Article Objective: To assist users in navigating the Active Platform to understand the concepts of accounts within Active Ledger & Reporting. Context: The standard chart can be customised by an administrator to provide a firm-wide standard. For more information, see the administrator guide: Managing the standard chart of accounts. Please refer to the Glossary for definitions of key terms used in this article. TABLE OF CONTENTS |
An overview
The Accounts screen is how you configure your client's various charts of accounts into the Active Ledger standard chart, provide custom header accounts for reporting purposes, and alter individual accounts.
On the right-hand side of the screen is a list of accounts that have not been allocated to the standard chart.
Understanding the standard chart
Accounts
Active Ledger works with a number of different account types. It is important to familiarise yourself with the following terms:
- Account - has been created in Active Ledger generally for presentation purposes. An account may have several source accounts linked to it
- Source account - exists in the client's accounting system and contains ledger data
- Standard account - has been created in Active Ledger at a firm level to help standardise the chart. A standard account may have several accounts linked to it
- Master account - another term for the system headers (see below) provided by Active Ledger.
Headers
The standard chart of accounts comes with a range of default system headers that cannot be changed. However, you can add additional layers of grouping to enhance the readability of the accounts. Importantly, in the Reports screen, you will also have options to hide group details or include them in the notes, making them a powerful way of managing the amount of detail displayed and giving you the ability to customise a given report.
To add a custom header, select an existing account header under which you wish to create the new custom header, and click on the ellipsis to the right. This will bring up a menu allowing you to choose Add Custom Header.
A custom header is distinguished from a system header (one of the default headers provided by Active Ledger) by the fact that it has the hamburger icon (
). A custom header can be relocated to another header account by dragging and dropping it. You can also rename or delete the custom header at any point by clicking on the ellipsis to the right.
In the image below, the 'Cash and Cash Equivalents' account is a system header, while the 'Bank Accounts' account is a custom header.
Allocating unallocated accounts
There are four ways to allocate accounts:
- Auto allocate
- Right click > insert
- Drag and drop
- Quick group
1. Auto allocate (recommended): Uses a set of system-defined rules to automatically allocate the accounts. To auto allocate accounts using the firm default matching rules select Auto Allocate as shown below. This usually allocates approximately 90% of accounts, leaving about 10% for you to manually allocate, depending on the client and their chart of accounts.
Note: These rules can be defined globally by the administrator and/or on a per entity basis. For more information on how to add and edit matching rules, see the knowledge article: Accounts - auto-allocate matching rules.
2. Right click > insert: Click on the unallocated account/s on the right-hand side (to select multiple accounts use the shift and ctrl key options) so they are highlighted in grey. Then right-click the relevant area on the left-hand side and insert the account/s above, below or into a header.
3. Drag and drop: Allows you to select the unallocated account on the right and drag it into place on the left-hand side of the screen. When dragging an account, the placeholder can show one of two options:
i. A grey 'Insert here...' line: This will reposition the account to the location of the insert line.
ii. A black border of an existing account: This will result in Active Ledger combining the two accounts and treating them as one. This can always be undone by clicking the edit icon and selecting the unlink icon of the relevant account.
Accounts that have been moved using the drag and drop method are marked as 'Manual'. Therefore, they will be excluded from any future auto allocations, this ensures that the accounts are not constantly changing.
4. Quick group: Allows you to quickly create a group of accounts under a custom header. Click on the unallocated account/s on the right-hand side (to select multiple accounts use the shift and ctrl key options) so they are highlighted in grey. Then right-click on the selected accounts. This will bring up the Quick Group option.
Once Quick Group is selected you will be taken to the below screen. This information, including account name, classification and account type will prefill however if you need to change anything, you can manually override the information.
For example, by default, the account type will be set to 'All Other Expenses'. To override this, change the mode to the right from 'Inherited' to 'Manual' and then change the account type accordingly. See the knowledge article Accounts - Auto-Allocate Matching Rules for more information on the mode function.
Note: The 'right click>insert', 'drag and drop' and 'quick group' methods can also be used to move accounts and custom headers in the allocated screen to arrange the standard chart to your preference.
Note: Once customised, the standard chart for this entity will remain static for future years (unless edited). You will only need to allocate any new accounts that may arise.
