How do I analyse accounting data ?

Only the PRO version of the software offers analytical management.

Thanks to Profit-cost centers, a "parallel" chart of accounts can be set up for cost accounting purposes, to manage, for example, the distribution of expenses by country, store, department or product... The hierarchical structure is limited to two levels (classes, centers); however, it is possible to create only one level, and therefore only centers.

Define Classes

If you choose to define a two-level analytical plan, the code of a profit-cost center should be defined as "XX.YY", where XX is the class code and XX.YY the complete code of the profit-cost center. The class then functions as a totalizer of the centers defined with the class prefix.

The size (number of characters) of the class code must be set in the Options of the Profit-cost Centers file.

In the profit-cost centers file, you'll need to create a record for each class. In the main window, classes appear in bold. Names of profit-cost centers grouped in a class appear indented, to reflect the hierarchy thus created, as in the Accounts file.

This hierarchical display is only effective if the file is sorted by code.

To create a file for a profit-cost center, its code must be prefixed by the class code, separated by a dot (or a hyphen). No other separator is accepted.

Link with Entries and Accounts

Profit-cost center amounts are updated by linking them to entries. You can therefore enter an profit-cost center code in an entry.

If you enter the code of an profit-cost center in an account (generally an income statement), the profit-cost center will be automatically filled in the entry linked to this account.

Abstract on Screen

You can display an abstract of the profit-cost center whose record you have activated in the main window by clicking on the Abstract button at the bottom of the window.

This window functions in the same way as the Instant Account Statement window, which you can obtain from the main Accounts window, or from the Input menu of the Entries file.

Chart

A chart can be displayed on screen, in the same way and with the same possibilities as in Accounts.

Totalize Classes

In the Profit-cost Centers file, the Action menu contains the Totalize command: this updates the class balance (if classes have been defined) by adding together the balances of the attached centers. This command is only useful if you have not activated Automatic Totalization in the Profit-cost Centers file Options.

Print

Your analytical data can be printed from the Profit-cost Centers file, by calling the File>Print command. Various print formats are available, including spreadsheets you may have prepared in the Spreadsheets file.