In the Pages section of a report template, you can update and change the default settings for each of the pages. There are various types of pages which have different customisations:
- Presentation Pages
- Financial Pages
- Notes to the Financial Statements
- Depreciation Pages
- Blank Pages
- Legal Pages
- Story Board Pages
The number of pages of a particular page type that can be added to a report depends on the page template set up in the Admin Centre (for those with administrator access). For more information on page templates see the administration guide: Reporting - Page Templates.
To add a new page select + Add Page at the bottom of the screen and select the required page. To remove a page from a report select the x button located at the right side of the page title.
Presentation Pages
- Cover
- Contents
Presentation pages can only have the title customised. To customise the title click on the Customise button and then on the Edit button and type the desired name. If you wish to revert back to the previous name click on the Revert button (this will appear after customising the text).
Financial Pages
- Profit and Loss
- Statement of Comprehensive Income
- Balance Sheet
- Statement of Changes in Equity
- Appropriation Statement
- Direct Cash Flow Statement
- Indirect Cash Flow Statement
The financial pages can be customised in a number of ways to alter the layout:
1. Changing the disclosures display
Click on the dropdown menu of Disclosures Behaviour to show:
- Normal - this will display any linked disclosures as normal in the Notes pages with both relevant text and financial information
- Link Only - this will only display the relevant text of a disclosure in the Notes pages with no financial information
- Disabled - this turns off all disclosures so that none are shown in the Notes pages
2. Swinging Behaviour
You can change how the swinging behaviour works. The options are:
- Keep Balances Together With Primary Column
- Keep Balances Together
- Separate
- Disable
3. Changing the page layout
You are able to customise the layout of financial pages in the Admin Centre using 'Labels' to tag accounts. This is useful for creating concise Profit and Loss reports. If any layouts have been created by an administrator they will be available in the Page Layout dropdown menu. For more information see the administration guide: Reporting - Page Layouts.
3. Changing the profit display in the Profit and Loss
Click on the dropdown menu of the Profit and Loss Display Option to show:
- Profit before Income Tax
- Profit after Income Tax
- Combined Profit and Loss with Statement of Comprehensive Income
4. Separating trading accounts or divisions from the Profit and Loss
To separate trading accounts or divisions from the Profit and Loss use the Display Trading Account Pages dropdown menu, which will give you the option of separating by trading accounts or divisions, or leaving as none. This will ensure each trading account or division is printed on a separate page. The trading account or division balances will cross reference to the Profit and Loss in the area chosen when the trading account/division was created (i.e. Income, Other Income or None). For more information see the knowledge articles: Accounts - Trading Accounts and Accounts - Divisions. Each trading account or division will inherit the column layout applied under the column section outlined above.
5. Changing the report variation in the Statement of Changes in Equity
Click on the dropdown menu of Report Variation to show:
- Normal - this will display the report as per the layout selection (see 'Layout' section below)
- Automated Equity Type Per Column - this will use internal opening balances inside accounts to work out the ‘movements’, and rename accounts in the capital/reserves area to relevant ‘movement’ titles
- Manual Equity Type Per Column - this will work off opening balances being those accounts where ‘opening balances’ are selected against the account, and otherwise display everything else as is - so you can create custom accounts as required to show very detailed movement constructs
6. Creating custom columns
To maximise flexibility you can create different columns within a page template separate from the overall report template. This is particularly useful when you want to show a higher frequency of profit and loss but only a yearly balance sheet comparative. To do this click the Click to create custom columns button.
This will display a column layout exactly the same as the column layout options mentioned in the knowledge article: Reporting - Creating a Report. This column layout and dataset selection will override the selection made for the overall report. This gives you the flexibility to create multiple Profit and Loss pages to display various financial information.
WARNING: Ensure that the correct datasets are used. If you use different datasets, divisions or filters for the Profit and Loss and the Balance Sheet the financial statements may be out of balance.
To revert the columns back to the original columns select the Revert to standard report columns button.
7. Layout
To customise the layout of the report, row headers can be expanded or collapsed to change the amount of information displayed. To expand or collapse an account click on the arrow next to the account.
Note: By default, all account headers will be expanded. If you wish to change the default settings of a report see the administration guide: Reporting - Report Masters.
