How much accrued leave is sitting on your balance sheet?
Accrued annual leave is real money you owe your team. Add your employees to see the total liability — including 17.5% leave loading and superannuation on leave — and what it means for your cash position.
Takes ~2 minutes · Figures stay in your browser until you choose to share them
Per Employee
Salary, hours, loading
Leave Loading
Optional 17.5%
Super on Leave
12% (Super Guarantee from 1 July 2025)
Recommendations
Manage the liability
About this tool
Annual Leave Liability Calculator
Every hour of annual leave your team accrues is money the business owes — a real liability that sits on your balance sheet and gets paid out when someone takes a holiday or resigns. It's easy to ignore because it accrues quietly with every pay run and never sends an invoice, but when a few long-serving people hold large balances, or a wave of resignations lands at once, that "invisible" obligation can turn into a very visible cash crunch. The Annual Leave Liability Calculator gives Australian SME owners a clear dollar figure for what their accrued leave is actually worth, so it stops being a surprise buried in the accounts.
How it works
You add each employee — their name, annual salary, accrued leave in hours, and whether leave loading applies — and the tool estimates an hourly rate from the salary, multiplies it by the hours owed, and applies the standard leave-loading uplift where you've flagged it. It then adds superannuation on that leave at the current Super Guarantee rate and sums everything into a total liability, broken down per person and split between the base leave and the super component. It also flags practical issues: which people are carrying large balances, whether your team's average accrual is creeping up, whether the total is one the business could actually fund if it fell due at once, and a reminder to confirm that leave loading is genuinely owed under the relevant award or agreement. All figures use your own inputs and current rates rather than assumptions, and the results are estimates — actual entitlements depend on ordinary hours, applicable awards or agreements, and whether loading is payable.
Who it’s for
Australian small-business owners, founders, and finance managers who want a clear, current picture of the accrued-leave obligation sitting on their balance sheet and the cash it represents.
- Accrued annual leave is a real, growing liability — it lands on the balance sheet and must be paid out on leave or resignation, yet it accrues silently with every pay run.
- The calculator totals your liability per employee from your own salary and accrued-hours inputs, applies leave loading where you flag it, and adds super on leave at the current rate.
- It surfaces the risks behind the number — large individual balances, rising team averages, and whether the business could actually fund the total if it fell due at once — so you can encourage leave-taking and set the cash aside.
Frequently asked questions
Why does accrued annual leave count as a liability I have to worry about?
Because it's an amount the business genuinely owes. When an employee takes annual leave they're paid from that accrued balance, and if they resign, any untaken leave is paid out. Accounting standards treat it as a liability on your balance sheet for exactly this reason. The danger for SMEs is that it accrues quietly — no invoice, no due date — so it's tempting to treat it as free. But if several people take leave together, or a few long-tenured staff resign, you have to fund real payouts. The calculator makes that obligation visible in dollars so you can budget for it rather than being caught short.
What figures do I need, and how does the tool turn them into a liability?
For each person you enter their annual salary, how many hours of leave they've accrued, and whether leave loading applies. The tool estimates an hourly rate from the salary, multiplies it by the accrued hours, adds the leave-loading uplift where you've marked it, and then adds superannuation on that leave at the current Super Guarantee rate. It sums this across your whole team into a total, with a per-employee breakdown. The results are estimates — your actual liability depends on each person's ordinary hours, the applicable award or agreement, and whether loading is genuinely payable — so treat the figure as a planning tool, not a formal valuation.
Does leave loading always apply, and should I include it?
Not always. Leave loading is an extra percentage paid on top of the base wage while someone is on annual leave, and whether it's owed depends on the relevant modern award, enterprise agreement, or employment contract — it isn't universal. That's why the tool lets you switch it on or off per employee rather than assuming it. If you apply it where it isn't actually payable, you'll overstate your liability; if you leave it off where it is owed, you'll understate the eventual payout. The safest approach is to check each person's award or agreement (or ask your accountant or bookkeeper) and set the toggle to match, so the total reflects your real obligations.
Related reading