Account options
On the allocated screen, you can select the ellipses icon against any row to do the following:
| Action | Description | System Header | Custom Header | Account |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Add Custom Header | Adds a custom header underneath the chosen header account. | ü | ||
| Edit | Allows you to edit the details for this account, including the account number and name to be shown in Active Ledger. See 'List of edit options' below for more information. | ü | ü | |
| Sort by Account Number | Sorts all accounts and headers immediately underneath the chosen header by account number. | ü | ü | |
| Sort by Account Name | Sorts all accounts and headers immediately underneath the chosen header by account name. | ü | ü | |
| Delete | Allows you to delete the header. | ü |
List of edit options
Note: Options will slightly vary depending on whether you have clicked on edit via the ellipses for a header or directly on the edit icon for an account.
| Field | Description | Validation |
|---|---|---|
| Account No | This is imported from the source. If it is a manually created account it should be a unique value. | Optional |
| Account Name | This is imported from the source. If it is a manually created account it should be a unique name. | Required |
| Classification (dropdown menu) | The standard classification of the account. This is for presentation and ease of finding accounts. It does not impact financial reporting. | Required |
| Header | States the system or custom header that the account sits under. This cannot be edited and will only change if the account is reallocated. | Required |
| Auto Match Mode | Adjust this to control whether auto-match rules should be run on this account. There are two options:
For further information, see the knowledge article: Accounts - auto allocate matching rules. | Required |
| Account Type (dropdown menu) | Represents the system header from the standard chart to which the account is allocated to and can only be edited by changing the mode from inherited to manual. | Required |
| Mode | Adjust this to control whether auto-match rules should be run on this account, or whether it should be inherited from the header account. There are three options:
| Required |
| Opening Balance Account (checkbox) | If selected, this account will be classed as the opening balance account for all accounts under the same header. For more information on opening balances, see the knowledge article: Accounts - opening balances. | Optional |
| Report Title | This is the title for the account to be used in alternative reports. | Optional |
| Report Labels (dropdown menu) | This is the label that the account will be allocated to for alternative reporting purposes. Options will depend based on what labels and page layouts have been created for the firm. For more information on report labels, see the administrator guide: Reporting - page layouts. | Optional |
| Cashflow Category (dropdown menu) | This is the default category the account will appear under in a cashflow statement. It is possible to override the default by selecting a new category from the dropdown. To learn more about cashflows, see the knowledge article: Datasets - cashflow. | Required |
| Swinging Account Information | Determines whether the account will be displayed in a different location if it has a negative balance. An alternative name, account type and tax category can be chosen for when the account swings. If left blank the defaults will be used. Only available for certain accounts. For these accounts, the checkbox for 'Is Swinging Account' is ticked by default. For more information on swinging accounts, see the knowledge article: Reporting - pages. | Optional |
| Tax Settings | This is where the tax category is able to be changed from the default option and the account can be categorised as primary production or non-taxable, if applicable. | Optional |
| Default Division (dropdown menu) | This is the default division that the account is assigned to. This is useful for reporting on different offices and locations. Options will depend on what divisions exist for the entity. To learn more about divisions, see the knowledge article: Accounts - divisions. | Optional |
| Default Account (dropdown menu) | This is the default trading account that the account is assigned to. This is useful for reporting trading profit and loss accounts or livestock trading accounts. Options will depend on what trading accounts exist for the entity. To learn more about trading accounts, see the knowledge article: Accounts - trading accounts. | Optional |
| Consolidate (checkbox) | Used when combining entities for reporting purposes. To learn more about consolidations, see the knowledge article: Consolidations. | Optional |
| Source Accounts | Shows which source accounts are linked to the account. This enables individual accounts to be allocated to divisions and/or trading accounts independently. You are also able to unlink accounts or mark them as inactive. | Required |
Account recommendations
The standard chart can be customised in the Admin Centre to provide a firm-wide standard (for more information, see the administrator guide: Managing the standard chart of accounts). The setup of this standard chart will determine which accounts and headers will be recommended in an entity's chart.
Recommendations can be seen in the column to the right of the Detail column. Clicking on the information icon above the column will show you the legend of the different recommendation types.
Note: It is not necessary to accept or decline all recommendations in the chart. They are there as a guide only.
To view the recommendation/s click on the icon of the relevant account. In the case of '406 Training' below, a standard account has been set up and you are being recommended to link to it by selecting the first option in the dropdown. It is also possible to link to another account if preferred by selecting Find Standard Account.
Of course, it is also possible to decline the recommendation by selecting the decline option. If you choose to do so, a lock will appear in the column. Clicking on the lock brings up the option to re-enable recommendations.
Similarly, it is also possible to unlink from the standard chart by clicking on the green tick icon.
