If I have several projects listed in my chart of accounts, How can I view a profit and loss statement for each project? Do I need to create a custom report? and if so how do i do that?
Use tracking codes. Read about them at Tracking codes. (Think project wherever it says division.)
I would think long and hard about building individual projects into your chart of accounts, though. You will be stuck with those accounts for as long as you use Manager once you enter a transaction involving them. Maybe it will be OK when custom control accounts have been expanded further.
One of the things @Lubos has been talking about for some time is job costing/accounting, where specific jobs can be defined under a given client. Perhaps such reports will become available once job costing is released. If not, then perhaps once job costing AND custom reports are released, we will have access to that sort of information through custom reports.
Possibly related to this topic: using Manager for community NFP group running different activities. Monies banked monthly and broken down in both income and expenditure to the different activities. In past, this has resulted in neat division of any one deposit, even though mixed, when P&L report processed. This month (? since upgrade to iOS 11), the total sum is being attributed to one of the activities. Have double checked actual entries which are correctly appropriated to say 5 activities. Help pls!
You need to furnish more specific information, @FranVic47.
By “Monies banked monthly,” what do you mean. I assume you mean deposited monthly. But deposits cannot be “broken down in both income and expenditure.” So what exactly do you mean?
You also mention upgrade to iOS11. Manager is not designed to run on iOS, which is for mobile devices. Minimum requirement is macOS v10.7.
As for “total sum is being attributed to one of the activities,” can you post a screen shot of the input screen for the transaction? Without that basic information, no one can help.
Dear Tut
THanks for your prompt response. I must have been having a Senior’s moment, because everything seems to be OK now. Sorry to bother you!
Cheers
Frances
No worries. Glad you got things worked out.
As an aside, though, I see you are defining accounts for individual events. This usually is not a good practice, because once you have used the account, Manager will never let you delete it unless you first delete or reallocate every transaction in it. So your chart of accounts will continue to get longer and longer.
Following on from @Tut’s comment about not using the Chart of Accounts to track events…
What I suspect you would use instead are tracking codes:
http://www.manager.io/guides/8956
You would be closer to the “Brilliant Industries” example, but instead of tracking the profitability of a manufacturing division, you are tracking the income / expenses for a given event.
Hmm, I noticed that when I did this year’s accounts. To date, it hasn’t been a problem, but it will be next year. Is it OK practice to start a whole new file for each year, manually carrying forward the money you have and any outstandings?
Thanks for your help, as ever.
In general, @FranVic47, you should not start new accounts each year, although there is nothing technically wrong with it. But this issue points out how important initial design of the chart of accounts is. Most people don’t pay much attention until they are mired in an unworkable design.
I don’t know how long you’ve used Manager or how many transactions you have. But if it is your first year and your organization is small, I would give serious consideration to importing a backup of your business, changing its name, and going back to reallocate after redesigning the chart of accounts and creating tracking codes. Once everything is reallocated to the new structure, you’ll be able to get rid of the old, event-based accounts. Make heavy use of the Find & Recode function as you do this.
If you decide that is too much headache, then start a new business at the beginning of your financial year. Set the start date for the first day of the financial year and establish starting balances for the new chart of accounts as appropriate. Realize, though, that you won’t be able to go back in the “new” business to recover information from previous times. You will have to open the “old” business.
Definitely better to keep the same file across multiple years. That way, you can run reports which show a comparison from one year to the next.
If I was in your position I’d probably do what Tut suggested, creating a new business next financial year with a better set up Chart of Accounts … but then continue using that new business from that point forward, including future years after that.
Thanks again for the information, Tut. I am Treasurer of a Probus group, 140 active retirees involved in generating and participating in various social activities. As a voluntary role, Treasurer changes every 3 years and I have completed two. I am probably considerably more computer-literate than most people who might follow me, so I need to keep things as simple for someone to learn as possible. We have under 500 entries so it would be possible, although time-consuming, to do as you suggest. Essentially, money comes IN as subscriptions and to participate in various outings (roughly 20 per year) and goes OUT as running costs such as rent, morning teas, gifts to speakers OR to pay for each of those outings. If I simplify dramatically to running costs and outings, how can I then advise the (also voluntary) organisers of each outing of their current financial situation? Is it possible to set the account as Outings and then code to Outing A, Outing B etc? If so, how does the program stop 2016’s Outing A appearing in 2018’s reports?
I’m sorry if my questions are silly, but I don’t have any accounting training at all and have not used accounting software beyond simple Excel. I really appreciate your williingness to support your users!
cheers
Frances
Users aren’t mine. I’m a user, too.
If I were you, I’d decide what accounts I need for organization and tax reporting. I’d use tracking codes if I went any further. But I question whether it is worth it. Are you really trying to measure profitability of outings? Maybe you can give an outing leader a petty cash withdrawal and require justification for anything not returned.
Firstly, your Outings shouldn’t be part of the Profit & Loss Report, then you wont have 2016 appearing in 2018.
Secondly, use the Special Accounts tab to record each Outings income & expenses, that way you can keep track for the voluntaries their financial situation and past Outings wont affect future P&L.