Using The Financial Statement Designer (template)

Quick lessonFor more information, see Help Contents Financial Statement Designer.Using the Financial StatementDesigner (template)Goal: To understand the basics in designing a financial statement in theFinancial Statement Designer.In this quick lessonStep 1: Set securityStep 2: Open a templateStep 3: Explore the statement title cellsStep 4: Explore the columnsStep 5: Explore the Amounts rowsStep 6: Explore the Total rowsStep 7: Explore global properties on the Workbook Properties sheetStep 8: Explore the Design tab and the Preview tab23456789With the Financial Statement Designer, you can create and print balance sheets,profit and loss statements, and other financial statements needed by your firm.In the Financial Statement Designer, which is based on a spreadsheet, the basicactions are select, define, and view. You select cells in the worksheet, definethe contents and appearance of the selection, and view the results and changethe definitions, as needed.You can use properties in the Financial Statement Designer to define commonelements found in financial statements. Properties make your design morereusable because they reference the Ajera database.If what you want is not available, you can manually enter text into the worksheetto define it (for example, a formula or a title for the statement).You can begin with a blank worksheet and create your own design, or start with atemplate and make changes to fit your needs. This quick lesson uses a templateto describe the components of a design.1

Quick lesson: Using the Financial Statement Designer (template)For more information, see Help Contents Financial Statement Designer.Step 1: Set security1. Click Company Security.2. Select a security group, click Edit and select the following check box:On the General tab, select thischeck box to give this securitygroup permission to managefinancial statements.2

Quick lesson: Using the Financial Statement Designer (template)For more information, see Help Contents Financial Statement Designer.Step 2: Open a template1. Click Reports Manage Financial Statements Designs.2. Click the Open button.3. Select Template - Profit and Loss Statement and click the Select button.The profit and loss template appears.4. On the Design tab is a worksheet with a properties area below it.WorksheetThe worksheet is where youchange a design. You begin byselecting cells in the worksheet.PropertiesareaThe options that appear in theproperties area depend on what youselect in the worksheet.Here, a cell is selected in theworksheet, and options for changingthe contents of the cell appear in theproperties area.When you select a row or a column,different options for changing therow or column appear.3

Quick lesson: Using the Financial Statement Designer (template)For more information, see Help Contents Financial Statement Designer.Step 3: Explore the statement title cellsA financial statement consists mostly of rows and columns. Typically,the rows display accounts for which you want financial information (forexample, Income accounts); the columns filter the information bylimiting it to a time period or time (for example, year-to-date or budgetamount). The Financial Statement Designer contains properties todefine many types of rows and columns found in financial statements.All other information in a statement, such as the title, is defined at thecell level. The Financial Statement Designer contains Company contentoptions to define cells. If the correct property is not available, you cancreate your own definition by manually entering text into the cell.Company content optionsreference the Ajeradatabase for non-financialinformation commonlyfound in financialstatements.1. To view the Company content options, click a cell in the worksheet. The Company content options appear.2. In the worksheet, click [CompanyName]. The brackets indicate that this is a property,not a manually entered definition.The toolbar indicates that the font isMicrosoft Sans Serif, the style is bold, thesize is 18 point, and the text is horizontallyand vertically aligned to the center.This large cell in the worksheet indicatesthat cells A1 to I1 were selected and mergedwith the mergebutton.3. In the worksheet, click Profit and Loss Statement. There are no brackets,which means that this is a manually entered definition.The toolbar indicates that the formattingis identical to the [CompanyName],except the size is 12 point.4. Click other parts of the title to explore how they were created.4

Quick lesson: Using the Financial Statement Designer (template)For more information, see Help Contents Financial Statement Designer.Step 4: Explore the columns1. The template contains Column Setup rows, which filter rows of financial informationin the same way. A Column Setup row defines the contents of entire columns thatyou want to appear in the statement.2. In the worksheet, click a defined cell in row 5, which is a Column Setup row, andexplore the details revealed in the worksheet.All text in that column is inMicrosoft Sans Serif, 8 point,vertically aligned to the top ofthe cell, and horizontally alignedto the right.The brackets here indicate thatthis is a property, whichreferences the Ajera database.This column was defined byselecting this cell, clicking theBudget button in the propertiesarea, and double-clicking ThisMonth in the area to the right.Definitions not enclosed bybrackets, such as this formula,were manually entered.The properties area displays theoptions selected for the cell:Budget This Month, This Year.The Department and ReportingEntity fields are blank, whichmeans that the information in thecolumn represents the entire firmand is not filtered to limit theinformation to a specificdepartment or reporting entity.3. Click other defined cells in this and other Column Setup rows and explore the details.5

