Financial Statements release notes
Find out what's new and changed in each version of Financial Statements. This page lists all the releases in the last year, with the most recent release items at the top.
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Find out what's new and changed in each version of Financial Statements. This page lists all the releases in the last year, with the most recent release items at the top.
Last updated
Was this helpful?
We have reduced the size of financial databases and made other enhancements, which has led to an average of 40% performance improvement in build times.
You can now update the Balance Sheet to which the Profit and Loss transactions are mapped. You can also choose to distribute the P&L transactions across multiple Retained Earnings accounts.
A new Data Entry permission has been added to Financial Statements section of the Profile tab on the user maintenance form. While this permission doesn’t allow any new functionality yet, it will soon allow you to enter data (such as intercompany journals) directly into Financial Statements. This update is part of upcoming enhancements to make Financial Statements more interactive and flexible. Stay tuned for more details in a future release
To improve stability in custom layouts, favorites, and dashboards, we’re migrating the names of items (such as budgets, measures and periods) to unique backend IDs.
Most items will migrate as expected and you won't notice any changes. However, some older items might not migrate correctly. If you notice any broken items, try editing and saving them to ensure they update with their new ID.
Now when you add a dimension as a level in a statement, that dimension remains available in the Dimension list, so you can click it to open the data in the Analytics module. Previously this option was not available for dimensions added as levels.
We're delighted to announce two exciting items...
Upgrades and services form
A new form, available in the side navigation in Phocas, makes it easy for you to request upgrades and services from within your Phocas site. Your email address is automatically inserted into the form, and you can select from a list of common requests. For example, you might need additional user licenses or databases, or service work, such as ERP migration or training. If you don't see the request you need, simply select the Other option. Then give us some brief information and submit the form. We'll get back to you within a few days with a quote, and then we can get started on your upgrade or service!
New user documentation site
If you're reading this note, you're looking at our new user documentation site! We've moved our user documentation to this new platform and given it a fresh look with enhanced content display and search functionality, along with an easy-to-remember URL: docs.phocassoftware.com
In the side navigation Recents menu, you can now see the 20 most recent items you've opened. Previously, this list only displayed the 10 most recent items.
This change brings the following benefits:
Previously, there was a limit of three sub-dimensions per statement. We’ve removed this limit.
Previously, you had to map accounts statement by statement, but now you do all the mapping in one grid.
You no longer have to map the Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet sub-dimensions separately, as all accounts are combined into one list. This enhances the analysis available to your Trial Balance and Cash Flow statements.
You can take advantage of the groups functionality to manage your accounts, such as export to and import from Microsoft Excel to help with the mapping process, clone a statement and filter the mapped and unmapped items in each column (group), and apply a custom sort order to any group.
Financial statements with one stream (no comparative columns) added as widgets on the dashboard now show the stream name, such as Actuals. Previously, this information was only available when there were multiple streams applied to the statement.
We resolved an issue that occurred when you viewed transactions. The Back button wasn’t working. You can now go back to your previous screen as expected.
We fixed an issue in the Groups window whereby selecting a group didn't work on the first try, requiring you to repeat the action. This now works the first time as expected.
Phocas On-Premise: End of support notice for SQL Server 2014
Microsoft announced in July 2024 that SQL Server 2014 is no longer a supported product. Phocas will end support for SQL Server 2014 from November 2024.
After the end-of-support, you can continue to use Phocas; however, you won't be able to upgrade to newer versions. Some features and functionality may no longer function as expected.
We made changes to provide direct access to your financial statements:
In the Phocas > Financial Statements menu, expand the database to view the list of its statements, then click a statement to open it.
When a statement is open, routing information is now available within the URL, so you can see the module you’re in (Financial Statements), the database ID, and the statement ID. This change allows you to:
Bookmark the statement (save it as a browser link) for quick access next time. Previously, you’d have to create a favorite within Phocas.
