Columns are a great tool to help you build your view of a financial statement. You can use the Columns menu to specify which columns display in a financial statement. The table below describes the defined columns that are available. Coming soon is the ability to customize columns.
The columns menu is not available in the Trial Balance.
For example, in a Profit and Loss statement, you might want to view the current financial performance only, then add more columns to view more information and make comparisons. Examples of how to add and remove columns to create different views of a Profit and Loss statement are outlined below.
After you set up the columns the way you want them, you can:
Change the period to view the information against a different timeframe, for example, Financial Quarters.
Save your new view as a favorite.
Click the Reset button to revert back to the default view.
Defined column options
Financial | Budgets | Displays the budget values for the current period, for comparison purposes. The budget might come from the Budgets and Forecasts module or the Designer module. |
Previous | Displays the results from the previous period. The date range that is applied to the Previous column is determined by the option selected in the Period menu. | |
Prior Previous | Displays the results from two periods ago. | |
Variances | Off | Removes any variance columns. |
Together | Displays the variance columns together, to the right side of the grid. | |
With each column | Displays each the variance column adjacent to the comparative column. | |
Percentages | % Contribution | Available in Profit and Loss statements only - Displays the percentage contribution for each item relative to the category to which it belongs. For example, Wages 65% indicates that the wages value represents 65% of the Expenses. |
% Revenue | Available in Profit and Loss statements only - Displays each item as a percentage of revenue. For example, Wages 35% indicates that the wages expense is 35% of Revenue. This option is particularly useful when looking at items such as operating expenses, to understand what percentage of revenue they represent. This calculation excludes the 'Other revenue' category. If you have permission to manage financial statements, you can set the revenue row that is used to drive this calculation. | |
Periods | Off | Displays only the date range specified. |
Latest | Displays the latest period as well as the full date range specified. | |
All | Displays all periods within the date range. |
Example 1: Compare the current and budgeted performance
Suppose you are viewing a standard Profit and Loss statement and you want to compare the current performance with the budgeted performance for the most recent month and year to date.
Click the Columns menu, then:
Clear the Previous checkbox and ensure the Budgets checkbox is selected.
Select the (Variances) With each column option.
Select the (Periods) Latest option.
Click anywhere outside the Columns menu to update the grid and view your changes. The Previous columns are gone, so you can clearly compare the Current and Budget values.
Example 2: View your monthly performance
Suppose you are viewing a standard Profit and Loss statement but rather than an annual totals, you want to view the current values on a month-by-month basis.
Click the Columns menu, then:
Clear the Previous and Budgets checkboxes.
Select the (Variances) Off option.
Select the (Periods) All option.
Click anywhere outside the Columns menu to update the grid and view your changes. The Previous and Budget columns are gone, so you can clearly focus on the Current value, for which you have a total column and a column for every month from the beginning of the financial year through to your current financial period.