Sub-header accounts can be shown in the Notes to Financial Statements when they are collapsed by checking the checkbox in the 'Show in Note' column. The following example shows both the collapsed and expanded options, as well as putting the detail of 'Other Expenses' into a Note.
You are also able to further customise the layout by using the visibility toggle (displayed as an eye icon) on headers. Clicking on the icon brings up three options:
- Show - normal display, showing the header and total rows.
- Hide - will 'turn off' the header and it's associated total, so that only the child accounts and their balances are displayed. This is useful for tidying up headers that only contain one account.
- Subtotal Only - will 'turn off' the header and the name of the total, but will still display the subtotal balance of the group in the total row.
Notes to the Financial Statements
The Notes to the Financial Statements page can be customised in a number of ways:
1. Choosing an alternative policy suite
Active Ledger has three standard policy suites by default:
- Simple
- GPFR Simplified Disclosures - 2022
- SPFR - Pre 2001
For more information on creating custom firm notes see the administration guide: Reporting - Notes. A different set of notes can be selected by choosing from the Reporting Suite dropdown menu.
2. Selecting accounting policies and disclosures
The Automatically Select Accounting Policies tick box is checked by default. This uses a set of assigned rules to check which policies to display. To manually override these rules, uncheck the tick box as shown below:
After unticking the checkbox a list of available policies will be displayed. The list of relevant disclosures will always be expanded. The policies and disclosures available will change depending on the selection from the Reporting Suite dropdown menu. You can change the display status to one of the following:
- Yes - note will always be displayed
- No - note will never be displayed
- Auto - note will use rules to determine if it should be displayed.
If more than one variant is available for a particular note then you can select which variant you want to display from the dropdown menu in the variant column, as shown below:
3. Manually linking disclosures
It is also possible to manually add disclosures in the Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet and Statement of Changes in Equity by using the Click to Link option. This will bring up a dialogue screen with a dropdown menu of disclosures available for the chosen reporting suite.
4. Editing a policy or disclosure
It is possible to edit a policy or disclosure at the report template level. To do this, tick the Customise checkbox, which will bring up an Edit Content button.
You are then able to customise the content. For more information on adding and editing content see the knowledge article: Report Content Editor. At any point you are able to switch back to the original content by using the Revert to Master button. To remove the changes, simply untick the Customise checkbox in the policy/disclosure list.
5. Using policy or disclosure content fields
Content fields can be added in various areas by those with administrator access. Depending on the set up, you may be required to interact with this field in a policy or disclosure (as indicated by the red exclamation mark in the image below).
Clicking on the checkbox (if not already ticked) will bring up the field area you need to interact with. Generally, there will be a description and placeholder information to assist with filling in the field. This information will then be rendered in the generated report.
If the field is mandatory and you fail to interact with it, an error will appear in the generated report.
Note: The mandatory option, and subsequent warning, simply checks whether you have interacted with the field or not (which could be as simple as ticking or unticking the checkbox). It does not monitor whether you have actually completed the field.
For more information on accounting policies and disclosures and content fields see the knowledge articles: Reporting - Accounting Policies and Disclosures and Content Fields.
Depreciation Pages
When adding a Depreciation Page, by default the Year of the report will be set to the year chosen as the dataset in the first Column of the report and the Report will be set to Full Summary (both taxation and accounting depreciation). It is possible to customise both options as well selecting which Asset Groups to display.
Note: If selecting an option different from the default it is advised that you change the Title (see the 'Customising the title' section above) to reflect the change (e.g. Depreciation 2020, Depreciation Taxation) as headers do not appear in the report.
Blank Pages
It is possible to add a blank page to reports. Blank pages can only have the title customised. However it is possible to add content to the page once the report has been generated. For more information on adding content see the knowledge article: Report Content Editor.
Legal Pages
- Compilation Report - SPFR
- Accountant's Report Disclaimer
- Client Declaration
Adding an independence clause to the Compilation Report
The Compilation Report contains the option to show an independence clause. To add content to the clause, simply tick the Show Independence Clause checkbox, which will bring up a text box for you to enter the relevant information.
Story Board Pages
- Income Results
- Cashflow Results
- Working Capital Results
Story Board Pages display a graphical representation of the data depending on the page type chosen. Story Board pages can only have the title customised.
Once you have added and customised all the relevant pages, you can go ahead and generate the report (return to the knowledge article: Reporting - Creating a Report)
Next article: Report Content Editor