Copy and share the URL with another user. When they open that link, they’re taken directly to the statement. Previously, the database would open on the default statement, and they'd have to use the Statement menu to open the specific statement.
Refresh the browser or reset the statement and stay on the current statement. Previously, if you took either action you were returned to the default statement.
Coming soon: Further enhancements to how you select and manage levels.
All users can now:
Users with permission to manage custom statements can now:
Export the group data for easy validation with other sources.
All users will now see a change in the default behavior of the Lower is a better option for rows. This feature was introduced to some customers on January 22, 2024 (version 24.1.1) and has been well received. It inverses the variance calculation when the Lower is better option is selected in the statement setup. For example, a decrease in the cost of sales compared to the previous year now shows as a positive variance.
All users will benefit from the updated font that makes the data easier to read.
All users can now easily see which accounts make up the cash balances on the Cash Flow statement. Expand the Cash at start of period row to view the accounts.
All users can now:
Other small changes:
As part of the project to tidy up the chart configuration options, we made additional alignment improvements.
We fixed an issue regarding the expand and collapse state of rows. In some cases, the output did not match what was on the screen.
We added support for special values, such as BAL, to the Cash Flow statement exports.
Coming soon: Ability to create a budget workbook from within the Financial Statements module.
We’re halfway through a project to tidy up the chart configuration options. This release includes some alignment improvements, and the Pie chart no longer displays incompatible configuration options, such as the ability to view stacked bars. This work will be completed in the next release.
We continue to work on new features coming soon: Retained Earnings mapping, dimension groups, and more.
We introduced the ability to filter the nested levels you add to a financial statement.
We continue to work on new features coming soon: Retained Earnings mapping, dimension groups, and spacing improvements.
We are busy working on new features coming soon: Retained Earnings mapping, dimension groups, and spacing improvements.
A change to the default behavior of the Lower is better option for row in the statement setup is now available on request. This feature will be available to everyone in the future. When enabled, this feature inverses the variance calculation when the Lower is better option is selected. For example, a decrease in the cost of sales compared to the previous year now shows as a positive variance.
We added new color palettes to and updated the classic palette. Any existing charts on your dashboards will not change.
enhancement: We added the account sub-dimension (group) names to the account .
We made two enhancements to :
We moved the settings tabs from the left side to the bottom to free up space and pave the way for a new design of the Chart Builder feature.
We added a Close button to the top-right of the chart pane to provide a more obvious way to close the pane (you can still close it via the Chart button in the toolbar).
In the window, we changed the way you filter items in the grid to make it easier for you to find and map items. We removed the Visible mapping filter options from the column header menu and replaced them with a filter below the column header label. When you open the new filter, you get a list of all available items and an additional item called (Unmapped). Like how you filter for blank cells in Microsoft Excel, when you select the (Unmapped) item, you get a list of all unmapped items (empty cells). It also has a search box you can use to filter the list of items by a keyword.
On 03 September, 2024 (Version 24.8.1) we began the process of migrating each organization’s account mapping feature to dimension groups. The first phase, which involved migrating the creation and mapping of account sub-dimensions, is now complete. This means all organizations now perform these sub-dimension tasks in the Groups window. See the or the page for more information.
Now when you add a dimension as a level in a statement, then move into Analytics (by either clicking on a dimension or selecting and focusing on items), when you return to Financial Statements, the level persists in the statement. Previously, the level was forgotten, so you had to add it again.
Users with the Export permission can now directly from a dashboard.
Please update any bookmarks you have to the , which will be retiring soon.
We improved the performance of the entity lists in the and boxes. When a list contains many entities, these long lists now display more efficiently, and you can select items as expected.
We improved the performance of the grid in the window. When using the activity filter on a group that contains many entities, the filter now works as expected. Also, all items with activity are now displayed by default.
We added custom sort order functionality to . This allows you to determine the position of each item in the dimension (entity list). The custom sort order is reflected in the financial statement.
