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About the Prepare Trial Balance Workpapers table

The name of this table depends on whether you’re licensed for Workpapers. If you are licensed for Workpapers, it is the Prepare Workpapers table. Otherwise, it is the Prepare Trial Balance table.

The Prepare Trial Balance (Workpapers) table displays when you add or open a period — see Adding a new period or Opening an existing period for information about how to display this table.

The Prepare Trial Balance (Workpapers) table shows the closing balance for each account for the period and the adjusted balance after the balances have been calculated and substantiated. The table lists the following types of accounts in the general ledger:

  • Detail accounts, accounts to which transactions have been allocated.

  • Header accounts, which are displayed in bold, group related detail accounts together and are used to organise the accounts list.

Accounts that are added to the table are displayed in italics in the appropriate place in the chart of accounts. Balances that are in credit are displayed in red.

If there was an account code in the last period that does not exist in this period, it is displayed in the table and marked as “(Prior Period)”. Its value is shown in the Last Period and Variance columns. The Movement, Client Balance, DR, CR, and Final Balance values will contain no values. Task bar functions and right-click functions will not work on these accounts. If the prior period is opened for modification and the ledger balances are refreshed, these accounts will be removed from the current period’s trial balance screen.

If the Last Period and Variance columns aren’t selected in the field chooser, account codes from a previous period will not be displayed.

The last entry in the table displays the Profit/loss as a result of adjusting journals from within workpapers. If the profit/loss balance is a positive balance, the amount is displayed in black with a Dr. If the profit/loss balance is a negative balance, the amount is displayed in red with a Cr. The trial balance totals at the bottom of the table do not include the profit/loss values. The totals must balance to zero.

There are several checkbox filters above the table, described below:

The Include Movement, Include Last Period, and Include Quantities checkboxes can now be found in the Field Chooser. See Adding and removing columns in the Trial Balance Workpapers.

Checkbox

Description

Show only used accounts

Shows only used accounts in the table.

Show zero balance acounts

Shows only accounts that have a zero balance.

Unposted journals

If the Unposted journals checkbox is selected:

  • The Client Balance shows the balance excluding unposted journals.

  • The Debits and Credits from unposted journals are displayed.

  • The final balance shows the final balance of the account (Client balance with debits and credits applied).

  • The quantity column displays unposted quantities.

Prepare Trial Balance (Workpapers) Tasks bar options

The available Tasks bar options change as you move to different pages or windows.

 

Option

Description

Import client’s balances

Import the client’s balances into a workpaper period. See Importing the client's balances.

Refresh ledger balances

Refreshes the ledger balances for the workpaper period.

Refresh workpaper balances

Identifies workpapers that require an update based on account balances, and refreshes any balances and red flags as necessary.

This process may take a while depending on the number of workpapers to be processed. When refreshing balances, a progress bar is displayed for the calculations being performed.

Refresh account groups

If you have workpapers that have Account Group Amounts (such as Tax workpapers), use Refresh account groups to update the account group amounts in these workpapers.

This must be used if there is a change to the account group structure whereby accounts have been added or removed from an account group.

Add workpaper

Attach a workpaper to an account in the table. See Adding workpapers. A

icon identifies a workpaper.

Link document

Link documents to accounts in the table.

See Linking Document Manager source documents and Linking external source documents. A

icon identifies a linked document.

Rollover from prior period

Include data in a current workpaper from a previous period. See Rolling data over from a prior period.

Update to latest template

Update a selected workpaper to the latest master template. See Updating your workpaper template.

Open workpaper

Open a selected workpaper or document. See Opening workpapers and Opening source documents.

View all workpapers

View a list of all documents — workpapers and documents — which have been attached or linked to accounts in the table. From the Trial Balance (Workpapers) window you can also open, link and delete workpapers and documents. See Viewing a list of all workpapers and source documents.

Move workpaper

Move a workpaper to a different account (and rename it, if required). See Moving a workpaper.

Delete workpaper

Delete a selected workpaper or document. See Deleting workpapers and source documents.

Refresh document

If Document Manager is installed, use Refresh document to refresh the Document Manager files which are linked to accounts within the period. Click Refresh document and if the name of a Document Manager file has changed, it will be updated in the table.

Add comment

Add comments to an account. Comments are identified with a

icon in the column next to the Status column in the table. Place your cursor on the icon to view the comments. Right-click on the icon to edit or delete the comments. See Account comments.

To do item

Create a new To Do item. To do items can be used to assign and track tasks which must be completed in order to finish workpaper preparation. See Working with To Do items.

View audit trail

View the audit trail of an account, workpaper or document. The audit trail is a record showing who has added, accessed, edited and deleted workpaper documents for a selected account, a selected workpaper or document. See Viewing the audit trail.

Preview account groups

Show the accounts from the Prepare Trial Balance (Workpapers) table in a tree structure. See Previewing accounts.

View adjusted trial balance

Generates a PDF of the Adjusted Trial Balance report. See Printing reports and workpapers.

Journals Tasks bar options

The options under Journals on the Tasks bar provide easy access to all of the functions associated with viewing and adding journals. See Adding journals.

 

Option

Description

View all

View a list of all journals which have been added to the period. From the Journals window you can also add new entries, edit and delete existing journal entries. See Viewing adjustment journals.

View for account

View the journals for a selected account.

Add

Add adjustment journals to the period. See Adding a new adjustment journal.

Post journals and accounts

Post the adjustment journals and new accounts added in Workpapers to the client ledger. See Posting journals and exporting new accounts.

Accounts Tasks bar options

If there are accounts missing from the client’s general ledger, use the options under Accounts on the Tasks bar to add, edit or delete accounts. See Accounts.