WARNING: Unlinking from a standard account does only that. It DOES NOT revert the account name or number back to its previous form. Also, if you have linked several accounts to the same standard account and then use the 'Unlink from Standard Account' option, all those source accounts will remain linked in the chart account and will need to be manually unlinked by editing the account.
Accounts screen view
The Accounts screen can be set to different views to optimise working with accounts. The different views that can be used are:
- Default view
- Consolidations view
- Divisional and trading account view
- Primary production view
- Recommendations view
- Report labels view
- Tax view
- Cashflow view
- Statement of changes in equity view
If you navigate away from the Accounts screen, the last view you were using will remain when you return.
1. Default view
This is the view you will see when first working with an entity's chart of accounts. It is the best view to use when allocating accounts.
Note: In all views, it is possible to contract or expand the unallocated list by clicking on the arrow between the allocated and unallocated accounts lists. In certain views, this defaults to contracted.
2. Consolidations view
This view allows you to quickly tag accounts as those that need to be consolidated for reporting multiple entities by simply ticking or unticking the checkbox next to the account. If the account is ticked, a 'Consolidate' tag will be present next to the Detail column in all account screen views.
For more information on consolidations, see the knowledge article: Consolidations.
3. Divisional and trading account view
The divisional and trading account view shows an overview of division and trading account allocation by account. From this screen, you can add or remove accounts from divisions and trading accounts without having to enter the edit screen of each account individually. The blue division tag and grey trading account tag next to the Detail column are only visible in this view.
In the image above '302 Advertising & Marketing' has a black 'Multi' tag allocated to it. This is because there are a number of source accounts combined in this account and the individual source accounts have been allocated to different divisions. Ticking the Show Source Accounts checkbox will show you the divisions and trading accounts at the source account level.
For more information on divisions and trading accounts, see the knowledge articles: Accounts - divisions and Accounts - trading accounts.
4. Primary production view
This view allows you to quickly allocate or remove trading accounts designated as primary production. This option is only available for 'Cost of Sales' accounts. Once a trading account has been chosen, a second dropdown will become available to allow you to choose the production cost type. These designations are used when preparing primary production quantity journals.
For more information on primary production see the knowledge article: Datasets - other info - primary production.
5. Recommendations view
The recommendations view is an expanded view of the account recommendations discussed above. It shows the recommended links to standard accounts without having to click on the star icon of each account. You are able to accept individual recommendations by clicking on the Accept button. It is also possible to accept all recommendations at once by clicking the Accept All Recommendations button.
6. Report labels view
An account label enables you to show accounts differently from their normal place in the chart. When linked to a label, account balances will be shown totalled and at the specified location in the report with the name of the label. Labels can only be created by an administrator and are firm-specific, so the list of labels available will be determined by what has been set up for your firm. For more information see the administrator guide: Reporting - page layouts.
Multiple labels can be allocated to an account (although only one per layout), so the report labels view allows you to quickly select or view those labels using the dropdowns without having to edit accounts individually.
7. Tax view
The tax view allows users to view the tax category for each account and select whether they are in relation to primary production or are non taxable. Tax categories can be changed by using the dropdown menu next to the account, while the checkboxes can be selected to indicate whether it is a primary production account or non taxable account.
8. Cashflow view
This view allows you to select the relevant cashflow category for the account by using the dropdown menu to the right of the account. By selecting the edit icon, you are able to view the default cashflow category that has been assigned to the account.
For more information on cashflow, see the knowledge article: Datasets - cashflow.
9. Statement of changes in equity
The statement of changes in equity view allows users to select the movement category for selected equity accounts. When adding a statement of changes in equity to the financial report, you are able to customise the report variation from default to 'Equity Type Per Column Using Movements'. This is where the movement category selection will be used.
For more information on statement of changes in equity, see the knowledge article: Statement of Changes in Equity.
Source accounts screen
By navigating to the Source Accounts tab, you are able to see a list of all accounts by source. Select the relevant source from the dropdown menu in the top left of the tab. From here you can see what accounts the source accounts have been linked to (if any).
This screen can also be used to delete or inactivate accounts. This is particularly useful if you have deleted a source and no longer want the accounts associated with that source in the chart of accounts. Either inactivate or delete each account individually by using the Inactive checkbox or trash icon to the right of the relevant account, or do a bulk delete by clicking the Purge All Unused Accounts button.
Note: You can only delete accounts that have no underlying data.
Finally, the Source Accounts tab can be used to create a new account without preparing a journal. Simply click on the + New Account button and a dialogue will appear for you to enter the relevant details of the account.
