Use multiple measures in financial statements

Measures are different types of numerical data values (such as Amount, Quantity, Local Value, Reporting Value, and so on) that display in the statement grid. You can use the Measures menu to change the measure, however, you can only view one measure at a time.

When you customize the columns in a financial statement, you have the option to use custom measures. This option allows you to insert additional columns into your financial statement to enable the analysis of multiple measures from the same data stream within a financial statement.

In the Customize Columns window, select the Use custom measures checkbox in the top-left corner. The Measure setting displays for each column. Select the required measure from the list that displays*.

*The measures that are available here are those that were mapped to the database in Designer. If you do not see the measures you want, talk to your administrator. They can map additional measures to the database or transform existing data.

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The following examples show how you can use multiple measures in your financial statements to enable further analysis.

Example 1: Analyze financial results in local currency and reporting currency

Suppose you manage your division's financial performance against budget in your local currency but your head office reviews your performance in a different reporting currency.

Add four columns, each with a different measure:

Column 1, measure 1: Actual results year-to-date in your local currency
Column 2, measure 2: Actual results year-to-date in the reporting currency
Column 3, measure 1: Budget values year-to-date in your local currency
Column 4, measure 2: Budget values year-to-date in the reporting currency

Watch this video to see how it’s done…

Example 2: Compare the pre and post-allocation results

Suppose you allocate revenue or costs from your head office out to your branches. YOu want to create a financial statement that shows the pre-allocation and post-allocation values, along with the variance, in a simple format that allows for further analysis.

Column 1, measure 1: Actual results before allocation
Column 2, measure 2: Actual results after allocation
Column 3: Variance between columns 1 and 2

Example 3: Compare the 12-month and 13-month results

Suppose your business uses a 13th period and you want to find out the value of the 13th period adjustments.

Column 1, measure 1: Actuals for the full 12 months in one year.
Column 2, measure 2: Actuals for the 13 months in total.
Column 3: Variance between columns 1 and 2 provides for the value of your period 13 adjustments by category and account.

Example 4: View accounts listed as debits and credits

Suppose you want to view all your General Ledger transactions listed into either a debit or a credit measure, as separate columns in a financial statement, so you can easily spot where a credit-based account, such as a revenue account has a significant debit value or credit note, or vice versa.

Column 1, measure 1: Debit values.
Column 2, measure 2: Credit values.

You could then explore the reasons for the adjustments by drilling into the other dimensions within your database, which often include things like Subledger, Customer or Vendor dimensions.