One common application for formula fields is to track commission percentages. For example, in the formula to the left, the logic says that if the amount is less than $10,000, the commission should be set to 4%; but if it’s greater, then the accelerator should kick in, resulting in a 5% commission.

Formula:
IF({!Amount} < 100000, 0.04, 0.05)

This number can be displayed on the opportunity page layout to motivate your sales reps and it can also be used in a report formula to calculate your commission payouts at the end of the month.

It’s worth noting that when working with percent fields in formulas, 5% should be entered as 0.05. You have to lead with a zero or it will return an error.