We are in the process of migrating each organization’s account mapping feature to dimension groups. This is a phased migration, so you’ll notice a change in the statement setup window when your organization has been migrated.
The first phase of the migration is the creation and mapping of account sub-dimensions. You no longer do this in the Accounts tab of the statement setup window. You now do it in the Groups window. Watch the following video or see to learn how.
Phocas encourages users to upgrade to a supported version of Microsoft SQL Server (2016 at least) or to to learn about the benefits of moving to Phocas cloud to automatically access to new features and functionality.
Open image-20240805-210959.png
The is now available in Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow statements. Previously, this was only available in the Trial Balance statement. Use this menu as an activity filter to determine the rows displayed in the statement (those with activity or without activity.
Related to the above enhancement, the now references the activity filter. When you filter a level in the statement, you’ll see that the entities in the list correspond to the activity filter, and all entities are selectable. Previously, entities without transaction activity were always displayed in the list.
Users with permission to manage custom statements can now undo and redo actions when managing .
All users can now add up to four in a financial statement. Previously, this was limited to three. We also enhanced the behavior of the Levels box to make it easier to drag dimensions into and out of the box and drag dimensions from the Levels box across into the Column groups () box.
Users with permission to manage custom statements can now import data. In the last release, we introduced the ability to export group data. These features work together to allow you to create and edit your group and entity data quickly.
and (matrix) to the Trial Balance statement. These features were previously unavailable in this type of statement.
Display the variance value on the . Previously, you could display a variance percentage, but the value-only option lets you focus on the amount required to achieve a target or stay within budget.
Clone a to reuse the data and create new child dimensions.
All users in organizations that have the enabled can now view the foreign currency translation adjustment in the Cash Flow statement.
Users with permission to manage custom statements (and budgets and forecasts) can now . All the budget settings are automatically selected with just one click, so you can see the budget straight away in the Budgets & Forecasts module and modify the setup as required.
for values in Total columns in .
when analyzing financial statements. It’s normal for a statement to have a set of dimensions that are relevant to that particular statement only, including custom subdimensions or top-level dimensions. Then, when you switch to another statement, the available dimensions change. All dimensions are now available in all Financial Statement grids. Previously, to use these additional dimensions, you had to move to the Analytics grid.
. Previously, you could only export Analytics charts as images.
Users who have permission to manage custom statements can now manage dimension groups from within the Financial Statements module. Previously, this could only be done by an administrator in the Designer module. See to learn how adding dimension groups can enhance the analysis capabilities in your financial statements.
The Visible setting in the Measures Formatting window, which allows you to from the Measures menu, now works as expected.
In the :
We fixed an issue whereby the account code details did not display in the account restrictions grid. Users who have permission to manage custom statements will now see these details as expected, making it easier to .
are now available.
Homepage enhancements
In addition:
We introduced a Clear filters option to simultaneously clear all the filters you've applied.
We changed the filtering behavior, so fewer clicks are required to get the results you're looking for. Now if no options are selected, this is equivalent to all options being selected.
We changed the style of the tab filter buttons above the grid to make them easier to see.
We now display the description of items in the grid, where available, so you can quickly determine their contents.
New navigation now turned on for all users
Easier movement between the different Phocas products and sections.
Resource Centre: Easy access to in-product help and news, new user documentation site, and other learning resources. The old navigation pointed to the old user documentation site, which is no longer being updated.
Upgrades and service request form: Quick way to contact us about making additions to your site.
Product feedback form: Tell the development team what you like about Phocas.
Now when you apply one or more filters and sort orders to the grid on your , your selections are retained. This means the next time you view your homepage, it'll look exactly as you left it. This effectively lets you set up your homepage to always display only the items you're interested in.
In September 2023, we launched a new on the left side of Phocas. Recently, we identified that some users were still using the old navigation method, so we migrated them to the new navigation today. If you’re one of those users, you’ll notice the visual difference. The new navigation brings the following benefits:
