Understand Report Format Fields and Line Controls

Report Formats are a powerful feature of Budget Manager that allow you to create custom reports tailored precisely to your needs. While incredibly powerful, they can seem a bit confusing at first glance.

We'll review the different field types available in Report Formats and what each one represents. We'll also clarify how the line controls work - these determine how your report data is organized and presented. Let's explore the key elements that make Report Formats such a powerful and handy tool.

Report Format Fields

Line Number

Each entry in a report format table is identified by a unique line number. Line numbers are automatically created when you add a line to the report format.

Account Number

This field displays the budget account number. Every line must have an account number. This includes lines used for headings, lines used for totals, and lines used to add underlines. Accounts must be created with the Accounts module before you can add them to a report format.

Description

Description of the budget account. This field is entered automatically from the Accounts description and may not be changed.

Report Format Line Controls

These fields provide a variety of options that allow you to control the format of your budget report.

Print

This option controls whether the line prints when you print the report. Enter Yes (Y) or No (N) or select Yes or No from the drop-down list.

Lines

The number of lines to advance after printing this line of the report. Use this option to add a blank space after the line. 1 is equal to single spacing, 2 is equal to double spacing, etc. The New Pg option inserts a page breaks after the line and subsequent lines will start printing on the next page.

Description Only

This option controls whether the line prints only the description or the account number, description, and financial totals. Selecting Yes from the drop-down menu will print the description and nothing else in the row. Selecting No will print the account number, description, and amounts.

Select Yes when printing headings, totals, and underlines.

Add

This option controls whether amounts for this account are added to the total level control. Enter Yes (Y) or No (N) or select Yes or No from the drop-down list.

Total

This control is used when printing/displaying sub-totals in your report format and is used in conjunction with the Add control to calculate totals and sub-totals. Nine levels of sub-totals are available. Once the total is printed/displayed, all totals for that total level and below, are cleared. Higher level numbers still have the running totals in them, unless otherwise specified. Total Level 8 is the only exception, it does not zero out totals. Here's an example:

Underline

This control is used to add a line to your report format. Select None, Single, or Double.

Balance Sheet

This option controls whether a total amount is posted to detail records. Select Yes to post the specified total level amount to the details record file to the Account # specified on that line. Balance Sheet Posting is usually used to post the “Revenue over Expense” amount to the balance sheet account specified on the same line. This saves the difference between total revenues and total expenditures (change in fund balance) to your fund balance account.

Report Type

The Report Type option is only used when a report is started (the first line) or when immediately preceded by a page break in the Lines option.

This option gives you the ability to create different report styles or create sections within your budget report. The options include Standard, Alternate, Balance Sheet, and Other. Typically, you'll use Standard or Balance Sheet so your budget report has two sections (one section for your general budget report and one section for your balance sheet).

• The Standard option prints Budgeted Amount, MTD Activity, YTD Activity, Balance, MTD%, and YTD%.
• The Other option prints MTD Budget amount, MTD activity amount, MTD%, YTD Budget Amount, YTD Activity, YTD%, and Account Balance.
• The Alternate option prints Balance Forward, MTD Expense, MTD Receipts, MTD Adjustments, and Balance.