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Reporting - page layouts
Updated over a month ago

Article Objective: To assist admin users in navigating the Admin Centre within Active Ledger & Reporting to customise the firms page layouts.

Context: Active Ledger allows you to create multiple page layouts so that you can change the look of reports without having to create multiple files or change the accounts screen for an entity. This is particularly useful if you want to display both a full and concise Profit and Loss in the one report.

Please refer to the Glossary for definitions of key terms used in this article.

TABLE OF CONTENTS


Accessing the Admin Centre

Navigate to the Active Platform home page.

Click on your name icon and press Admin Centre.

Click on Ledger & Reporting Admin.

Click on Page Layouts.


Adding a new page layout

The below screen will appear. Click + New Page Layout.

Once added, the below screen will appear.

The following table details the page layout fields requiring completion.

Field

Description

Validation

Code

Identifies the layout.

Required

Name

Used as the name when selecting a page layout when generating a report.

Required

Default (checkbox)

If checked, this will be the layout used when generating a report, unless overridden in the page layout when generating a report.

Optional

Account Labels and Totals

Used to determine the layout of the report. For more information see the sections below.

Required

Use System Default Totals (checkbox)

This will override any custom totals created and revert back to the master totals. This is ticked by default.
​
​Note: To ensure custom totals are saved and displayed in the report this must be unticked.

Optional

Show all Profit and Loss accounts as 'Credit' balances
(checkbox)
​

If checked Profit and Loss accounts will be displayed as negative figures.

Optional

Profit Term

If you wish to change the default word for 'Profit', input here.

Optional

Loss Term

If you wish to change the default word for 'Loss', input here.

Optional

Account labels

Creating labels

An account label enables you to show accounts differently from their normal place in the chart. Where linked to a label, account balances will be shown totalled and at the specified location with the name of the label.

To create a label, find the relevant header where you want to add the label from the chart and click on the ellipse to the right of the header. This will bring up the option to select Add Label.

A dialogue screen will open for you to enter the name of the label and to select whether it will be the default.

Default labels

There can only be one default per header and if selected, all accounts that have not been linked to a label (see below) will be totalled to the default label. This is useful for an 'All Other Expenses' label.

Note: There do not need to be any default labels in a chart. If a default is not set up, all accounts that have not been linked to a label will appear in report pages as they appear in the chart.

When selecting a default, there are three display options to choose from:

1. Hide detail - Only the labels and their totals are shown in the body of the report. All unlinked accounts will be grouped under the default label and displayed as such.

2. Expand detail in root - The default merely acts as a placeholder in the list of accounts. In the example below, accounts that have not been linked to the 'Rent Expenses' and 'Employment Expenses' labels will appear in the Profit and Loss after 'Rent Expenses' but before 'Employment Expenses'. The unlabelled accounts will also be individually displayed by their account name and will not be grouped under 'All Other Expenses'.

3. Show detail underneath - As above, the default acts as a placeholder. However, in this scenario any accounts without a label would display within a header and total of the default label (see below).

Linking a label to an account

Once all labels have been created for the chart, you can link them to the relevant accounts at either the firm or the client level. To link labels at the firm level, navigate to the standard chart of accounts area in the Admin Centre following the steps in the 'Accessing the Admin Centre' section of this article.

Click Standard Chart of Accounts.

From here you can edit a standard account to include the label. Click on the ellipses and select Edit.

The 'Report Label' dropdown will show all labels for all layouts. You can only select one label per layout, but can choose a label for several layouts at once if desired.

Note: Labels are linked to accounts at the client level in exactly the same manner by editing the account in the standard chart.
​

Once complete, click Save Standard Account.

For more information on the standard chart and adding standard accounts, see the administrator guide: Managing the standard chart of accounts.
​


Account totals

The layout can also be modified to add, edit or delete totals. A calculated total is shown in addition to account totals and can be made conditional.

Adding a total

To add a customised total, click on the ellipse to the right of the relevant header to bring up the Add Total option.

The below screen will appear.

The following fields will require completion.

Field

Description

Validation

Title

Name of total displayed in the report.

Required

Title When results are a mix of positive and negative

Alternative name of total displayed in the report if the outcome is a mix of positive and negative balances over multiple years.
​

Optional

Title When all results are negative

Alternative name of total displayed in the report if the outcome is a negative balance.
​

Optional

Ledger Side (dropdown menu)

Determines whether the total is shown as a debit or credit balance.
​
There are two options:

  • Credit (default)

  • Debit

Required
​

Style (dropdown menu)

Determines the look of the total line. Can be set to 'Normal' or 'Alternative'. The default option is 'Normal'.

Required

Format result as percentage %
(checkbox)
​

If you wish for the result of the formula to be represented as a percentage, select this checkbox.

Optional

Formula

You are either to manually type a formula in the box provided, or select one of the options from the 'Insert Formula' section.
​
There are four options:

  • Standard Formula

  • MasterAccountId

  • StandardAccountId

After one of the above options are selected, further information will be available to fill out.

See 'The formula editor' section of the article below for more information.

Required

Show only if the following Headers are Present (dropdown menu)

This will default to 'Show Always'. If you wish to display only for certain headers, make your selection accordingly from the dropdown list of headers.

Required

Hide if Zeroes Only (checkbox)

If you do not wish to show results if they are NIL, select this checkbox.

Optional

The formula editor

This is the section where you populate the formula of the total you would like displayed. There are three options to choose from when adding a type of element to insert, in addition to manually inputting the formula. Each of these options provide further dropdown menus after selected.

For this example, we will select Standard Formula. This will bring up a second dropdown menu with the below options.

Choose the relevant formula and click Insert.

Once your formula is complete, click Save.

Editing and deleting totals

System and custom totals are shown in the layout chart in grey. To edit or delete a total click on the ellipse to the right of the relevant total. From here you can edit all the same details as described above when adding a new total. All totals can also be deleted, including system totals.

Note: It is possible to override any changes to the totals and revert back to the system totals by selecting the 'Use System Default Totals' checkbox under the Account Labels and Totals area.

WARNING: Once the 'Use System Default Totals' checkbox is selected and you save the layout, all custom totals created will be lost.
​


Using the page layout in a report

A customised layout can be used with the following pages:

  • Profit and Loss

  • Statement of Comprehensive Income

  • Balance Sheet

  • Appropriation Statement

  • Statement of Changes in Equity

To use the layout, navigate to the Report screen of the entity, generate the desired report and click on the Customise button to the right of the relevant page.

From here you can choose the layout from the 'Page Layout' dropdown menu. It is possible to have different layouts on different pages.

Note: This is useful if you want to include both a full and concise Profit and Loss in one report. To do this, you will have to add another Profit and Loss page to the report and select a different page layout. For information on how to do this, see the knowledge article: Reporting - pages.

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