Blogiversary Top 20 (#3) Basic column layout options for NAV Account Schedules
Posted: April 25, 2013 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Account Schedules, balance at date, Classic Client, column layout, comparison date formula, comparison period formula, financial statement, fiscal year, general ledger, NAV, net change, RTC Leave a commentWe’re celebrating our one year blogiversary by reposting the Top 20 Most Viewed in the last year, as determined by you, our readers! Follow this link to see the entire list. Enjoy!
Column layouts in NAV account schedules are what you build to add more flexibility to your financial statements. You can have an unlimited number of column layouts to match together with your already existing row setups. In general, most basic row setups contain general ledger numbers and column layouts contain dates. As an example, when I produce my income statement, I will have one row setup that reflects a summarized income statement and at least four different column layouts that reflect different configurations of month to date, year to date, comparisons against budget, and twelve month trended views.
Just like with row setups, there are many available options in the column layouts. This large variety of options can sometimes be overwhelming to the new account schedule user. I’ll show you which columns to choose in the column layouts for account schedules as a beginning point, and go through some simple explanations of how they are used.
Fields to start with:
Column No. – The column number is completely optional, but highly recommended. This simple element of the column layout will eventually be one of the key features of your account schedule, allowing you to calculate and organize with ease.
Column Header – This is where you’ll define, in words, what you’re showing in each column of your report. Keep it short; there is a 30 character limit.
Column Type: Net Change, Balance at Date, or Formula – There are actually seven options to choose from here, but I recommend that you limit yourself to these three when you’re just getting started. The key here is knowing what type of accounts you’re reporting on. If you’re using income statement accounts (Revenue/Expense), then you need to use net change. If you’re using balance sheet accounts (Assets/Liabilities), then you need to use Balance at Date. Formula allows you to perform calculations in a column.
Ledger Entry Type – This column will allow you to define what type of ledger entries you will show. This is where you can choose actual general ledger entries or budgeted general ledger entries.
Formula – If you’ve chosen Formula as the Column Type, this is where you’ll put the formula.
Comparison Period Formula – This column allows you to define date formulas that are used to calculate the amounts shown. I generally recommend that beginning account schedule users start out using the comparison period formula field instead of the comparison date formula field. The comparison period formula field references the accounting periods set up in the fiscal year, so this option seems the most consistent, and is especially necessary for companies that may not follow a calendar fiscal year. Common data labels used in this field are CP for current period or -1CP for previous period and FY for fiscal year or -1FY for prior year.
Shown below are both the design view and the user view of a column layout for a summarized income statement showing year to date and prior year to date information in the columns to demonstrate the use of these six basic options in an account schedule.
Role Tailored Client
Classic Client
For more information on row setups, please see these posts: Basic row setup options for NAV Account Schedules and Complete row setup options for NAV account schedules.
If you’re just beginning to use account schedules, see Getting started with a new account schedule.
Blogiversary Top 20 (#13) Basic row setup options for NAV Account Schedules
Posted: April 11, 2013 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Account Schedules, balance at date, Classic Client, financial statement, net change, row setup, RTC, totaling type Leave a commentWe’re celebrating our one year blogiversary by reposting the Top 20 Most Viewed in the last year, as determined by you, our readers! Follow this link to see the entire list. Enjoy!
The perpetual problem of the new NAV user is when you get started in a new area of the application, there are way too many options to choose from. How many times have you opened up a new form, only to find twenty or more columns displayed as the default, and many more lurking behind the show columns menu? While we appreciate having all options for all people at some point, new users can find this especially daunting when trying to just get started with something new.
I’ll show you which columns to choose in the row setup for account schedules as a beginning point, and go through some simple explanations of how they are used.
Fields to start with:
Row No. – The row number is completely optional, but highly recommended. This simple element of the row setup will eventually be one of the key features of your account schedule, allowing you to calculate and organize with ease.
Description – This is the one place you have to communicate, in words, what you’re showing on each line of your report.
Totaling Type: Posting Accounts or Formula – This field tells NAV what you’re going to do here. You’re either going to pull data from your general ledger posting accounts or calculate a formula.
Totaling – Which general ledger accounts you want to pull or what formula you want to calculate.
Row Type: Net Change or Balance at Date – The key here is knowing what type of accounts you’re reporting on. If you’re using income statement accounts (Revenue/Expense), then you need to use net change. If you’re using balance sheet accounts (assets/liabilities), then you need to use Balance at Date.
