carries that deficit forward and deducts it from the employee's base entitlement in the next period. This is called a Negative Carry Forward.
This guide will cover how to:
Understand How Negative Carry Forward works
A negative balance can occur when:
An employee took more leave days than their entitlement (e.g. advanced leave approved by the manager).
An employee on an accrued leave type applied for leave using balance from a future accrual period.
The employee resigned and their entitlement was prorated down below what they had already taken.
At the start of the new leave period, StaffAny handles this negative balance as follows:
The absolute value of the negative balance from the previous period is recorded as the Negative Carry Forward amount.
This amount is deducted directly from the employee's base entitlement in the new period.
No carry forward (rollover) balance is brought in from the previous period, it is set to 0.
Example:
An employee's annual leave entitlement is 14 days. They ended the previous period with a balance of -2 days. In the new period, their base entitlement is calculated as:
Component | Days |
Full period entitlement | 14 |
Negative Carry Forward (deficit from prior period) | -2 |
Base Entitled (new period) | 12 |
This applies to both Annual and Anniversary entitlement period types.
View Negative Carry Forward in the Leave Breakdown
To check the Negative Carry Forward for a specific employee:
Go to Leave > Leave Balances.
Find the employee and click on their leave balance cell for the relevant leave type.
The Leave Breakdown drawer opens on the right. Under Base Calculations, expand the Base Earned Till Date section.
If a Negative Carry Forward applies, you will see a Negative Carry Forward line item showing the deducted amount.
Note: The Negative Carry Forward line item only appears when the employee ended the previous leave period with a negative balance. If it is not shown, the employee started the period with a zero or positive balance.
FAQ
Q: Can I manually remove or override a Negative Carry Forward?
A: Negative Carry Forward is automatically calculated by the system based on the end-of-period balance. To correct it, you can add a manual leave balance adjustment in the previous period to bring the balance to zero or above before the period closes. Contact StaffAny support if you need help adjusting a historical balance.
Q: Does a Negative Carry Forward affect the carry forward (rollover) balance?
A: Yes. When an employee has a negative balance at the end of a period, no carry forward balance is rolled into the next period — the carry forward balance is set to 0. Only the base entitlement is affected by the Negative Carry Forward deduction.
Q: What if the Negative Carry Forward is larger than the new period's entitlement?
A: If the deducted amount exceeds the new period's full entitlement, the base entitlement can become zero or negative. The employee will need to accrue or be adjusted back to a positive balance before they can take leave again.