Financial Report Writer

Marlin GTX enables you to create an unlimited number of financial report templates to produce reports that best reflect the purpose of the report and the requirements of the target audience.

Available report types are Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss Report.

Node Types

Available report types are Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss Report and each is constructed using three types of nodes.
Heading Nodes:

• Create a Heading on the Report.
• Can contain other Heading Nodes, Summary Nodes, Formula Nodes or GL Accounts.
• Print individual lines for each sub node and the account codes you drag into them.
• Automatically create a total at the end of listing the nodes within it.
• Heading Node names are printed on the report.

Summary Nodes:

• Are shown as a single line on the report (i.e. individual lines for each account code are not shown).

Formula Nodes

• Can be used to show various profit calculations or ratios.
• Can contain calculations from all other nodes including other Formula Nodes.

This functionality gives you complete control over the content and degree of summarisation of each report.

Create the Report Template Name

From the menu select System > System Files > General Ledger > Finance Report Templates.

Click on the Add icon or press the Insert key to create a new template.

Enter a Name for the template and select the Template Type (i.e. Profit and Loss or Balance Sheet).

Click on the Save icon or press F10 to save the new template name.

Build the Report Template

Highlight the new template in the list and then click on the Edit icon or press F2 to customise it.

You will be presented with a new blank report template with an Unassigned heading node that contains all of the available account codes.

For Profit and Loss Report Templates, all Revenue, Expense and Equity account codes will be listed.

For Balance Sheet Templates, all Bank, Current Assets, Fixed Assets, Current Liabilities, Non-current Liabilities and Equity accounts will be listed.

Once you have created the desired nodes for your custom layout you can drag the accounts from the Unassigned node into your own nodes.

Designated symbols indicate the type of node and are shown in blue when in Edit mode and grey when in View mode:

• Heading node
• Summary node
• Formula node

A completed Profit and Loss Report Template may have a node structure something like this.

The numbers in parenthesis indicate the number of account codes in those nodes.

Create a Heading Node

To create a heading node titled Income, click on the Add icon.

Enter the node Name and select Heading as the Group Type.

To add a sub heading under Income called Services, click on Income and then on the arrow head next to the Add icon.

Select New Child Report Group.

Enter Services as the Name of the new child node, select Heading as the Group Type and Save.

Click on the arrow head beside the Income heading to expand it and display the new Services sub heading.

You can now click on the Unassigned node and then drag and drop the desired account codes from the right panel onto the new Services sub heading in the left panel.

As you do so, the number of account codes (shown in parenthesis) in the Unassigned node will decrease and in the Services node will increase.

If you click on the Services node the account codes you dragged and dropped into Services will be displayed in the right panel.

Create a Summary Node

To add a Summary node called Sales of Stocked Items in the Income node, click on the Income node and then select New Child Report Group under the Add icon.

Enter Sales of Stocked Items as the Name and select Summary from the Group Type drop down list.

You can now click on the Unassigned node and then drag and drop the desired account codes from the right panel onto the new Sales of Stocked Items sub node in the left panel.

Create a Formula Node

You can add Formula Nodes to the template to show various profit calculations or ratios (division and subtraction are supported).

Formula Nodes can contain calculations from all other nodes including other Formula Nodes.

For example:

• Gross Profit (Formula) = Income (Heading) - Cost Of Sales (Heading)
• Gross Profit Margin (Formula) = Gross Profit (Formula) / Income (Heading)
• Operating Profit (Formula) = Gross Profit (Formula) - Expenses (Heading)

To create a Formula Node at the top level select New Report Group.

To create a Formula Node within a node, click on the node in which the Formula Node is to appear and then select New Child Report Group.

Enter the Name and select Formula from the Group Type drop down list then enter the Formula (only - and / are supported).

Moving & Deleting Nodes

Nodes in the left panel can be rearranged by a simple drag and drop.

Nodes can be deleted by clicking on the node and then on the Delete icon.

Any account codes within that node and any sub nodes will be automatically moved back to the Unassigned node and the node and its sub nodes will be deleted.

Generate the Report

To display the report:

Select Reports > General Ledger Reports > Finance Report from the menu.

Select which Finance Template to use, Current or Previous Year and adjust the Period Range if necessary.

Choose whether to include accounts with zero balances and whether to show cents.

Click on the Generate button and the report will be displayed.

Use the icons at the top to Save, Print, Email or Fax the report.