Customize groups
Last updated
Last updated
User permission: Manage Custom Statements
The groups you see on the Statement tab of the statement setup window are used to group your accounts into categories in the corresponding financial statement. You can add new groups, edit the existing groups and delete groups you no longer need.
For example, suppose your Profit and Loss statement has one Revenue group but you want to view your revenue value split into two categories, Retail and Online. You firstly need to add a new group for the online revenue and map it to the applicable accounts. As a result of adding the new group, you need to edit the name of the existing Revenue group (as it is now for retail revenue only) and edit the existing Gross Profit calculation (to include the new group). This page outlines how to add and edit a group. See Customize calculations to learn how to add the calculation.
In the Statements menu, click the name of the financial statement you want to customize. Then, in the statement setup window, click the Add button where you want to insert the new group.
Set up the group:
Enter a name for the group.
Select the Reverse Sign checkbox, if required, based on your account setup. This setting displays a negative number as a positive, or vice versa. For example, a revenue number should always come through as a negative (as it is a credit in a Trial Balance) , so you need to select the Reverse Sign check box to make it display as a positive number on the financial statement.
Select the Lower is better checkbox, if you want to specify that when an account value is lower than previously was, it is a better outcome. This setting applies to values in the variance column in the statements grid, where a green color signifies if a current value is better than the previous value. This simple color coding gives you a quick glimpse of how your accounts are doing.
Select the Hidden check box, if you do not want this row to display on the financial statement. This setting allows you to use the group in calculations but not display it as a row on the statement itself. In the Balance Sheet, this setting is available for the Equity row but not for the disabled cash flow rows (cash at start of period, cash at end and so on).
Watch this Phocas Academy video: Hide rows in a balance sheet
Click Save.
Next, map the accounts to the new group. See the next section below for steps. If you do not map the accounts before you rebuild the database, you will see an unmapped Suspense row in your financial statement.
Back in the Statements window:
If you have not finished customizing the particular statement, click the statement to open the setup window again. You might need to edit any groups (see below) or calculations that are impacted by the new group.
If you are finished customizing the financial statement*, click Close > Yes to rebuild the database.
When you add a group, you need to map accounts to that group, so they display in the right group in the statement grid. You might also need to edit the account mapping for an existing group, if circumstances change. Unmapped accounts display in the Suspense row in your statement grid, as illustrated in the image below.
If you want to add sub-dimensions (sub-categories) in the statement for your accounts, see Create a dimension below.
In the statement setup window, click the Accounts tab.
Search for the accounts applicable to the new group. You can search by code, name or other property, or enter an account range. You might find it useful to select the Hide mapped accounts checkbox to limit the number of accounts that display.
Click the number to the left of an account name to select that account or click and drag down the number column to select multiple accounts. The header on the Mapping column turns orange, indicating that it is active.
Click the Mapping column header and select the required group from the list. If you selected multiple accounts, your group selection will apply to all those accounts.
Click Save to return to the Statements window where you can continue to customize the financial statements or click Close > Yes to rebuild the database.
See the Overview of financial statements and dimensions page for more information about the link between dimensions and your financial statements.
On September 03, 2024, we began the process of migrating the account mapping feature to Groups. See this release note to learn more about the migration. When your organization is migrated, you’ll perform this dimension-creation and account mapping task within the Groups feature, making the information on this page redundant. See Create sub-dimensions for accounts instead.
In addition to customizing the top levels of your financial statements, you can add sub-levels to the statements. To achieve this, you firstly create a new sub-dimension, then within that dimension, you create entities that you apply to selected General Ledger accounts. Back in the statement grid, when you add the new dimension as a level, you will see the entities display as sub-levels underneath the applicable category row. This new dimension gives you a level of detail that you didn't have in your original dataset. For example, you might want to categorize costs under the Operating Expenses group, so you can drill down and see these details at a glance on the grid.
When using this method to create a dimension, you cannot differentiate at a level lower than a General Ledger account, such as cost center. However, this can be done via the Designer module.
In the statement setup window, click the Accounts tab.
The dimension displays as a new column in the account grid.
Create the entities (sub-levels): Select an account by clicking the number to the left of its name, then in the new dimension column header, enter the name of the entity that you want to apply to the account, for example, Client Driven, and press Enter.
Repeat the above step to add other entities to the dimension or select an entity from the list to apply to other accounts.
Set the order in which the entities display under the dimension: Click the AZ button next to the dimension column name, then expand the applicable category, for example, Operating Expenses. Click and hold the entity's move button (a blue box displays around the row), then drag the entity up or down to its new position. Repeat this step to reorder the other entities as required, then click Apply.
Click Save.
If you are finished customizing the financial statement, click Close > Yes to rebuild the database and view your new dimension.
If you add a group, you might need to edit an existing group as a result. You might also want to edit groups for other reasons.
In the statement setup window, you can change the name and setup of the existing groups as required. You can also change the order in which the groups display in the financial statement, and change the corresponding account mapping. The steps are similar to adding a group (see above for details).
You cannot delete groups that are referenced by another line. For example, you can't delete the Revenue group if there is a Gross Profit calculation that references this group. If you delete a group that has accounts mapped to it, the accounts are moved to the Suspense row in your financial statement.
In the statement setup window, click the Delete button at the end of the group row, then click Save. Then, if you are finished customizing the financial statement, click Close > Close > Yes to rebuild the database.
Create the dimension: Click the green plus button , then enter a name for the new dimension, for example Cost Type, and click OK.
