GL Code structure and reporting

The layout and completeness of your reports, such as Income and Expenditure Statements, Trial Balance, and Balance Sheet depend on how the General Ledger Coding is structured. In the coding structure, each General Ledger Code is attached to a higher-level Sub-Category which in turn is attached to a higher-level General Ledger Category. 

The General Ledger coding structure affects the layout of a report as follows:  

• General Ledger Categories become the main row headings, such as Income, Revenue, Direct Costs, Overhead Costs, and Expenses, while columns are user-defined during report creation.  
• General Ledger Sub-Categories become the sub-headings within each category, such as “Home Sales”, “Exports”, and “Spares” within the “Income” Category and, “Rent & Rates”, “Computer Costs”, Finance Costs” within the “Overhead Costs” Category.  
• General Ledger Codes become the lowest level of analysis on reports. It is not possible to accidentally leave out a General Ledger Code from any of the reports. GL Codes are automatically included in the reports by virtue of their Category and Sub-Category.

Designing a GL Coding System

The system comes with a comprehensive set of General Ledger Codes which most users find meets the need of their business. However, you can choose to:

• Use your own General Ledger coding system.
• Use the default coding system but add or remove codes, or change their descriptions, to meet your requirements.  

We recommend removing unnecessary Codes and adding only the General Ledger Codes which your business requires. Removal of unnecessary codes makes for a better user experience. If necessary, you can add Codes back later.  

GL Categories and Sub-Categories on Reports

Categories and Sub-Categories should fit your reporting needs:

• Add or delete Categories and Sub-Categories.
• Edit their Descriptions. 
• Edit their P&L Sort Order or the sequence in which they appear in your Profit & Loss Reports. 
• Some reports will only work with certain Category Types so change this if needed:
  • The P & L Reports work with Revenue and Expense General Ledger Codes only.
  • The Balance Sheet reports on Assets, Liabilities, and Equity type General Ledger Codes.
• Sub-Categories and GL Codes inherit their Type from their Category.

See:

Commonly used reports (11.2) - AIQ Academy

Using Extended Business Analysis 

Using Extended Business Analysis for Job or Project Analysis 

Managing General Ledger Accounts 

Using Codes Maintenance 

Using the Report Manager 

The P&L Report Sort Order

The P&L report layout is as follows:

• General Ledger Category: In ascending order of Profit & Loss Sort Order, starting with 1. 
• General Ledger Sub-Category: In ascending order, using the Profit & Loss Sort Order assigned to that Sub-Category. 
• General Ledger Code: In ascending order.

For example:

• If the Category “Operating Income” has a Profit & Loss Sort Order of 1, it will appear as the first line of the Profit & Loss Report, with all its Sub-Categories appearing in sequence beneath it. 
• If the Category “Non-Operating Income has a P&L Sort Order of 2, it will appear next, with all its Sub-Categories in sequence beneath it, and so on.

In the following example, we will demonstrate how to set up a Summary Profit & Loss Report based on this sequence. Summary Profit & Loss Reports will only report on Category and Sub-Category total (Profit & Loss Detailed Reports include GL Codes within the Sub-Categories).

Step One: Set Category Sort Order

Go to Setup > Codes Maintenance > GL Categories and add or edit a Category. 

See Using Codes Maintenance for full details. Ensure the P&L Sort Order fits your needs and tick Re-sort sort order to re-sequence any changes. Click Save.

Here is the set up sort order:

Step Two: Set Sub-Categories Sort Order

Repeat as step one but for Sub-Categories:

Step Three: Assign GL Codes to Categories and Sub-Categories

Go to GL > General Ledger Accounts and open the relevant GL Codes. 

Ensure the GL Code is assigned correctly in the Category and Sub-Category dropdowns. Click Process. See Managing General Ledger Accounts for more details.

Step Four: Review your Report Layout

When you have finished configuring the Categories, Sub-Categories and GL Codes, go to Reports > Report Manager > GL Reports > Chart of Accounts Layout. Click View and check that everything is as required. For more details on reporting, see Using the Report Manager.

In Profit & Loss Reports, you can include auto-calculated Contribution and Gross Profit lines. Contribution is Sales Revenues less Direct Costs. It is the amount available to cover Indirect Costs. Gross Profit is Sales Revenues less the Cost of Goods Sold. The presentation of General Ledger Categories is pre-determined rather than user defined as described above. 

To select this option:

1. Go to Reports > Report Manager > GL Reports > Profit and Loss Vs Budget Summary.
2. Select Yes in the Show Contribution dropdown.
3. Click View.

The Report uses the General Ledger Category and Sub-Category sequencing described in the prior section: