Editing MA Budgets/Actuals

See also: Create records from NL.

To produce meaningful financial reports, the minimum requirement in most applications is to hold both current year actuals and current year budgets. Actuals are normally copied automatically from the Nominal Ledger, but budgets need to be assigned to the appropriate budget type. This program provides input forms for the creation and editing of the budget figures, and, in circumstances where the Management Accounts module is being run in stand-alone mode, actuals would also be entered by means of this program.

Note: Although figures on profit-and-loss accounts are displayed (and therefore input) with the normal convention of showing actual period movement on balance sheet accounts the year-to-date figure is displayed. This allows you to input, for example, expected balance against a control account rather than plus or minus movements. After year end, you may notice that, on balance sheet accounts, all periods contain the same (first period) figure, and this convention continues after each period end. For example, all remaining periods are set to equal the current period when actuals are copied across.

To edit MA budgets/actuals:

1. From the Rev.8 Master Menu, select the Management Accounts option and Company you require.

   The MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTS menu is displayed.

2. Select the Edit MA budgets/actuals option.

   One of the following occurs:

   • If no input formats have been set up, the message No formats available is displayed. Click OK to return to the MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTS menu, select the Miscellaneous options option and then select the Input formats option on the Miscellaneous options menu to create the input formats required.

   • If only one input format exists, the appropriate edit form is displayed, ready for the input or adjustment of budget figures. Make any necessary changes and click Save.

   • If more than one input format exists, the Edit MA budgets/actuals form is displayed, enabling you to choose between a number of formats. Select the format you require and click OK. Make any necessary changes on the edit form and click Save.

Edit MA Budget/Actuals Form

This form is displayed when you click Management Accounts > Edit MA budgets/actuals and more than one input format exists. It enables you to choose an input format.

Buttons:

Exit: Returns you to the MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTS menu.

OK: Displays the edit form for the highlighted input format.

Current Year's Actuals/Current Budgets/Next Year's Actual/Next Year's Budget Form

Note: The name of this form depends on which option you selected on the Edit MA budgets/actuals form.

This form is displayed when you click Management Accounts > Edit MA budgets/actuals and click OK. It enables you to edit an input format. You can enter a Cost Centre and Expense Code within this option. Provided that these exist separately, you can continue to edit the budget, even if they do not exist in NL accounts as the combined Cost Centre and Expense code (that is, as a valid account code).

Account code:

Cost centre: Cost centre required, selectable with the upper ellipsis button

Expense code: Expense code, selectable with the lower ellipsis button

Grid:

The column headings are the names of the budget types (for example Current Budget, Current Actuals and so on) set up for this input format by selecting Miscellaneous options > Input formats.

When you have entered the Account code data, the grid columns are filled either with your previously entered data or with zeros if no data has yet been set up. Depending on your input format, the grid can have up to four columns, of which any number can have been specified as editable (as opposed to display only). If all columns are display only, no editing can be performed (see Input formats).

You can edit by selecting the required field and then double clicking. Editable budget types that are available are displayed for the selected period.

All cells: When this check-box is selected, if you edit any cell the system changes all the other cells in that column to the same value.

View on the graph:

By selecting the required check boxes, you can determine which budget types are displayed on the graph when the Graph button is clicked. Only two budget types can be selected at any one time.

Buttons:

Profile: When you enter a total figure for the financial year, you can use a profile to complete a column automatically, spreading or apportioning an amount over the year. You can enter profile data by clicking the top of an editable column, or by clicking Profile (if a profile already exists) after selecting the column required. The data required is as follows:

• Profile to be used (an ellipsis search facility is provided)
• Total value to spread (for example the amount for the whole year)
• Rounding factor (defaulted from System Parameters, and determines how the total amount is rounded via the spread values.)

Graph: Displays either one or two columns in graphical form, depending on which check boxes you select in the View on the graph group-box. When the graph is displayed, click Bar or Pie to change between pie graph and bar chart. Each period is displayed along the horizontal axis of the graph, and the amount on the vertical axis.

Save: Saves the Budgets and Actuals data.

Exit: Returns you to the MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTS menu. If any amendments have been made, you can do one of the following: Cancel or Save-details of your changes or Quit-without-saving.