About Default Column Specifications

In a financial statement specification, default column specifications are defined in the first line, and then used with a range of accounts in the last line.

The following example illustrates default column specifications and specification lines that apply to a range of accounts:

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

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

Advantages of Using Default Column Specifications

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.

Example 1: Using Formulas to Place Values

In this example, 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.

Example 2: Using Default Column Specifications to Place Values

In this example, you use a default column specification to place values:

This example demonstrates how 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.

Adding Default Information for Columns B, C, and D

The following example illustrates default values for columns B, C, and D, as well as for the printed columns of the report:

Note that you do not have to specify a backslash (\) in columns B, C or D to inherit the defaults. If you want anything but the default values, you must specify the information you want to display.

Financial Reporter evaluates the last line of the above specification and performs 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 T in column D specifies that a single total line will be generated from the account range, rather than one line for each account to list the details.

   Note: If you leave column D blank, or specify a D, Financial Reporter lists all details.

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

Financial Reporter looks only at the numbers on a line to decide if zero-suppression should take place. 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 N in column C on the line that you want to print.

For details on specifying selection criteria and suppressing lines, see About Consolidating Account Ranges, About Excluding Lines from Reports, and About Selection Criteria for Filtering Accounts.

For more information about Financial Reporter functions, see Financial Reporter Functions.