The ERP system Dynamics 365 Business Central meets management’s need for financial and accounting summary information through a functionality called “Financial Reports”. These reports allow users to generate financial statements such as the Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Cash Flow Statement, Profitability Indicators, and more, by aggregating amounts from the Chart of Accounts.
In older product versions (Dynamics NAV or Business Central on-premises), this functionality was also known under the name”Account Schedules”. The concepts presented in this article largely apply to that previous functionality as well. Our goal is to provide a brief overview, enough to give you an idea of what this functionality can offer.
The easiest way to access Financial Reports is by using the system’s search function:
This will take you to a page where you can find existing financial reports.
The first step in defining a financial report is assigning a name and description (see the image above). Once this is done, you need to define the rows and columns of the report, depending on what you want to achieve. To define the rows, navigate to the menu and select “Edit Row Definition”.
A new page will open where you can begin defining the rows that will appear in the report.
For each row, you need to enter a row number and a description, which indicate what will be displayed on that row. By completing the “Totaling Type” and “Totaling” fields, you instruct the system on how to extract amounts from the Chart of Accounts and specify which G/L accounts should be used. You can also create rows that are calculated using formulas based on other rows.
Columns determine the types of amounts that will be displayed for the report rows. To access column definitions, select “Edit Column Definition”.
This will open a new page where you can define the report columns. Using fields such as “Column Type”, “Ledger Entry Type”, and “Amount Type”, you can specify exactly which amounts will be displayed: balance or net change amounts, debit and/or credit amounts, amounts from G/L entries or budget entries, etc.
Due to the fact that one can define both row and column structures at the report level, Financial Reports provide a high degree of flexibility regarding the types of reports that can be created. Additionally, row and column definitions can be reused in multiple reports. Once the rows and columns of the financial report have been defined, you can view it by clicking the “View Financial Report” button.
This will open a page displaying amounts, where you can also apply various filters—the displayed amounts will update accordingly.
In addition to on-screen viewing, reports can be printed or exported to Excel. The displayed amounts have a drill-down option, meaning that if the user clicks on a value, the G/L entries that make up that amount will be displayed.
This introduction is far from exhaustive. Financial Reports can also be built using cost centers (dimensions) or incorporating data from other Business Central modules, such as Cost Accounting, Cash Flow, and Sustainability. In future articles, we will explore how financial reporting can be used in conjunction with these modules.
Elian Solutions is part of the Bittnet Group, active for over 15 years as an implementer of the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central ERP system. With a team of over 70 employees and a portfolio of over 250 clients, Elian Solutions is one of the key Microsoft partners for ERP systems.
