Account Schedules in Dynamics NAV

ERP Microsoft Dynamics NAV provides for the management a functionality called ”Account Schedules”, in order to obtain synthetic financial information. Account Schedules, using amounts from the chart of accounts, allow drafting financial reports such as: balance sheet, profit and loss, cash-flow, profitability performance indicators etc.

We will present you how this functionality works, exemplifying with an already made account schedule – profit and loss (abridged version).

Account schedules are to be found in Financial Management Module, following the path: Departments -> Financial Management-> General Ledger > Reports and Analysis

First step in defining an account schedule is assigning a name and a description (see image above). Once this is made, we must define the lines and columns of the account schedule, according to the finale result we aim for. Lines definition is made by clicking ”Edit Account Schedule” button, after positioning on the line with the account schedule. A windows will open, such as the one bellow:

When we are defining the lines, for each line we must put a number and a description of the line  – signifying what will be displayed on that line, and by filling the fields Totaling Type and Totaling we indicate to the system how will be extracted the amounts from the chart of accounts and which are the general ledger accounts to be used.

In the image above we have defined the lines for a profit and loss report. As you can see, we can define lines which are calculated through formulas based on other lines. The columns of the account schedule determine what types of amounts will be displayed for the lines, and the access to the columns is made by selecting the button ”Edit Column Layout Setup”

In the window called ”Column Layout” we are defining the columns related to the account schedule. Here, by using the fields  Column Type, Ledger Entry Type and Amount Type we establish what type of amounts to be displayed: amounts as balance or net change, debit or credit amounts, amounts from general ledger or from budgets, etc.

The ability to define, using the user interface, both lines and columns’ content, provides great flexibility regarding the types of reports and statements which can be created in account schedules.

Once the lines and columns of the account schedules are define, the account schedule can be displayed using the button “Overview”:

A new windows will open, and here we can see the amounts of the account schedule and apply various filters. The amounts will be modified according to the filters selected.

Besides being displayed on the screen, the account schedule may be printed or exported in Excel. Amounts displayed may be explored in detail using drill-down function, which shows the general ledger entries summarized for each amount.

The short presentation made is not exhaustive: account schedules can be made using cost centers (dimensions) or elements from other modules in Dynamics NAV: Cost Accounting Module or Cash Flow Module.

Here you can find a video presentation of the functionality:

If you you want know more about Dynamics NAV, check here: Dynamics NAV (Navision) Resources