How do I add my Profit Centres - Strategic Focus
Visual Cash Focus - User Tip 8 How do I add my Profit Centres? The Scenario A big feature of Visual Cash Focus (Gold edition and above) is the ability to add an unlimited number of profit centers. The reason for Profit centers is to enable the separate planning and reporting of divisions, products, locations, projects and manager responsibilities etc. Even if your ledger system doesn’t have profit centre capability, VCF will enhance your planning and reporting capability. By simply adding the extra account lines to your ledger system VCF will map the results into the correct profit center. Profit center capability provides a number of immediate benefits. 1. The separate planning and reporting of multiple divisions and products within the same model 2. The ability to “sub consolidate” or group selected profit centers into business groupings for products or divisional reporting etc 3. Isolation of revenues and costs for selected product/service contribution analysis and reporting 4. The ability to report groups of related profit centers from within a consolidation of multiple models. Note that when adding new profit centers VCF has an enhanced feature for coding new profit centers for you. This feature can also be used for renaming and recoding existing profit centers. Tip - For the automatic coding to work on all account lines start by ensuring that all account lines and folders in the default Admin profit center are fully coded including the Stem Code. This is for a number of reasons • When adding a new profit center VCF combines the User Stem code with the profit center prefix/suffix to form the new account code. • Cash Focus uses the default Admin account codes for consolidating multiple models. So keep these codes consistent across all models. • If there are multiple profit centers or a likely consolidation, consider renaming the default Admin profit center to say “balance sheet”. I do this because the Admin profit centre has the balance sheet. • If a number of single profit centre models are to be consolidated AND the underlying profit centers are to be separately viewed or grouped from the consolidation then open a second profit centre in each model for the real profit center. • If foreign currencies profit centers are required use the currency selector when adding the profit center. • When coding the default admin profit center, use a profit center prefix or suffix that is not used in the ledger system. This prevents actuals results being inadvertently imported to it
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Always use the account codes from the ledger system that the actual results are most likely to come from. Note that there is also a feature for mapping one ledger system to another and a feature (called Auto-fill) for coding new account lines across all profit centers. The Solution Start by checking that the Admin profit centre is fully coded. An easy way to do this is to go to Reports - Budget and preview the “Accounts” report.
The “Accounts” report below shows a system code for prepayments.
In this case it is a balance sheet account so does not affect the coding of new profit centres. Our recommendation is to overtype all system accounts and folders not being used with an alphabetical code e.g. Prepayment You can also use the FIND function to see accounts displayed in account order.
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To do this go into Accounts & Budgets, choose any P&L revenue or expense line and then click account properties. FIND is on the bottom RHS of the screen. Items that start with a # have not been coded. This is the VCF system code In following example we will assume that the profit centre code is a prefix but it could easily be a suffix. Other systems like Exonet have a variable configuration comprising a location prefix, the account code followed by a profit centre suffix of varying numbers of digits. Here is an example where both the company and profit centre codes are a suffix
Here is the code, it comprises 1. The 4-digit account code 2. The 2-digit company code 3. The 2 -digit department code
Here is another example where the department is a prefix and the profit centre is a suffix in a xx-yyy-zz configuration.
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How to Add and code a New Profit Centre Example 1 - Profit centre code is a two digit suffix 1. Click Profit Centres from the main screen
Here is the default Admin profit center renamed to 00 Balance Sheet
2. Click “New” from the top tool bar
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Enter the new Profit centre name, the suffix and currency if it is to be different to the home currency. Note the ‘-’ separator in front of the 00 this will depend on how the ledger system exports the results. It can be changed at any time to match.
3. Now click the Auto-fill tab and choose the settings for Auto-fill. Here we specify where the account code is relative to the suffix. In this example the account code is in Front of the profit centre suffix and in position 1 to 5 of the full code.
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4. Click Auto-fill and then click OK
5. Go back to the Profit Centre tab and repeat for subsequent profit centres. 6. When finished click List to confirm consistency with the profit centre names Note that the profit centre description entered becomes the name printed at the top of the respective profit centre report. We recommend that you include the profit centre code in the description as illustrated. This will avoid any confusion if there are a variety of similar profit centre names and will tie the report back to the ledger system. 7. Repeat steps 2 to 5 to add the additional profit centres. Tip – When adding multiple profit centres, start by adding a few then check under Accounts and Budgets that the account coding is correct. 8. Click on the LIST button to confirm coding and naming consistency. The optional code is used later on when inserting new account lines across all profit centres.
