Maintain balance sheet and profit and loss layouts

You can create a financial statement in the following ways:

  • Create a new statement layout.
  • Copy an existing layout, and refine it as required.

You can amend layouts by:

  • Adding new columns and rows, provided they do not exceed the maximum limit set for reports.
  • Changing the column titles and text lines.

You can remove layouts you no longer use, by deleting them.

You must have:

  • Created category codes.
  • Created nominal accounts.
  • Read the help topic, describing how financial statements are constructed.

To maintain a balance sheet or profit and loss layout

Open: Nominal Ledger > Utilities > Ledger Set Up > Financial Statement Layouts.

  1. Select the report type, Profit and Loss or Balance Sheet.
  2. To create a layout:
    • To create a new layout, click New.
      • Enter a unique name for the layout.
    • To copy an existing layout, select the layout to copy and click Copy.

    • To import a layout (that you've previously exported), click Import and select the CSV file.

      For more information, see Import or export a layout.

  3. To edit a layout, select the Layout Name and click Edit.
  4. A new line is automatically displayed. To add more lines, press the down arrow key or click in the space under the last line.
  5. Select the Type of information to display on the line:

    6. Text lines

    These lines contain text only, titles, subtitles or notes that you want to include. A text line could even be a blank line or a line of dashes, used to split the report into sections.

    Add Text lines where required by specifying:

    • Title.
    • Heading style (1-9).

      • Note: The heading style is derived from the layout file in Report Designer. If you need to establish the format for each heading, use the Report Designer. For more information, see the Sage Report Designer help.

    Account Groups

    Used to define a group of accounts that you want to print on the report in one section usually with a group title and possibly with a subtotal. Add Account Groups where required by specifying:

    • If you want to display a Single Account Group or Multiple Account Groups.
    • The Category code from a list.
      • If you are displaying a Single Account Group, click on the box and select the code from the list.
      • If you want to display Multiple Account Groups, click on the box to display a list of available codes, then select the codes that you want to display.
    • Title.
    • If the account balance is normally a Debit\Credit.
    • If the value is to be printed in the Left\Right column.

    Sub Totals

    Sub Totals are normally used with each account grouping to show the sub-total for that group. They can also be used to show the subtotal for many groups together. Add Sub Totals where required, by specifying:

    • The Title.
    • The Sub Total Level, 1-9.

      • This tells the system what account values to add together to print in a subtotal.

      • Level 1 adds up all the accounts already processed that have not yet been included in another subtotal of any level.
      • Level 2 adds up all the accounts already processed, not already included in a subtotal level 2 or higher. It will include any that have been rolled up into a subtotal level 1, but not any higher level.
      • Level 3 will add up all accounts not already included in a subtotal level 3 or higher.
    • If the subtotal is normally a Debit\Credit.
    • The value is to be printed in the Left\Right column.
    • If the Base total is displayed as a percentage.

    Current period profit

    Display Current period profit for Balance Sheet layouts only.
  6. Click Close to return to the Financial Statement Layouts window.
  7. Click Validate to check the category codes and nominal accounts used in the layout. If errors occur, messages will be displayed advising what the problem is. Click Close to return to the Layouts list.
  8. Click Preview to view the layout.

    9. This shows you how the report will look.

    Note: To print the report, choose the relevant option under Reports > Financial Statements.

    • Click Close to return to the Layouts list.
  9. To delete a layout, select the Layout Name and click Delete.

Import or export a layout

If you want to share layouts between companies, you can import and export layouts. This saves the layout as a CSV file, so you can edit it using Excel.

Note: You can import and layouts for your Profit and Loss and Balance Sheet, but not Cash Flow layouts.

Open: Nominal Ledger > Utilities > Ledger Set Up > Financial Statement Layouts.

  1. Choose the layout.
  2. Click Import or Export.
  3. Choose the filename and location of the layout.

What does the CSV file look like?

You can check the format of the CSV file by exporting an existing layout.

If you create a CSV file manually to import, you must ensure that you use the correct case in the CSV file or you will not be able to import the file. For example, SubTotal and not Subtotal.

One header line of identifiers is required in this order:

  • "Line", "Type","Category","Title","Heading Style",Subtotal Level","Debit\Credit","Left\Right","Base".

The lines are the report lines you want to generate:

  • For Line, the entry is an ascending numeric, e.g. the first line is 1, the second 2 and so on.
  • For Type, the entry may be one of the following, however case and spacing should be as follows: "Text", "SingleAccountGroup", "SubTotal", "MultipleAccountGroup".
  • For Category, the entry is a report category code, e.g. 31.
  • For Heading Style, the entry may be a number from 1 to 9. The style is derived from the layout file in Report Designer.
  • For Subtotal Level, the entry may be a number from 1 to 9. This tells the system what account values to add together to print in a subtotal. For example, 3 will add up all accounts not already included in a subtotal level 3 or higher.
  • For Debit\Credit, the entry is Debit or Credit.
  • For Left\Right, the identifier is Left or Right.
  • For Base, the identifier is Yes or No.

For more information about the report lines, see Select the Type of information to display on the line.

See also

Other tasks

Maintain cash flow report layouts

Design layouts for Financial Statements (Report Designer)

Reference

Report category codes

Create nominal accounts

Nominal reports