Reports are a key feature of Accounting 5. They can be accessed through the ‘reporting’ tab, and work at the click of a button, provided you have Macros enabled.
What report options you see in the ‘Reporting’ tab depends on what functionality is set up in the Set-Up sheet.
For all reports you MUST specify a date range. In the case of the Balance Sheet report only the ‘To’ field is necessary, but for all others both fields must have a value. Otherwise you may get an error and the report will not execute. The date range applies to all reports underneath.
Income/Expenditure report: Displays in Report1 Sheet. This will create a cash-based income/expenditure report, for the specified period, compared with year-to-date and the previous period (calculated by days). For example if you select 1 – 31 July 2022, the report will show the transactions for that period, plus the previous 31 days (31 May – 30 June 2022), and the year to date (beginning of your financial year according to the Set-Up sheet to 31 July 2022).
The report also shows the bank balances at the beginning and end of that period. Note that the movement between the two may not be the same as your surplus or deficit, due to GST and some other effects.
Budget Variance report (if enabled): Displays in Report1 Sheet. This report displays the actual income and expenditure on a cash basis, the budgeted amounts calculated for the same period, and the variance between the two.
Project Report (if enabled): Displays in Report2 Sheet. Select a project from the list to the right of the ‘Create Project Report’ button, then click the button. The report displays income and expenditure, on a cash basis, for this project only, and gives opening and closing balances for the period.
Accrual-based Inc/Exp: Displays in Report1 Sheet. This report takes any journals into account you may have made in the ‘Journal’ tab. This is called the ‘Profit & Loss’ report in other accounting software, or ‘Statement of Financial Performance’ when formalised.
Balance Sheet: Displays in Report2 Sheet. Displays your assets, liabilities and equity at a given date, compared with the same date a year before. It takes journals into account (accrual basis).
Cash Flow: Displays in Report1 Sheet. This is a cash-based Income and Expenditure report like the ‘Statement of Receipts and Payments’ required for Charities. It displays both operating and capital income and expenses for the selected period, compared with the same period a year earlier.
Saving your reports
The Report1 and Report2 display sheets are editable. Once you have run a report, you can amend it, adding further explanations, headers or footers.
To save the report, use the Excel print function, ‘File’, ‘Print’, and select ‘Microsoft Print to PDF’ as the printer. Then select print, and a dialog box will ask where you want to save the report.
Once you generate a new report, the old one will be overwritten, including any modifications you may have made.