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9. Return to Profit Centres and add the remaining profit centres. 10. When finished go to Reports-Budgets and preview the ACCOUNTS report to confirm all accounts are coded correctly. See here that there are no systems # accounts.
You are now ready to enter or import your budget data
Visual Cash Focus “How to” user tips. www.strategicfocus.co.nz
Example 2 – The account code is in the middle between a prefix and suffix 1. Click Profit Centres from the main screen
Here is the default Admin profit center renamed to 00-00 Balance Sheet. Enter both the prefix and suffix into the code box.
Note the double dash between the prefix and suffix. If your system uses dots then put dots between e.g. 00..00. If there are no separators then put 0000 2. Click “New” from the top tool bar Enter the new Profit centre name, the suffix and currency if it is to be different to the home currency. Note the separators between the prefix and suffix, the separator you use depends on how your ledger system exports the results to a file. It can be changed at any time to match. Here the department code is 04 and the profit centre is 70
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3. Now click the Auto-fill tab and choose the settings for Auto-fill. Here we specify where the account code is relative to the prefix and suffix. In this example the account code is in Middle of the profit centre suffix and in position 4 to 6 of the full code. See in the illustration below that the position 3 refers to where the first portion 04- ends The length of the user code means how many digits is the account code in this case its 3 e.g. 04-223-70 where 223 is the account code.
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4. Click Auto-fill and then click OK
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5. Go back to the Profit Centre tab and repeat for subsequent profit centres. 6. When finished click List to confirm consistency with the profit centre names Note that the profit centre description entered becomes the name printed at the top of the respective profit centre report. We recommend that you include the profit centre code in the description as illustrated. This will avoid any confusion if there are a variety of similar profit centre names and will tie the report back to the ledger system. 7. Repeat steps 2 to 5 to add the additional profit centres. Tip – When adding multiple profit centres, start by adding a few then check under Accounts and Budgets that the account coding is correct.
8. Return to Profit Centres and add the remaining profit centres. Note the Auto-fill feature depends on the User Stem code being populated for ALL accounts and folders. What to do if the Stem Code has not been populated 1. Enter the Stem code manually either before adding the profit centres or after. If the Stem code is added after the profit centres, click the Profit Centre button from the Main Menu and use the Auto-fill function to re code each profit centre. 2. Export the chart for ONE profit centre to Excel. Copy the code into the STEM column. Import the chart back into the model. Refer to the tip on how to import my chart of accounts for further details.
Visual Cash Focus “How to” user tips. www.strategicfocus.co.nz
Visual Cash Focus “How to” user tips. www.strategicfocus.co.nz
Always use the account codes from the ledger system that the actual results are most likely to come from. Note that there is also a feature for mapping one ledger system to another and a feature (called Auto-fill) for coding new account lines across all profit centers. The Solution Start by checking that the Admin profit centre is fully coded. An easy way to do this is to go to Reports - Budget and preview the “Accounts” report.
The “Accounts” report below shows a system code for prepayments.
In this case it is a balance sheet account so does not affect the coding of new profit centres. Our recommendation is to overtype all system accounts and folders not being used with an alphabetical code e.g. Prepayment You can also use the FIND function to see accounts displayed in account order.
Visual Cash Focus “How to” user tips. www.strategicfocus.co.nz
To do this go into Accounts & Budgets, choose any P&L revenue or expense line and then click account properties. FIND is on the bottom RHS of the screen. Items that start with a # have not been coded. This is the VCF system code In following example we will assume that the profit centre code is a prefix but it could easily be a suffix. Other systems like Exonet have a variable configuration comprising a location prefix, the account code followed by a profit centre suffix of varying numbers of digits. Here is an example where both the company and profit centre codes are a suffix
Here is the code, it comprises 1. The 4-digit account code 2. The 2-digit company code 3. The 2 -digit department code
Here is another example where the department is a prefix and the profit centre is a suffix in a xx-yyy-zz configuration.
