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.
Last updated
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
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
Please update any bookmarks you have to the old site, which will be retiring soon.
We improved the performance of the entity lists in the levels and column groups 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 Groups 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.
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.
We added custom sort order functionality to dimension groups. 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.
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 Create sub-dimensions for accounts to learn how.
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.
Phocas encourages users to upgrade to a supported version of Microsoft SQL Server (2016 at least) or to contact us to learn about the benefits of moving to Phocas cloud to automatically access to new features and functionality.
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.
The Rows menu 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 Levels box 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.
Coming soon: Further enhancements to how you select and manage levels.
Users with permission to manage custom statements can now undo and redo actions when managing groups.
Users with permission to manage custom statements can now import group 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.
All users can now:
Add levels and column groups (matrix) to the Trial Balance statement. These features were previously unavailable in this type of statement.
Display the variance value on the Value card. 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.
Users with permission to manage custom statements can now:
Clone a group to reuse the data and create new child dimensions.
Export the group data for easy validation with other sources.
All users in organizations that have the multiple currency setting 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 create a budget from within Financial Statements. 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.
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:
View transactions for values in Total columns in custom column layouts.
Use additional dimensions 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.
Export a Financial Statements chart from dashboards as an image (PNG format). 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 Manage dimension groups to learn how adding dimension groups can enhance the analysis capabilities in your financial statements.
Other small changes:
As part of the project to tidy up the chart configuration options, we made additional alignment improvements.
The Visible setting in the Measures Formatting window, which allows you to hide a measure from the Measures menu, now works as expected.
In the new export feature:
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 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 restrict access to accounts.
We are busy working on new features coming soon: Retained Earnings mapping, dimension groups, and spacing improvements.
Pie and donut charts are now available.
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 are busy working on two new features coming soon:
Pie charts!
A change to the default behavior of the Lower is better option for rows.
We changed the default style of the percentage variance columns in the grid. Previously, by default, the percentage variances displayed in red or green color, to highlight where there was a negative or positive difference in values. As some users prefer to see these variances in black (monochrome) color instead, all variances are now displayed in black by default. The new Red/green % variances option in the Style menu allows individual users to turn the red/green color code back on, another way to customize their view of a statement.
We fixed two issues in the upload Balance Sheet Exchange Rates process:
The header row is now optional. If you use a header row, you can use whatever header text you want. Check latter is true.
When an error occurs during the upload process, a message now displays with details about the error that you can use to fix the exchange rates source file.
Statistical streams - Users who have permission to manage custom statements can now add a calculation that uses a Balance Brought Forward statistical stream using the STAT function. For example, you might want to use this calculation to track the number of beds available against items in your Profit and Loss statement. When setting up a new stream within a Financial Statements database, you can select these options: Balance Brought Forward, Statistical and Variance Stream. Previously, the Balance Brought Forward stream type wasn't available in calculations within Financial Statements.
Exports - We tweaked the design of the Export window to promote the new style export option (we also removed the Beta flag). Have you tried the new Excel export functionality yet?
We are working on new formatting options in the Styles menu.
Users who have permission to manage custom statements can now use multiple measures in their custom column layouts. This option allows you to insert additional columns to enable the analysis of multiple measures from the same data stream within one financial statement.
All users can now hide the left panel (with the dimensions, focus and reset buttons) to get a better view of the financial statement and see more columns without having to scroll across. This is particularly useful if you have a small screen.
We implemented a scroll bar in the budgets list in Manage Budgets window, so it is easier to see budgets with longer names. This change applies to users who have permission to manage custom statements.
If you use the Multiple Currencies (Beta feature), you can now connect to sync items in your Phocas site. This enhancement allows you to select exchange rate data from a sync source and quickly replace existing sync files with new exchange rate data, rather than having to edit the Exchange Rate setup each time.
When you view charts in full-screen mode, the Exit full screen button now works as expected. Also, the chart configuration tabs now have more defined borders.
We fixed an issue whereby the status bar below the grid did not display the correct average and count information for the selected rows.
We are busy working on the ability to add multiple measures to custom layouts.
We retired the right-click > Visualize feature that was previously used to add value cards to a dashboard. The Value card type of chart is now available in the Charts panel and you can add it to a dashboard from there. This change allows you to create all types of Financial Statements charts in one place.
Chart enhancements - In addition to the big change mentioned above, we made two small changes to charts:
The chart pane now opens by default on the Data tab rather than Text tab.
We updated the chart color shades to improve contrast and overall legibility and accessibility.
On dashboards, the look and behavior of the Financial Statement chart widgets are now more consistent with that of the Analytics charts. Also, when you edit a financial chart, the Chart pane opens within Financial Statements. Previously, an editing window opened.
New Excel export improvements - When we released the New Excel export functionality, we asked for your feedback on the export features you'd like us to develop. The most popular request was to display the exported statement as it is seen on the screen. We have implemented this functionality, so for example, if some levels are expanded but others are collapsed, when you export the statement, it’ll look just the same in Excel.
Visual enhancements:
We increased the padding slightly on the right-hand side of the screen, so that when you have a longer statement and the scrollbar appears, the bar no longer displays over the grid and all data is clearly visible.
We removed the unnecessary gaps that display between columns in the grid when the Columns menu has the following configuration: none of the streams (Budget, Previous, Prior Previous) are selected and the Periods > All option is selected.
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.
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