When I was creating Cash Summary Report and used Comparative Columns, the Report will show the date from the 1st day to last day of first Comparative Column rather than the last day of last comparative column. So for example, if I want a report for the last 12 months, it would show 1st April 2015 to 31st April 2015 being the date range!
The major report heading shows the full date range of the main column, which is the leftmost numerical column with figures in bold. The “minor” headings above the columns show the end date for the period. The typical practice for a report like this is to provide comparisons of similar-length previous periods. And for those, as with the main column, only the end date is shown. (There are limits to how much information can be put into a summary report, or you end up with no room for the actual numbers.)
I don’t understand this comment. Can you provide more explanation? Do you think this is a bug, or are you suggesting a format change?
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I was reporting it as a bug in that I think the main heading should display For the period from 01/04/2015 to 31/03/2016 if I have selected the last 12 months. As you said the title is clearly getting its info from the first comparative column. Not a major issue but it technically should be for the entire period rather than the first comparative column.
I’m confused, @dalacor. What you say it should do is exactly what it does. In fact, I just created a sample Cash Summary for the exact dates you mentioned and even added a comparative column. The main heading lists the report as covering 01/04/2015 through 31/03/2016. The minor column heading for the main column shows the date of 31/03/2016 and the minor heading for the comparative column shows its date as 31/03/2015. So I think if that’s not what’s happening for you, something else is wrong. Or else I’m not understanding the issue.
I think that the way you did it is you selected for the period from 1st April 2015 to 31 March 2016 as the first column right? I have just done that now and I can see that the heading works. What I did before was I made the first column from 1st April 2015 to 31 April 2015 - as demonstrated in the picture.
As you can see in the picture, it has Cash Summary and For the period from 1st april to 31st April 2015 instead of to 31st March 2016! But I now see that you need to have the first column covering the entire year and the comparative columns for each month! Thats why it was not working for me.
I see your issue. I believe you are envisioning the comparative columns backwards. The underlying philosophy behind the reports is that the report is for the period described in the main heading. Comparative columns are meant to go further and further backwards in time. That’s why the first column is in bold type. You have set things up so the comparative columns go forward in time.
What I do at the beginning of each year is create a new report for every report type I normally use, covering the entire upcoming year. I add 2 previous years of comparative data so I can see trends.
By the way, there is no need to have the main column be a full year. As long as you set things up to run time backwards, all should be good.
This is my first year of this business. Therefore I have no previous years to use. What I actually wanted the comparative cash summary for was to get some idea of what my monthly cash flow requirements are. I will remember to do the comparative columns the other way around as you are correct - it should go backwards in time!