Create a financial statement

Owned by Helen Gosper
Last updated: Aug 03, 2022 by Denise McGettigan
2 min read

If you have permission to manage financial statements, you can create different versions of a Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet or Cash Flow statement, for different audiences. There are two ways of doing this; you can either clone (copy) an existing statement or create a new statement from scratch. Cloning is the simplest and quickest option, as you base the new financial statement on one that is already in your list, taking advantage of existing mappings and so on. You can then customize the cloned statement as required.

For example, you might want to provide Profit and Loss statements with different levels of detail, to satisfy the needs of different audiences. Compare the information required by three audiences in the table below.

Board Profit and Loss statement

Management Profit and Loss statement

Branch Profit and Loss statement

Sales
Cost of Goods Sold
Gross Profit
Operating Expenses
Earnings Before Interest and Tax
Interest
Net Profit Before Tax

Sales
Cost of Goods Sold
Gross Profit
Sales & Marketing
Research & Development
General & Administration
Total Operating Expenses
Net Profit Before Tax

Sales
Direct Labor
Direct Materials
Total Direct costs
Gross Profit
Salaries & Wages
Marketing
Rent & Operating Expenses
Insurance
General & Other
Total Operating Expenses
Net Profit before Tax

Clone a financial statement

  1. In the Statements window, select the financial statement you want to clone by clicking the number to the left of its name, then click Clone.

  2. Edit the name to create a unique name for the new financial statement (clone). For example, append your name at the end of the original name.

  3. Click Clone.

  4. Click the new financial statement to open its setup window, then proceed to customize the statement to meet your needs.

Create a financial statement from scratch

You cannot create a Cash Flow statement from scratch, you must clone the original.

  1. In the Statements window, click New.

  2. Enter a name for the new financial statement.

  3. Select the Top Level Dimension*.

  4. Select the statement Type.

  5. Click Save.

  6. Click the new financial statement to open its setup window, then proceed to customize the statement to meet your needs.

*Dimensions are the datasets that appear as buttons down the left of the analysis screen. Top level dimensions appear at the top of the list. Typically, this should be left at the default that appears automatically when you choose ‘New’ statement.