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Reporting - notes

Article Objective: To assist admin users in navigating the Admin Centre within Active Ledger & Reporting to customise the notes to the financial statements.                   


Context: Notes contain both the accounting policies and the financial statement notes (such as Cash & Cash Equivalents, etc.). These policies and disclosures work similarly in Active Ledger. They can be customised on three levels:        

  1. Master Notes (managed by Active Ledger and Reporting)
  2. Firm Notes (managed by your firm)
  3. File Notes (managed by users for each client file)


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 Notes   



The below screen will appear. 



Reporting suites


In order to manage different kinds of accounting policies and disclosures, Active Ledger has a concept of reporting suites. A reporting suite represents a set of related policies and disclosures designed to meet the requirements of a reporting framework.


Adding reporting suites


To add a new reporting suite, click on the Reporting Suite tab and select + New Reporting Suite



The below screen will appear. 



The following table details the fields requiring completion.     


FieldDescriptionValidation
NameWill appear in the relevant area in the Reports screen to identify the field.Required
Group NameUsed to visually group related fields together in the template.Optional
Reporting FrameworkThis is what the user wants to describe it as. This would usually be the set of accounting standards you are applying, for example in AU, 'AASB GPFR', or 'AASB GPFR for Tier 2', or in NZ, 'SPFR for FPE's'.Optional
Jurisdiction (dropdown menu)This will only appear if the firm is in multiple jurisdictions. Select as appropriate. This defaults to 'Available for all jurisdictions'. 
Required
DescriptionDetails about the field that will appear in the Reports screen to give the user an idea of what the field is about.Optional
Application DateThe date from which the note will apply. 
Optional
Earliest Application DateMay apply to reporting periods beginning on or after this date.  Optional
Expiry Date

The note will not apply to reporting periods after this date.

Optional
Policy Layout (dropdown menu)This outlines how the policies in the reporting suite will be presented. This sets to 'Default'. See the 'Policy layouts' section of this article for more information. Required
Inactive (checkbox)When checked, this will be removed from the reporting suites and not displayed.Optional

      

Adding policies to a suite


To add the relevant policies, click to expand the 'Accounting Policies' area and select + Add Policy Variant.



A pop-up list will allow you to tick the required policies. Once selected, click Select


Note: Active Ledger maintains an up-to-date list of common policies. To add a new policy see the 'Adding a new accounting policy' section below.



Adding disclosures to a suite

To add the relevant disclosures, click to expand the Disclosure Templates area and select + Add Disclosure Variant.   



A pop-up list will allow you to tick the required policies. Once selected, click Select


Note: Active Ledger maintains an up-to-date list of common disclosures. To add a new disclosure see the 'Adding a new disclosure' section below.



Finalising the reporting suite

Once you are satisfied with the details outlined in the reporting suite, click Save and Close.      



Editing and deleting reporting suites

To edit or delete a new reporting suite, click on the suite and make the required changes. To save the suite select Save and Close


To delete a suite select Delete


 


A master reporting suite maintained by Active Ledger is unable to be edited outright. However, you can perform a customisation process by editing the suite. This creates a new variant of the whole suite. This variant can be edited and deleted as required. For more information on how to do this, see the advanced knowledge article: Reporting - accounting policies and disclosures.        


Note: The master reporting suites maintained by Active Ledger cannot be deleted.



Policy layouts


Adding a policy layout


To add a new policy layout, click on the Policy Layouts tab and select + New Policy Layout.     



The below screen will appear. 



The following table details the fields requiring completion.     


FieldDescriptionValidation
NameWill appear in the relevant area in the Policy Layout screen to identify the field.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
Location for 'General' Accounting Policies (dropdown menu)This is the view of the policies in the report.

There are three options:
  • Standalone
  • Standalone Note
  • Policies Note


For more information on this, refer to the 'Location for 'General' Accounting Policies' section below.

Required
Policies List Format (dropdown menu)If you wish to turn the policies into a list, select one of the options in the dropdown, otherwise leave the default option, 'None'. Required
Note Title FormatYou are able to customise the format of the note headers. 

For more information on this, refer to the 'Note Title Format' section below. 
Required

Location for 'General' Accounting Policies


As mentioned above, there are three options here - standalone, standalone note and policies note. 


For information on how to create additional policies see the administrative guide: Reporting - Notes.


1. Standalone: In this view, the general policies will appear before Note 1 without a note heading.



2. Standalone Note: The general policies will become Note 1 and therefore the accounting policies will move to Note 2. An additional field will become available to allow you to customise the title of Note 1.



3. Policies Note: In this view, the general policies are combined with the accounting policies to all become part of Note 1.



Note: If you are editing the 'Location for 'General' Accounting Policies', before doing so, click Reset All in the top right corner of the 'Customise Policy Layout' list. Once this is done, select the new location and generate the desired report. This will update the report accordingly. 



Note Title Format


As mentioned above, you are able to customise the format of the note headers. To do this you can use the fields {NoteNumber} and {Title} to determine the position of the number and the title in the header. You may add other information if relevant.         



Changing the note format to that shown above will result in the following display:



Policies and disclosures

Adding a new accounting policy

Accounting policies are separated into general and numbered policies. To add a new policy, click on the Policies tab and then select + New Policy.



The below screen will appear. 



The following table details the fields requiring completion.     


FieldDescriptionValidation
NameThe name of the policy which will appear in the financial report.Required
Note Group
(dropdown menu)
Sets which section the note appears within the notes. 

There are three options:
  • General
  • Policy Notes
  • Placeholder For All Other Notes
Required
DescriptionThis is an internal description that provides users with the gist of the note.
Optional
Show by Default
(dropdown menu)
Sets the default display of the note. 

There are three options:
  • If Related Account Type Appears
  • Always
  • Never
Required
Default when any of the following Account Types appear (dropdown menu)
Only appears when 'If Related Account Type Appears' is selected above. 

Sets the account type that the above field looks for to display the note. More than one account type can be selected.
Optional

After the basics of the policy have been completed, select Save and Close.              



This will bring up the variants section (see below).


Adding a new disclosure


To add a new disclosure, click on the Disclosures tab and then select + New Disclosure Template



The below screen will appear.             



The following table details the fields requiring completion.   


FieldDescriptionValidation
NameThe name of the disclosure which will appear in the financial report.Required
DescriptionThis is an internal description that provides users with the gist of the note.
Optional
Show by Default (dropdown menu)Sets the default display of the note. 

There are four options:
  • If Linked Account Appears
  • If Related Account Type Appears
  • Always
  • Never
Required
Default when any of the following Account Types appear (dropdown menu)
Only appears when 'If Related Account Type Appears' is selected above. 

Sets the account type that the above field looks for to display the note. More than one account type can be selected.
Optional

After the basics of the disclosure have been completed, select Save and Close.       



This will bring up the variants section (see below).     


Adding policy and disclosure variants

Policy and disclosure variants represent the content of the policy or disclosure. Variants enable you to modify the note based on factors such as:      

  • The financial reporting framework     
  • The financial period to which the disclosure will relate             
  • Whether the disclosure could differ based on client context and/or management discretion


 

You can add multiple variants for different reporting suites and/or entity types. After clicking on + New Variant the following fields will be available:     


Field DescriptionValidation
NameName of variant. Normally this would be a defining attribute.
Required 
Reporting Suites (dropdown menu)Selects which reporting suite the variant will belong to. More than one suite can be selected.
Required
Description
This is an internal description that provides users with the gist of the note.
Optional
Disclosure/Policy NameIf the disclosure/policy name is different to the variant name, outline here.
Optional
Reporting FrameworkThis is what the user wants to describe it as. This would usually be the set of accounting standards you are applying, for example in AU, 'AASB GPFR', or 'AASB GPFR for Tier 2', or in NZ, 'SPFR for FPE's'.
Optional
Jurisdictions (dropdown menu)This will only appear if the firm is in multiple jurisdictions. Select as appropriate.
Required
Entity Types (dropdown menu)Selects which entity type to display the variant for. More than one can be selected. The default is 'Applies to all entities'. Required
Application DateThe date from which the note will apply.Optional
Earliest Application DateMay apply to reporting periods beginning on or after this date. Optional
Expiry Date
The note will not apply to reporting periods after this date.
Optional
Requires Customisation? (checkbox)Only available for disclosures. If checked, the disclosure is unable to be automated and must be edited by the user. 
Optional
Inactive (checkbox)This will only appear if the firm is in multiple jurisdictions. Select as appropriate. Optional
Link to Accounts
Only available for disclosures. Can automatically add the disclosure when the relevant account appears in the financial report. 

For more information see the 'Adding a linked account to a disclosure' section below.
Optional
Content Fields
Allows entity-specific details to be added to a firm-wide note. 

For more information, see the administrator article: Reporting - content fields.
Optional
Content
This is the content of the note that will be displayed in the report. 

For more information on how to build content within disclosures, see the administrator article: Reporting - content editor.
Optional


Adding a linked account to a disclosure


For Active Ledger to automatically add the disclosure when a relevant account appears in the financial report, you need to select these accounts when creating the disclosure.              
To do this, click on the + Add Linked Account button
 


This will open up a dialogue screen with the following fields:


FieldDescriptionValidation
Account (dropdown menu)
A list of system and custom headers will appear. Select the relevant one.Required
Link OptionDetermines how the note will be displayed in the report.

There are two options:
  • Append Details - displays the header total in the body of the report and the financial detail and 'Content' in the note
  • Link Only - choose to show or hide detail (see 'Account Display Option' below in the table).
Required

Force Link Option (checkbox)
If checked, this prevents the user from being able to change the link option. Optional
Account Display OptionOnly available if 'Link Only' is chosen as the link option. 


There are two options:

  • Show - displays the financial information in the body of the report and the 'Content' of the disclosure in the note
  • Hide - displays the header total in the body of the report and the 'Content' of the disclosure in the note.
Required
Placeholder Identifier
If you have more than one placeholder in a disclosure, you can give an identifier. When this happens, as you link accounts, you can then type in that identifier to allow the details of different accounts to go to the different placeholders.
Optional

After completing all the required fields select Save. This will save the disclosure variant into the system. 


It is possible to add many variants to each policy and disclosure. However, we recommend adding as few as possible.            



Editing policies, disclosures and their variants


Editing a custom policy or disclosure template


To edit an existing policy or disclosure, click on it and make any required changes. The same fields are available for edit as those available when adding a new policy or disclosure. Once all the required changes have been made click on Save.       


Editing a master policy or disclosure template


A master template is unable to be edited outright. However, you can perform a customisation process on it. This creates a new variant of the whole policy or disclosure. The benefit of this process is that if the standards update and Active Ledger updates the default policy or disclosure, you can revert or merge any changes to the customisations that have been made. 


To customise a master template, click on the policy or disclosure and then on the Customise button at either the top or bottom of the screen. This will enable you to edit and allows you to add, edit or remove variants.



Editing a policy or disclosure variant


To customise an existing master or firm variant, first select the relevant policy or disclosure and click on Customise. Then select the Customise button at either the top or the bottom of the screen IN the variant you wish to edit.



After saving the new customised variant, you will be able to track changes to the content component by comparing to the master version as shown below:



To delete the customised version and revert to the original master select Delete Customised Version


To maintain the current customised version select Save and Close.



It is possible to distinguish between edited/created and master policies and disclosures in the list. Edited and created policies and disclosures have no 'archive' icon to the right, while masters do.     



For information on how to use these notes when generating reports, see the advanced knowledge article: Reporting - accounting policies and disclosures

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