Shown below are both the design view and the user view of a summarized income statement, showing the use of these five options.
Role Tailored Client
Classic Client
Blogiversary Top 20 (#19) The NAV accountant’s little helper: the reconciliation account check box
Posted: April 3, 2013 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: balance after posting, Classic Client, general ledger, journal entry, NAV, net change, posting test report, reconciliation account, RTC, tips and tricks Leave a commentWe’re celebrating our one year blogiversary by reposting the Top 20 Most Viewed in the last year, as determined by you, our readers! Follow this link to see the entire list. Enjoy!
There’s a tiny feature in NAV that I take for granted. It’s there, in the background, hiding in the setup, and it helps me out just a little almost every time I make a manual journal entry. Especially if I’m in a bit of a rush, or distracted, this option gives me one more quick but effective look at what I’m doing before I commit a journal entry to my books permanently. This nifty little thing can be added to your NAV setup at any time without any help from IT and won’t require any maintenance. The option I’m talking about is the Reconciliation Account check box you can find on your general ledger account card. Here’s where you can find it:
Role Tailored Client
Classic Client
For any account where you’d like this additional double check, check the Reconciliation Account box found on the General Ledger Account Card. Now go put together your journal entry.
Instead of posting directly from the entry, choose Actions=>Posting=>Test Report=>Preview (if you’re RTC) or just choose Posting=>Test Report=>Preview (if you’re Classic). NAV will put together a handy dandy print preview which will now include a section at the bottom labeled Reconciliation. This little section will show you which direction your entry is going in, what sign your ending balance will be, and what the actual balance after posting will look like. This all happens before you commit it as final to the system. This may be just the extra bit of help you need in order to keep you from making an error. If you like what you see, post that journal entry!
If you have an account where you’ve got a lot of daily activity, you may not find this as useful as you do with accounts with just a little bit of activity throughout the month because you’ll have a more frequently changing end balance. Decide what might be useful to you.
Next time you do a journal entry, give it a try. Go to the account card and check the box. Make your journal entry. Before you post, run the posting test report. Is the net change in your journal entry going in the right direction? Did you enter the correct account? Is your ending account balance the right sign? Most importantly, is the balance after posting what you expected? This little helper can give you a quick preview before you hit post and save you from having to reverse and correct an entry.
The NAV accountant’s little helper: the reconciliation account check box
Posted: September 18, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: balance after posting, Classic Client, general ledger, journal entry, NAV, net change, posting test report, reconciliation account, RTC, tips and tricks Leave a commentThere’s a tiny feature in NAV that I take for granted. It’s there, in the background, hiding in the setup, and it helps me out just a little almost every time I make a manual journal entry. Especially if I’m in a bit of a rush, or distracted, this option gives me one more quick but effective look at what I’m doing before I commit a journal entry to my books permanently. This nifty little thing can be added to your NAV setup at any time without any help from IT and won’t require any maintenance. The option I’m talking about is the Reconciliation Account check box you can find on your general ledger account card. Here’s where you can find it:
Role Tailored Client
Classic Client
For any account where you’d like this additional double check, check the Reconciliation Account box found on the General Ledger Account Card. Now go put together your journal entry.
Instead of posting directly from the entry, choose Actions=>Posting=>Test Report=>Preview (if you’re RTC) or just choose Posting=>Test Report=>Preview (if you’re Classic). NAV will put together a handy dandy print preview which will now include a section at the bottom labeled Reconciliation. This little section will show you which direction your entry is going in, what sign your ending balance will be, and what the actual balance after posting will look like. This all happens before you commit it as final to the system. This may be just the extra bit of help you need in order to keep you from making an error. If you like what you see, post that journal entry!
If you have an account where you’ve got a lot of daily activity, you may not find this as useful as you do with accounts with just a little bit of activity throughout the month because you’ll have a more frequently changing end balance. Decide what might be useful to you.
Next time you do a journal entry, give it a try. Go to the account card and check the box. Make your journal entry. Before you post, run the posting test report. Is the net change in your journal entry going in the right direction? Did you enter the correct account? Is your ending account balance the right sign? Most importantly, is the balance after posting what you expected? This little helper can give you a quick preview before you hit post and save you from having to reverse and correct an entry.
This posting is one of the Top 20 Most Viewed in the last year! Follow this link to see the entire list.
Basic column layout options for NAV Account Schedules
Posted: September 10, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Account Schedules, balance at date, Classic Client, column layout, comparison date formula, comparison period formula, financial statement, fiscal year, general ledger, NAV, net change, RTC 5 CommentsColumn layouts in NAV account schedules are what you build to add more flexibility to your financial statements. You can have an unlimited number of column layouts to match together with your already existing row setups. In general, most basic row setups contain general ledger numbers and column layouts contain dates. As an example, when I produce my income statement, I will have one row setup that reflects a summarized income statement and at least four different column layouts that reflect different configurations of month to date, year to date, comparisons against budget, and twelve month trended views.
Just like with row setups, there are many available options in the column layouts. This large variety of options can sometimes be overwhelming to the new account schedule user. I’ll show you which columns to choose in the column layouts for account schedules as a beginning point, and go through some simple explanations of how they are used.
Fields to start with:
Column No. – The column number is completely optional, but highly recommended. This simple element of the column layout will eventually be one of the key features of your account schedule, allowing you to calculate and organize with ease.
Column Header – This is where you’ll define, in words, what you’re showing in each column of your report. Keep it short; there is a 30 character limit.
Column Type: Net Change, Balance at Date, or Formula – There are actually seven options to choose from here, but I recommend that you limit yourself to these three when you’re just getting started. The key here is knowing what type of accounts you’re reporting on. If you’re using income statement accounts (Revenue/Expense), then you need to use net change. If you’re using balance sheet accounts (Assets/Liabilities), then you need to use Balance at Date. Formula allows you to perform calculations in a column.
Ledger Entry Type – This column will allow you to define what type of ledger entries you will show. This is where you can choose actual general ledger entries or budgeted general ledger entries.
Formula – If you’ve chosen Formula as the Column Type, this is where you’ll put the formula.
Comparison Period Formula – This column allows you to define date formulas that are used to calculate the amounts shown. I generally recommend that beginning account schedule users start out using the comparison period formula field instead of the comparison date formula field. The comparison period formula field references the accounting periods set up in the fiscal year, so this option seems the most consistent, and is especially necessary for companies that may not follow a calendar fiscal year. Common data labels used in this field are CP for current period or -1CP for previous period and FY for fiscal year or -1FY for prior year.
Shown below are both the design view and the user view of a column layout for a summarized income statement showing year to date and prior year to date information in the columns to demonstrate the use of these six basic options in an account schedule.
Role Tailored Client
Classic Client
For more information on row setups, please see these posts: Basic row setup options for NAV Account Schedules and Complete row setup options for NAV account schedules.
If you’re just beginning to use account schedules, see Getting started with a new account schedule.
This posting is one of the Top 20 Most Viewed in the last year! Follow this link to see the entire list.
Basic row setup options for NAV Account Schedules
Posted: July 5, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Account Schedules, balance at date, Classic Client, financial statement, net change, row setup, RTC, totaling type 1 CommentThe perpetual problem of the new NAV user is when you get started in a new area of the application, there are way too many options to choose from. How many times have you opened up a new form, only to find twenty or more columns displayed as the default, and many more lurking behind the show columns menu? While we appreciate having all options for all people at some point, new users can find this especially daunting when trying to just get started with something new.
I’ll show you which columns to choose in the row setup for account schedules as a beginning point, and go through some simple explanations of how they are used.
Fields to start with:
Row No. – The row number is completely optional, but highly recommended. This simple element of the row setup will eventually be one of the key features of your account schedule, allowing you to calculate and organize with ease.
Description – This is the one place you have to communicate, in words, what you’re showing on each line of your report.
Totaling Type: Posting Accounts or Formula – This field tells NAV what you’re going to do here. You’re either going to pull data from your general ledger posting accounts or calculate a formula.
Totaling – Which general ledger accounts you want to pull or what formula you want to calculate.
Row Type: Net Change or Balance at Date – The key here is knowing what type of accounts you’re reporting on. If you’re using income statement accounts (Revenue/Expense), then you need to use net change. If you’re using balance sheet accounts (assets/liabilities), then you need to use Balance at Date.
Shown below are both the design view and the user view of a summarized income statement, showing the use of these five options.
Role Tailored Client
Classic Client
This posting is one of the Top 20 Most Viewed in the last year! Follow this link to see the entire list.