 

Option

Description

Manage accounts

For AE/AO ledger you can add, edit and delete accounts from one location. You can also add, edit and delete account type groups. See Managing accounts

Add account

Add an account to the chart of accounts in the Prepare Trial Balance (Workpapers) table. See Adding header and detail accounts.

Edit account

Edit accounts which have been added during workpaper preparation. Only the account name can be edited. See Editing an added account.

Delete account

Delete accounts which have been added during workpaper preparation. See Deleting an added account.

View transactions

View workpaper account transactions. See Viewing transactions.

Define Balance Forward Accounts

Nominate balance forward accounts for source accounts. See Defining Balance Forward Accounts

Approvals Tasks bar options

You can set the status to indicate the progress on completing workpapers and documents for the workpapers period using the options under Approvals on the Tasks bar. See Setting the status on a workpaper or document.

(New Zealand) These options are only available if you’re licensed for Workpapers.
(Australia) If you’re not licensed for Workpapers, these options will be available on the Tasks bar under Farm reporting.

Option

Description

Current status

View the current status of a selected workpaper.

In Progress

Set the status of a workpaper or document to In Progress.

Awaiting Approval

Set the status of a workpaper or document to Awaiting Approval.

Rework

Set the status of a workpaper or document to Rework.

Approved

Set the status of a workpaper or document to Approved.

Farm reporting Tasks bar options (Australia)

The options under Farm reporting on the Tasks bar provide farm calculation functions to users who aren’t licensed for Workpapers. See Preparing workpapers.

 

Option

Description

Add workpaper

Attach a workpaper to an account in the table. See Adding workpapers. A 

icon identifies a workpaper.

Rollover from prior period

Include data in a current workpaper from a previous period. See Rolling data over from a prior period.

Update to latest template

Update a selected workpaper to the latest master template. See Updating your workpaper template.

Open workpaper

Open a selected workpaper or document. See Opening workpapers and Opening source documents.

View all workpapers

View a list of all documents — workpapers and documents — which have been attached or linked to accounts in the table. From the Trial Balance (Workpapers) window you can also open, link and delete workpapers and documents. See Viewing a list of all workpapers and source documents.

Delete workpaper

Delete a selected workpaper or document. See Deleting workpapers and source documents.

Current status

View the current status of a selected workpaper.

In progress

Set the status of a workpaper or document to In Progress.

Awaiting approval

Set the status of a workpaper or document to Awaiting Approval.

Rework

Set the status of a workpaper or document to Rework.

Approved

Set the status of a workpaper or document to Approved.

Finalise Workpapers Tasks bar options

The options under Finalise Workpapers on the Tasks bar guide you through the process of finalising the workpapers. Not all the options are available under Finalise Workpapers when the period is first opened. As the workpapers job progresses new options become available.

 

Option

Description

Create PDF

Produce a PDF file which contains the reports, workpapers and linked documents from the period. See Creating the PDF report.

Complete the period

After the journals and new accounts have been posted to the client’s company file and the workpaper period is finalised, the period can be marked as complete. See Completing the period.

Right-click menu options

Option

Description

Field Chooser

Opens the Field Chooser when you right click in the column header title area at the top of the window. This allows you to add or remove columns in the Trial Balance (Workpapers) table. See Adding and removing columns in the Trial Balance Workpapers

Expand

Expand an account.

Collapse

Collapse an account.

Expand All

Expand all accounts.

Collapse All

Collapse all accounts.

Add workpaper

Add a workpaper to an account. See Adding workpapers and source documents.

Link document

Link a document to an account. See Adding workpapers and source documents.

Add comment

Add a comment to an account in the Prepare Trial Balance (Workpapers) table. See Account comments.

Open workpaper

Open a workpaper. See Opening workpapers.

Rollover from prior period

Include data in a current workpaper from a previous period. See Rolling data over from a prior period.

Update to latest template

Update a selected workpaper to the latest master template. See Updating your workpaper template.

Add Journal

Add a journal to an account. See Adding journals.

View transactions

View workpaper account transactions. See Viewing transactions.

Current Status

View the current status of a selected workpaper.

In Progress

Set the status of a workpaper or document to In Progress.

Awaiting Approval

Set the status of a workpaper or document to Awaiting Approval.

Rework

Set the status of a workpaper or document to Rework.

Approved

Set the status of a workpaper or document to Approved.

Icons on the Prepare Trial Balance (Workpapers) table

Icon

Description


 

Workpapers can be configured to compare the calculated balance in the workpaper to the balance of the account to which the workpaper is attached. If the balances do not match, a

is displayed next to the workpaper to flag the discrepancy.

 

An icon in the status column displays the current status for the workpapers, documents and account. The status can be:

 In Progress

 Awaiting Approval

 Rework

 Approved

See Setting the status on a workpaper or document for information on how to change the status on an account.

A legend at the bottom of the table displays each icon and its meaning.


 

Comments can be added to an account. They are identified with a

PrepareWorkpapersTableComments.png
 in the column next to the Status column. Place your cursor on the icon to view the comments for the account. Right-click on the icon to edit or delete the comments.

See Account comments.


 

This icon specifies an added workpaper. It is displayed as a sub-row below the account.

Double-click the sub-row to open and view the workpaper.


 

This icon specifies a linked document. It is displayed as a sub-row below the account.

Double-click the sub-row to open and view the document.


 

An

at the beginning of the workpaper sub-row indicates that the workpaper is a linked workpaper. The account that the workpaper is actually attached to is indicated in square brackets - [1-1000 account name] - after the workpaper name.


 

A

at the start of an account row indicates that the row can be expanded. Click the 
to expand the row and view the attached documents. Click the 
to collapse the row.

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