Accounting Reporting - How to set up

This topic covers Accounting Reporting including the Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Trial Balance.

What You'll Find on this Page

  • Income Statement
  • Trial Balance
    • Setting up
  • Balance Sheet
    • Setting up
  • VAT Types and VAT Control
    • VAT Percent
    • VAT Types
    • Capturing prices that include or exclude VAT
    • VAT Types on Items and Price Lists
    • Copying Transactions
    • VAT Control
    • Setting up the VAT Control

Income Statement

The QuickEasy Income Statement provides many different display options which are complemented by a companion graph.

  • Reports - The default Income Statement is set up under Setup >Settings & Defaults > Accounting > Categories.

Additional Income Statement 'Reports' can be set up under the 'Reporting' tab. eg. to View the Income Statement for specific Business entities or groups of Business Entities.

  • Date - The Income Statement can be viewed for any date period.
  • Periods - Up to 12 comparative periods can be viewed side-by-side. These could be 12 consecutive months or years or it could be one month/quarter viewed for twelve consecutive years. The 'Variance' column indicates the change between the first and last periods that are being viewed.

Trial Balance

The Trial Balance is the place to check that all the Accounting transactions balance. (This can also be done in the Ledger using the 'Incomplete Transactions' filter)

The Data Filter enables you to select a Financial Year followed by a range of Months (Periods) in the Financial Year. The Financial Year filter will be automatically be populated to include the dates of all the Ledger Transactions. The Periods filter will be populated according to the Setting: Financial Year - Starting Month.

By default, only accounts with values in them are displayed. Click Menu > Show all Accounts to remove the filter and display all the Accounts.

To view an account summary, double-click on an account or click the button in the right-hand column of the grid to open the Account Summary in the Workspace panel. The Account Summary will display all the Transactions for the selected Period - ie. the Transactions that make up the Movement part of the Trial Balance. Double-clicking on a Transaction in the Account Summary will open the Transaction.

The Trial Balance has two views, a Summary View that displays a list of Accounts and their corresponding balances and a Details View that displays all the Transactions that make up the Trial Balance.

Use the Menu > View summary and Menu > View Details items to change the view. If the Summary View balances, the Details View will also balance, but the totals in the Debit and Credit columns will of course differ.

NB. When VAT is included in the Trial Balance, the rounding of VAT amounts may cause the Trial Balance to be out of balance by a few cents.

Setting up

The Account Categories include a Trial Balance setting which determines how the Trial Balance is populated.

Real accounts are also known as Permanent or Balance Sheet accounts and will have balances that carry over from one financial year to the next. Said another way, balance sheet accounts start every new financial year with the closing balance from the previous financial year. With this option, the Trial balance is populated with the Opening Balance as at the beginning of the Financial Year as well as with Movement on the Account for the selected period.

Nominal accounts are also known as Temporary or Income & Expense accounts. These accounts only run for that financial year. That means no balances are carried over to the next financial year. Eg. In the case of Sales. This account will accumulate from the 1st month of the year up to the 12th. Then in the following financial year it starts again at zero.

The Opening option is used for Real Accounts that are only updated once annually. eg. Retained Earnings. With this option, the Trial Balance is only populated with the Opening Balance as at the start of the Financial Year.

The Dr and Cr suffix on the options determines which side of the Trial Balance the Accounts will be summarised to.

The Accounts include a Reporting setting which determines whether values will be summarised using the Excluding VAT, Including VAT or VAT Amount values of transactions.

Balance Sheet

The Balance Sheet provides a snapshot of a company's financial position as at a specific date and is displayed in a tree-view grid which is divided into three categories, based on the accounting equation which is: Assets = Equity + Liability. The fixed Categories are:

  • Assets
  • Liabilities & Equity > Liabilities
  • Liabilities & Equity > Equity

Each of these fixed Categories is populated with the Account Categories that are linked to them and the Account Categories are in turn populated with the Accounts that are linked to them.

When set up correctly, the Assets total should equal the Liabilities & Equities total - allowing for a few cents difference due to VAT rounding.

The QuickEasy Software Balance Sheet also displays the totals for the same date in the Previous Year as well as the Growth % and an accompanying chart to illustrate the year-on-year growth.

You are able to drill-down to the transactions linked to an Account by clicking the drill-down (Eye Icon) button on the right of the tree-view grid.

