Default Column Specifications

Sage ERP Accpac General Ledger 6.0

Default Column Specifications

The following lines use default column specifications and specification lines that apply to a range of accounts. The default specifications are defined in the first line, then used with a range of accounts in the last line.

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Remember that the actual report area starts from column E.

Lines with default column specs start with "\\"

The line starting with two backslashes "\\" in column A contains default column specifications. These default column specifications are in effect (can be used) until you define a new set of defaults.

To use the currently defined default column specification, you simply type a "\" into a cell — as in the last line of the example above.

Note: You can also follow the "\" symbol with "-" or "+" to print the inverse or the absolute value of the formula result.

Advantages of using default column specifications instead of individual formulas

Both of the following examples print exactly the same information. The first example uses a complete formula to get each value; the second example uses default column specifications and an account reference to a range of accounts.

For each of the following examples, assume that accounts 1100, 1200, and 1400 are consecutively numbered accounts in the general ledger.

In the above example, note that you require one formula to print each piece of information.

To print the current balance of 200 accounts, along with their descriptions, you would require 400 formulas — and you would have to change the specification each time you added to the chart of accounts.

In the next example, note these points:

  • The default column specifications line begins with two backslashes.

  • The default column specification assigns a particular formula to the "\" symbol. In our example, the formulas have used only Financial Reporter functions. Alternatively, you could assign a value to "\" or make use of spreadsheet functions in your formulas.

Note also that you can follow the "\" symbol with "-" or "+" to print the inverse or the absolute value of the formula result.

  • The default column specifications are exactly the same as the formulas in example one, except that they do not include the account reference.

When you generate the statement, Financial Reporter inserts the account references for the line into the default formula.

  • The account reference is for a range of accounts. The single line in this example will be expanded to as many lines as there are accounts in the range.

Using default column specifications to place values in a statement.

This second example also shows how the Financial Reporter lets you define a report line that applies to a range of accounts. At print time (or when using FR View in the Financial Statement Designer), the single line will be expanded to as many lines as there are accounts in the range.

In other words, a report that prints the current balances of all accounts in the general ledger can be defined by a single line that specifies the range of all accounts. (Financial Reporter provides a shorthand way to specify all accounts in the ledger: %%. See Specifying Account Numbers in Formulas and Rows for details.)

Selection criteria in columns B, C, and D

There is one final point that these examples do not illustrate: columns B, C, and D may contain selection criteria that affect the range of accounts and whether the final value will be printed at all.

Adding default information for columns B, C and D

Look at the following example of default column specifications. Note that in this case, we are setting up default values for columns B, C, and D, as well as for the printed columns of the report.

Note also that you do not have to specify a "\" in columns B, C or D to inherit the defaults. If you want anything but the default values, you must specify them.

Financial Reporter will evaluate the last line of the above spreadsheet and perform the following actions:

  1. Evaluate all accounts in the account number range specified in row 3 to see that they are type "B" accounts.

  2. Get the account balance of each account in the range that is a balance sheet account.

  3. Total the balances — because the "T" code in column D stipulates that a single total line will be generated from the account range, rather than one line for each account to list the details.

If you leave column D blank, or specify a "D", Financial Reporter will list all the details.

  1. Check whether the amount in column F is zero (because of the "Z" in column C). If it is, Financial Reporter will not print the line.

Financial Reporter looks only at the numbers on a line to decide if zero-suppression should take place, so, in this example, the description in column E does not affect whether the line is printed.

If you do not want to suppress zeroes on a single line, enter the letter "N" in column C on the line that you want to print.

For details on specifying selection criteria and suppressing lines, see also:

For details on the Financial Reporter functions, see: