Hi,
I have noticed, that Liabilities accounts change sign (- to + and vice versa) on export To Calc/Excel. Here is the statement in Manager:
Here is these same accounts look in Calc:
That does not happen with Asset, Equity accounts, only Liabilities. Is that ok?
I suppose, that export should not transfor signs, just transfer data to different Calc form “as is”.
S.
The signs on accounts are dependent both on tradition and how you set up your chart accounts. Debit accounts are driven in a more positive direction by debits and more negative by credits. Credit accounts are the opposite; they increase with credits and decrease with debits. See this Guide for more: Manager Cloud.
Accountants like to display most balance sheet accounts as positives, so asset accounts and liability accounts are both displayed as positive numbers. But it is understood that liabilities must be subtracted from assets to calculate equity. That’s the accounting equation. Only contra accounts or accounts temporarily having balances opposite the normal sign will show as negative.
Similar traditions apply to income and expense accounts. However, in Manager, you have an option on how to display expense accounts. The default is that the group heading is Less: Expenses with positive numbers. That follows traditional presentation style. By unchecking a box for the group, you can reverse that and see expenses as negative numbers, and the Less: prefix disappears:
Regardless of presentation, however, one or the other account type (debit/credit) must be positive land the other negative. You can actually write accounting software following either choice. But when you export the numbers, one group of accounts will be positive and the other negative. In other words, Manager’s displays are interpreting the positive and negative numbers to present information in traditional ways. The spreadsheet doesn’t do that; it just presents the numbers.
I would prefer Manager upon export to NOT interpret balances, but leave this to accountants and simply transfer numbers as they are shown on Statement. It is like double standard - it is debit or credit depends only from your view point. If you see pdf, then probably credit, but when in Excel, you cannot be sure and need to check pdf. Not good, no consistency, another ambiguity.
OK, I think I now understand what you asking for a little better. Try reversing the format of the balance sheet. On the balance sheet’s Edit screen select the opposite format from the dropdown box:
You seem to now have Assets - Liabilities = Equity. Reverse it to Assets = Liabilities + Equity and the negative signs on the liabilities should disappear when you export.
Interesting, I will keep this in mind.
Thanks.