Setting up

The Balance Sheet must be setup under Setup > Accounting as follows:

  • Account Categories - Link the Account Categories to Assets, Liabilities or Equity using the drop-down list in the 'Balance Sheet' column.
  • Set the Reporting column to Excluding VAT, Including VAT or VAT Amount using the dropdown list provided. This setting is also used for the Trial Balance.

VAT Types and VAT Control

VAT Types

The VAT Types are created and maintained under Main Menu > Setup > Setup Accounting > VAT Types.

VAT Types have two fields, a Description and a '%.

The percentage must be set to 100% if the VAT Type is used for 100% VAT Transactions. eg. Used in VAT Payment transactions.

Typical VAT Types would include:

  • 1 - Standard - 15%
  • 2 - Exempt - 0%
  • 3 - Zero-rated - 0%
  • 4 - VAT Only - 100%

The overall default VAT Types for Standard as well as Forex/Exempt are set in Main Menu > Setup > Settings & Defaults > Settings > Accounting.

The overall default VAT Types for Standard as well as Forex/Exempt can also be set for each Transaction Type. These settings are populated from the overall default when a new Transaction Type is created.

  • See Main Menu > Setup > Transaction Types > Items and Inventory.
  • If the Transaction Type > VAT Type (Standard) setting is blank, it is assumed the Transaction Type does not use VAT at all in which case all the VAT related fields are hidden.
  • The Transaction Type > VAT Type Filter setting enables you to restrict which VAT Types may be used in a Transaction. This is done by adding a VAT Type ID filter into the field provided. eg. To restrict a Transaction Type to Standard and Exempt only (using the VAT Types example above), the filter would be 'in (1,2)'.

VAT Percent

The default VAT percent is set under Main Menu > Setup > Settings & Defaults > Settings > Accounting > VAT Type > %. This setting is only used as a default to populate the VAT % when new VAT Types are created.

Capturing prices that include or exclude VAT

If your company trades with other VAT registered entities, you would likely want to work in prices that exclude VAT. If, however, your company generally sells to retail clients who are not VAT registered, you would likely want to round your prices to a VAT inclusive amount.

QuickEasy enables you to enter VAT Inc or Exc prices by toggling the VAT setting in Transaction Items.

If the VAT Type is blank or the VAT % = 0% or 100%, this setting is cleared.

VAT Types on Items and Price Lists

VAT Types as well as the setting to capture prices Inc/Exc VAT are set at an Item and a Price List level. When an Item is added to a Transaction, the Item's VAT settings will override the Transaction Type's default settings, but only if the VAT Type on the Item falls within the VAT Type filter on the Transaction Type.

Copying Transactions

When a Transaction is copied, the VAT settings on the Transaction will be copied but only if the VAT Type on the Item falls within the 'VAT Type filter' on the Transaction Type. If a Transaction that uses Standard VAT is copied to a Transaction that does not use VAT, the following will happen:

  • if the Item Type on the new Transaction is Default Item , the VAT inclusive amount is copied.
  • if the Item Type on the new Transaction is Items, the VAT exclusive amount is copied.

VAT Control

The VAT Control module is used to manage your Value Added Tax (VAT). You are able to filter on any Date Period and view all the transaction that influence VAT. The Grid View in which the transactions are displayed can be grouped and filtered to the Transaction Type or the VAT Type. The standard Output functionality enables you to customise their VAT Reports using templates.

Setting up the VAT Control

There are many settings that influence the behaviour of the VAT Control as outlined below:

Navigate to Main Menu > Setup > Settings & Defaults > Accounting

  • Categories - A Taxation category is required to which the VAT Control Account can be linked.
  • Accounts - Create a VAT Control Account, set the Reporting = VAT Amount and add a filter for the Account Categories which affect VAT. (Sales, Other Income, Cost of Sales, Expenses, etc.)
  • VAT Types - The VAT Types can be edited under Main Menu > Setups > Settings & Defaults > Accounting > VAT Types. A Vat Type where the VAT=Price is VAT needs to be added for the VAT payment Transaction Type.
  • Transaction Types - A Vat Payment Transaction Type needs to be created under Setups > Transaction Types, the Accounting column must be checked and access must be granted to the user who will record the VAT Payments in the Ledger. In Setups > Accounting > Transaction Types the VAT Payment must be setup as follows: VAT Type = VAT Amount; Dr Category = Taxation; Dr Account = VAT Control; Cr Category = Bank; Cr Account = Bank from which the VAT payments are made.
  • Settings & Defaults - Set Default - VAT Type, the VAT % and VAT Control Account.