Accessing the binder templates Admin Centre

Navigate to the Active Platform home page. 

Click on your name icon and press Admin Centre. 

Click on Binder Templates under the Workpapers banner. You will be taken to another webpage.

The list you see on the screen are the default binder templates on offer through the Active Platform as part of your subscription. This list will vary slightly for users as these specific 'Firm' templates will not be included. 

Creating and adding a customised firm binder template

To add a new firm binder template, click + Add Binder Template.

Click the Active checkbox to make your new binder template active and available for your firms users to access. Select the binder type for the type of compliance work your binder template relates to, e.g. Accounts and Tax for year end work or Activity Statements for BAS related binders. 

Give your binder template a name, such as 'Year End Compliance'. Select a date range where you want the binder template to be available for. If you want the binder to be available for only one specific year you can select it to be available from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023 for example. However, most likely you will want the binder template to be available for multiple future periods so extend the end date as pictured.

Select the entity types that you want the binder to be available for. For example, for a year end binder that you wish to make specifically for company, trust and partnership entities, select these types as shown. Select jurisdictions if your firm has multiple jurisdictions or leave unselected for the binder template to be available to all jurisdictions.

Document defaults

Within the Document Defaults section, this is where you nominate the job type, filing cabinet, document type and status for documents loaded into the customised binder. For example, if a user uploads a bank statement as a supporting document to this Year End Compliance binder when using it to prepare a job, the bank statement will be automatically saved under year end compliance, accounting cabinet as an EOFY document type with a review status.

Record templates 

In the Record Templates section area you can add specific sections to your customised binder. A section is an area within the Workpaper binder that houses specific information. Every binder will have a trial balance section as standard, however you can add other sections for users to store information in.  

Click + Add Section.

Give your section a name, such as 'Permanent' for example and assign it a code, such as 'PERM'.

You can make entity specific sections to only show in certain entities. For example, you can add a section called 'Trust Information' and make it available only to trust entities. A Permanent section relates to any entity, so leave it available to all entity types. 

Select the template categories that would be relevant to the section you are creating. Template categories are the different categories that Business Fitness and your firms record templates are stored in. For example, the Permanent section would require record templates that sit within the General, Summary Info and Job Management categories as no financial templates would be used within this section.

Once you have selected record template categories, you can add standard record templates from the template list and set them as recommended, mandatory or optional records to add within the section.

Click + Add Record Template and select the record you would like to include as standard within this section, such as 'Accounts & Tax Checklist'. Click Next Step. 

Hint: If you want to add your own firm worksheet as a recommendation in a binder, you must first have added this worksheet within the Admin Centre. See article How to add a firm record template for guidance on how to do this.   

Select the Level from the options below:

• Optional - a worksheet that may or may not be used as support for a balance at the firm level
  
• Recommended - a worksheet that is desired to be used as support for a balance at the firm level
  
• Mandatory - a worksheet that must be used as support for a balance at the firm level. Any mandatory worksheets that are not accepted and used will be flagged as such in the Review Centre.
  

Add a Default Title to call the worksheet and write notes as required.

Click Next Step.

Entity type: select the entity type you wish this record to be recommended for. For example, if creating a provision for tax record type recommendation, select only tax paying entities in this section (such as companies, superfunds and individuals). Leave blank if the worksheet applies to all entities.

Date filters: change the date filter where you only want the worksheet to be recommended for a specific time period. For example, for COVID related worksheets, these may only be recommended for binder period dates between 01/07/2019-30/06/2022. For this example, we will leave it as 'Always'. 

Click Save and Close.

Add as many sections and templates to each section as you desire to customise your binder

Trial Balance recommendations

Within the Trial Balance section you can select which record templates are recommended to users at different account lines.

Click on + Add Record Template.

A record can be attached as a recommendation to a specific account, such as Plant & Equipment using the account type or by not selecting any specific account type. Both examples will be shown below.

Account type example – where account type is selected

Choose the account type you wish to add a binder record template recommendation to. For this example, Plant & Equipment will be used.

Click Next Step.

Select the worksheet you wish to add as a recommendation against a Plant & Equipment account type. Click Next Step.

Hint: If you want to add your own firm worksheet as a recommendation in a binder, you must first have added this worksheet within the Admin Centre. See article How to add a firm record template for guidance on how to do this.

Select the Level from the options below:

• Optional - a worksheet that may or may not be used as support for a balance at the firm level
  
• Recommended - a worksheet that is desired to be used as support for a balance at the firm level
  
• Mandatory - a worksheet that must be used as support for a balance at the firm level. Any mandatory worksheets that are not accepted and used will be flagged as such in the Review Centre.
  

Add a Default Title to call the worksheet and write notes as required.

Click Next Step.

Select the entity type you wish this record to be recommended for. For example, if creating a provision for tax record type recommendation, select only tax paying entities in this section (such as companies, superfunds and individuals). Leave blank if the worksheet applies to all entities.

Filters

Date filters: Change the date filter where you only want the worksheet to be recommended for a specific time period. For example, for COVID related worksheest, these may only be recommended for binder period dates between 01/07/2019-30/06/2022. In this case, leave as Always.

Balance filters:

• Balance presence filter - allows rules to be set as to when the record should be recommended and allows the worksheet to be inserted when there is a balance in any column or only the primary column (current year). For Plant & Equipment, it is assumed that a worksheet would be added to the account if there is a balance in either current or prior year as a manager may wish to inspect why assets no longer exist this year
  
• Balance sign filter - add a balance sign filter if you only wish to recommend the worksheet where there is either a positive or negative balance. If not, leave as Any
  
• Lower / upper threshold - put dollar value thresholds where you only wish to recommend the worksheet where the account balance is above or below a certain amount. If not, leave blank.
  

Account filters: In this example, account filters would not need to be applied as the Fixed Asset Depreciation worksheet will be recommended for all accounts that have the Plant & Equipment account type. 

Click Save and Close.

The Fixed assets depreciation worksheet will now be recommended as an optional worksheet in any binder against any account that has the Plant & Equipment account type, as shown below.

Account type example – where account type is not selected

A recommendation can also be made without selecting a specific account type. For example, for entertainment expense, it would be easier to only filter for specific account terminology rather than account type.

Leave the account type selector defaulted as 'Attach to any account type'. Click Next Step.

Search for the worksheet you wish to recommend against an entertainment GL account. Click Next Step.

Select the Level from the options below:

• Optional – a worksheet that may or may not be used as support for a balance at the firm level
• Recommended – a worksheet that is desired to be used as support for a balance at the firm level
• Mandatory – a worksheet that must be used as support for a balance at the firm level. Any mandatory worksheets that are not accepted and used will be flagged as such in the Review Centre.

Add a Default Title to call the worksheet and write notes as required.

Click Next Step.

Entity types: select the entity type you wish this record to be recommended for. Entertainment can apply to all entities so leave defaulted as 'Available to all entity types'.

Filters

Date filters: Change the date filter where you only want the worksheet to be recommended for a specific time period. Entertainment rules apply to all financial years, so this would be left as Always.

Balance filters:

• Balance presence filter: allows rules to be set as to when the record should be recommended and allows the worksheet to be inserted when there is a balance in any column or only the primary column (current year).  For Entertainment Expense, it is assumed that a worksheet would be added to the account if there is a balance only in the current year 
• Balance sign filter: add a balance sign filter if you only wish to recommend the worksheet where there is either a positive or negative balance. If not, leave as Any
• Lower/upper threshold: put dollar value thresholds where you only wish to recommend the worksheet where the account balance is above or below a certain amount. If not, leave blank.

Account filters: Can allow a search by account name, number or account type. In this example, account filters would be used to find any account that has a phrase such as 'Entertain'. The system will search the trial balance for any account with that includes this phrase, which can be any part of a word. Click match type, Account Name.

Match conditions: 

• Classification - allows a match for an account classification, such as assets or expenses
• Find - is where you type the phrase, such as 'Entertain', for the system to find the account to recommend the entertainment worksheet against
• Case Sensitive – the find condition can be made case sensitive by clicking the 'Case Sensitive' box. Leave unticked for a more accurate match
• Search Mode - relates to where in the account name should the system search for your phrase. 'Anywhere' will tell the system to find the phrase anywhere in the account name, whereas 'Begins With' will only recommend the worksheet against an account that begins with the phrase 'Entertain'.

Click Save and Close.

The entertainment worksheet will now be recommended as an optional worksheet in any binder that includes an Entertainment GL account, as shown below.

Finalising the binder template 

To finalise the binder template, scroll to the bottom and click Create.

Your binder will be available for selection from the create binder screen as below.

The binder will look like this when the user opens it.