Visual Cash Focus “How to” user tips. www.strategicfocus.co.nz
How to Add and code a New Profit Centre Example 1 - Profit centre code is a two digit suffix 1. Click Profit Centres from the main screen
Here is the default Admin profit center renamed to 00 Balance Sheet
2. Click “New” from the top tool bar
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Enter the new Profit centre name, the suffix and currency if it is to be different to the home currency. Note the ‘-’ separator in front of the 00 this will depend on how the ledger system exports the results. It can be changed at any time to match.
3. Now click the Auto-fill tab and choose the settings for Auto-fill. Here we specify where the account code is relative to the suffix. In this example the account code is in Front of the profit centre suffix and in position 1 to 5 of the full code.
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4. Click Auto-fill and then click OK
5. Go back to the Profit Centre tab and repeat for subsequent profit centres. 6. When finished click List to confirm consistency with the profit centre names Note that the profit centre description entered becomes the name printed at the top of the respective profit centre report. We recommend that you include the profit centre code in the description as illustrated. This will avoid any confusion if there are a variety of similar profit centre names and will tie the report back to the ledger system. 7. Repeat steps 2 to 5 to add the additional profit centres. Tip – When adding multiple profit centres, start by adding a few then check under Accounts and Budgets that the account coding is correct. 8. Click on the LIST button to confirm coding and naming consistency. The optional code is used later on when inserting new account lines across all profit centres.
Visual Cash Focus “How to” user tips. www.strategicfocus.co.nz
9. Return to Profit Centres and add the remaining profit centres. 10. When finished go to Reports-Budgets and preview the ACCOUNTS report to confirm all accounts are coded correctly. See here that there are no systems # accounts.
You are now ready to enter or import your budget data
Visual Cash Focus “How to” user tips. www.strategicfocus.co.nz
Example 2 – The account code is in the middle between a prefix and suffix 1. Click Profit Centres from the main screen
Here is the default Admin profit center renamed to 00-00 Balance Sheet. Enter both the prefix and suffix into the code box.
Note the double dash between the prefix and suffix. If your system uses dots then put dots between e.g. 00..00. If there are no separators then put 0000 2. Click “New” from the top tool bar Enter the new Profit centre name, the suffix and currency if it is to be different to the home currency. Note the separators between the prefix and suffix, the separator you use depends on how your ledger system exports the results to a file. It can be changed at any time to match. Here the department code is 04 and the profit centre is 70
Visual Cash Focus “How to” user tips. www.strategicfocus.co.nz
3. Now click the Auto-fill tab and choose the settings for Auto-fill. Here we specify where the account code is relative to the prefix and suffix. In this example the account code is in Middle of the profit centre suffix and in position 4 to 6 of the full code. See in the illustration below that the position 3 refers to where the first portion 04- ends The length of the user code means how many digits is the account code in this case its 3 e.g. 04-223-70 where 223 is the account code.
Visual Cash Focus “How to” user tips. www.strategicfocus.co.nz
4. Click Auto-fill and then click OK
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5. Go back to the Profit Centre tab and repeat for subsequent profit centres. 6. When finished click List to confirm consistency with the profit centre names Note that the profit centre description entered becomes the name printed at the top of the respective profit centre report. We recommend that you include the profit centre code in the description as illustrated. This will avoid any confusion if there are a variety of similar profit centre names and will tie the report back to the ledger system. 7. Repeat steps 2 to 5 to add the additional profit centres. Tip – When adding multiple profit centres, start by adding a few then check under Accounts and Budgets that the account coding is correct.
8. Return to Profit Centres and add the remaining profit centres. Note the Auto-fill feature depends on the User Stem code being populated for ALL accounts and folders. What to do if the Stem Code has not been populated 1. Enter the Stem code manually either before adding the profit centres or after. If the Stem code is added after the profit centres, click the Profit Centre button from the Main Menu and use the Auto-fill function to re code each profit centre. 2. Export the chart for ONE profit centre to Excel. Copy the code into the STEM column. Import the chart back into the model. Refer to the tip on how to import my chart of accounts for further details.
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