Quick lesson: Using the Financial Statement Designer (template)For more information, see Help Contents Financial Statement Designer.Step 5: Explore the Amounts rows1. The template contains Amounts rows, which specify the accounts for which you want financialinformation. An Amounts row defines the accounts that you want to appear in the statement.2. In the worksheet, click an Amounts row and explore the details revealed in the worksheet.As in column F in theprevious step, all text inthis row is in MicrosoftSans Serif and 8 point.However, it is horizontallyaligned to the left.The Department and ReportingEntity fields are blank, whichmeans that the information in therow represents the entire firm andis not filtered to limit theinformation to a specificdepartment or reporting entity.The properties area shows that row 8 wasdefined by clicking the Amounts button,clicking the Account Type button, andselecting Income in the area to the right.3. Click other Amount rows and explore their details.The information in the row isitemized, and the sign is reversed(that is, negative values in thestatement appear as positive, andpositive values appear asnegative).6

Quick lesson: Using the Financial Statement Designer (template)For more information, see Help Contents Financial Statement Designer.Step 6: Explore the Total rows1. The template contains Total rows, which add up the values in preceding Amounts row.A Total row applies a formula to the row that sums the values of all amount cells between thecurrent row and the preceding Total or Column Setup row for each defined column.2. In the worksheet, click a Total row and explore the details revealed in the worksheet.Here, the contents are notenclosed in brackets,which indicates that thisrow heading was manuallyentered.As in row 8 in step 5 andcolumn F in step 4, all text inthis row is in Microsoft SansSerif. However, to make itstand out more, it is in 10point and bold style.The SUM formula appears in theworksheet for each column definedby a property.For columns defined bymanually entered formulas, theTotal row applies the columnformula to all amount cellsbetween the current row andthe preceding Total or ColumnSetup row.Here, the formula is SUM(J8:J8).This range references only one cellthe worksheet (J8), but the SUMformula applies to all the Incomeaccounts. As step 8 shows, there are11 Income accounts in all.3. Click other Total rows and explore their details.7

Quick lesson: Using the Financial Statement Designer (template)For more information, see Help Contents Financial Statement Designer.Step 7: Explore global properties on the Workbook Properties sheet1. To view and change the global properties for the worksheet and for the workbook, use the Workbook Properties sheet.You cannot rename or delete the Workbook Properties sheet.2. On the Design tab, click the Workbook Properties subtab. You can select and change properties for individualworksheets or for the entire workbook.3. Select options that define the following: Worksheet display properties Worksheet print properties Worksheet contents properties Workbook contents propertiesWorksheet displaypropertiesWorksheet printpropertiesWorksheet contentspropertiesWorkbook contentspropertiesThese determine how certaininformation, such as commas incurrency, display in a statement.These determine print settings,such as footers and page margins,for a statement.If you have ajeraComplete orDepartments add-on, thesedetermine whether the informationin a statement represents the entirefirm or a department or reportingentity.These determine generalproperties for all statements in theworkbook, such as accountingbasis and month-end date.The month-end date is particularlysignificant because properties thatdefine a time period reference thisdate.8

Quick lesson: Using the Financial Statement Designer (template)For more information, see Help Contents Financial Statement Designer.Step 8: Explore the Design tab and the Preview tabThe Design tab displays the settings that define the contents and appearance of the statement.The Preview tab shows you what the statement will look like with values from the Ajera database.When you change a statement design, you move constantly between these two tabs.1. Click the Design tab to view the design settings.As an example, below is a section of the Profit and Loss Statement template.The Design tab displays labelsof the contents properties, notthe actual values from theAjera database.This allows you to easily analyze yourdesign and change it, if needed.2. Click the Preview tab to view the results.Below is a preview of that same section of the Profit and Loss Statement.Also to help your analysis, if you selectan Amounts row or a column in theworksheet, the properties area displaysthe options selected for the row orcolumn.The Preview tab displaysthe statement with actualvalues from the database.SummaryIf interested, you can view the companion quicklesson, Using the Financial Statement Designer(blank worksheet).You can also print one of the other templatesand try to re-create the design using a blankworksheet. If needed, click the Design tab andview the labels and options selected.9

As an example, below is a section of the Profit and Loss Statement template. 2. Click the Preview tab to view the results. Below is a preview of that same section of the Profit and Loss Statement. The Preview tab