Overview: Divisions are a way of separating reporting for different divisions within an entity's file. This can be done on any basis required, for example different business locations, different entities in a consolidation or even different salesperson reporting. The benefit of divisions is flexibility.
Please refer to the Glossary for definitions of key terms used in this article.
Creating a division report - overiew
This style of report is generated automatically when creating the report by allocating an account to a division. There are three steps in this process:
. Creating a division
Allocating an account to a division classification
Producing a report with divisional report settings.
A sample of a division report layout is as follows.
Creating a division
To create a new division, click File Settings and select Divisions from any screen within the client file.
You will be directed to a screen where all available divisions are listed. To create a new division, select + New Division.
The below screen will pop up.
This where you will need to provide the following details including:
FIELD | DESCRIPTION | VALIDATION |
Code | A code to identify the division. | Required |
Name | A name to identify the division. | Required |
Profit and Loss Location | Choose from 'Income', 'Other Income', or 'None'. This determines where the summary appears on the profit and loss statement. | Required |
Page Title | Specify an alternative title for the division page in a report. If left blank, by default, it will use the division name. | Optional |
Page Layout | Specify an alternative page layout for the division page in a report. If left blank, it will use the default Active page layout. | Optional |
Column Layout | Specify an alternative column layout for the division page in a report. If left blank, it will use the default Active column layout. | Optional |
Link to Source Division | If you have tracking categories already set up in the client accounting file (e.g. tracking categories in a Xero file), you can choose to link these to this file. This has the added benefit of not having to manually select the accounts to allocate to the tracking category. This process is outlined below. | Optional |
Once you are happy with the above information, proceed with linking the division to a source division (if applicable).
Click on the Link to Source Division button.
This will bring up the option to select the relevant source and associated divisions available for that source. Once selected, click the Add button to link the division.
Note: Multiple divisions can be chosen from multiple sources.
Once completed click the Add Division button to create the division.
You will now see it appear in the list.
Allocating an account to a division
If you have chosen to link to a source division as described above, you are only required to select any additional accounts you wish to report within that division which are not outlined in your client's accounting file.
To allocate an account to a division, navigate to the Accounts screen and edit an account by selecting the edit icon to the right of the relevant account.
On the accounts edit screen, select the required division from the drop-down list.
There are two options, you can either:
Select the default behaviour of the whole Active Ledger account; or
Select the behaviour of a single source account. This is useful for sub-accounts or linked accounts that may have different properties.
Note: An account can be added to both a division and a trading account. For more information on trading accounts, see the support article: How to set up trading accounts. This allows you the most flexibility when reporting.
After editing the account, select the Save Account button. The account has now been allocated to that division for the purpose of reporting.
Divisional and trading account view
To allocate multiple accounts to divisions quickly you can use the 'Divisional and Trading Accounts' view in the Accounts screen. For more information, see the support article: How to work with accounts.
Producing a report with divisional report settings
See below for additional resources which will assist when producing a report with divisions.
SUPPORT ARTICLE | REPORT |
To produce a report which includes both divisions and trading accounts. | |
For information relating to customising profit and loss pages for divisions. | |
For information relating to general report settings, including customising for divisions. |
Divisions vs trading accounts
You can also use trading accounts in a similar way.
For a comparison between the two, refer to the table below. See the support article: How to set up trading accounts for more information.
FEATURE | DIVISIONS | TRADING ACCOUNTS |
Tag accounts | ✓ | ✓ |
Tag transactions | ✓ |
|
Filter report columns | ✓ | ✓ |
Separate profit and loss pages | ✓ | ✓ |
Primary production |
| ✓ |