Who can use this feature
Roles: Owner, Admin, Staff and optional on custom roles
Plans: Available on Advanced
About ledgers
If you are working with financial data, "Ledgers" allows you to create a statement that combines a subset, or all, of the Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet accounts into a single statement. Typically the only time you can combine these two together is on the Trial Balance, but with ledgers, you can do it with a subset of accounts.
Basically, you can:
View (or share) a particular selection of certain accounts (instead of providing full access to a P&L or balance sheet)
Combine account data, customer and supplier; and connections data to create equations such as "Revenue per staff member"
Compare specific accounts to budgets or forecasts without sharing the entire budget or forecast
The ledgers feature works in the same way as our P&L and Balance Sheet features. Ledgers are found within "Analyze" > "Ledgers" where you are able to configure columns within "Build Ledgers" and rows within the build ( 🔨 ) mode.
This article is a step-by-step guide to help you create your first ledger and answer any technical questions you have. Alternatively, if you are working with data from a Stripe entity, you can create ledgers that combine cash flow, subscription and connection data in a single statement.
How to create a ledger
Row configuration
Navigate to "Analyze" > "Ledgers" and toggle on 🔨 mode within the Standard view. From here, click the + icon to create a new ledger and then click "Add data".
From the pop-up page, you can select any of the following sources to add to your ledger:
Accounts (Profit & Loss or Balance Sheet)
Totals (Profit & Loss or Balance Sheet)
Customer sales metrics (and select which customers to add)
Product sales metrics (and select which products to add)
Suppliers
Connection data
Chart of Accounts (add COA classifications as sources to your ledger or alter COA classifications)
Transaction tags (add one of your transaction tags as a source to your ledger)
Specify if you would like to use a custom Profit & Loss or Balance Sheet layout
Click "Add" once you are happy with your selections. From your P&L you can add revenue and expense accounts to your ledger and from the balance sheet you can add assets and liabilities accounts.
💡 Pro tip
Account names will be pulled from your default Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet layout. If you'd like to rename an account on a ledger, do so in your layouts so that the change will be universal in Syft.
Hover over the icon shown below to reveal the data source of each element added to your ledger:
Ledgers work similarly to your layouts where you can create multiple ledgers with different row and column configurations.
Column configuration
If you are adding a new ledger within the Standard, Multi-Period, Multi-Entity or Divisional view, then you will not be able to configure columns from those views. You will need to navigate to the "Build Ledger" top-tab to configure your ledger columns, as shown below:
Explanation of the drop-down headings:
Ledgers: row configurations that you've created
Column configuration: column configurations that you've created
You will be able to click "Add column" within any column configuration selection chosen; as long as you are in the "Build ledger" top tab.
Ledger formatting
You can complement your data with a host of formatting options such as headings, groups and equations. Toggle on the 🔨 button to transition into build mode. Click "Add format" to customize the ledger's layout with the options listed below.
Group accounts together
Move the data around
Indent data
Add headings
Add equations
Add totals
Under "Add format" > "Options" you will be able to choose whether you would like to show zero accounts etc.
You can also create multiple ledgers which you can switch between by clicking on the ledger name drop-down.
Click "Add source" to add additional accounts and data to your ledger.
Once you have selected "Add source," a number of source options will be available to you:
Accounts from your Profit and Loss or Balance Sheet:
Select specific accounts and indicate whether they should behave as expected (auto) or as revenue or expenses, if they are to be treated differently in the ledger.
Choose the specific accounts in the "Select accounts" dropdown.
Indicate how many decimal points to include.
Totals from your Profit and Loss or Balance Sheet:
Select specific totals.
Specify decimal points
Layouts:
Select existing layouts from the dropdown to apply to your Profit and Loss or Balance Sheet.
Customers:
Select a sales metric from the dropdown.
Choose to filter by a specific tag or select all. If you have selected tag, you will need to choose a tag from the next dropdown. The dropdown will include tags that you have already created elsewhere in Syft.
Indicate whether an increase would be favorable or unfavorable.
Specify decimal points.
Suppliers:
Select suppliers.
Indicate whether an increase would be favorable or unfavorable.
Specify decimal points.
Products:
Select a sales metric from the dropdown.
Choose to filter by a specific tag or select all. If you have selected tag, you will need to choose a tag from the next dropdown. The dropdown will include tags that you have already created elsewhere in Syft.
Indicate whether an increase would be favorable or unfavorable.
Specify decimal points.
Connections (non-financial data):
Select a connection (this will have to already have been added in the Connections section).
Select fields from the connection.
Specify decimal points
Chart of Accounts:
Add COA classifications from your Profit and Loss or Balance sheet.
Select the relevant COA classifications from the drop-down menu.
Specify decimal points.
Transaction tags:
Select transaction tags from the dropdown.
Specify decimal points.
Once you're happy with your selection, click "Add" to add it to your ledger. Select a checkbox to view more options to edit your ledger such as:
Grouping sections together
Editing
Deleting (with the trash can icon)
Indenting
Unindenting
Always remember to click Save!
💡 Pro tip
Equations are great for custom ratios or KPIs that are specific to your industry or business such as "Revenue per team member", "Website visits per sale" or "Salaries as a % of total expenses".
Views
Once you've added data to a ledger and saved it, you'll find your ledger in the left menu bar under "Analyze" > "Ledgers". Once you access your ledger, you'll have the following familiar views:
Standard
Multi-period
Divisional
Multi-entity (if you are in a consolidation)
Build Ledger
Click any heading to sort the data in your ledger, either by ascending or descending order. When you sort your data by any column, all the data from that data entry will travel together automatically.
You can also use the little button next to the comparison options to pivot your data.
And you can click on any number to drill down into transaction-level detail.
Multi-period
In the multi-period view, you can build a ledger covering multiple periods, with a color-coded trend line at the far right of the screen (green indicates positive and red negative). If you have selected a lot of periods, you may need to scroll to see the trend line.
You can select up to 24 periods and choose between a comparison with the prior period or the prior period last year.
Filtering for divisions
To filter for divisions (tracking categories, classes, projects, or analysis codes), you can either:
Click on the divisions button in the Standard or Multi-Period view; or
Navigate to the Divisional tab at the top of the screen.
You will then be prompted to select either one or multiple divisions for your ledger. Once applied, you'll have a ledger report focusing on just those specific divisions.
Build Ledger
The most powerful option within the Ledger tool is Build Ledger. From here, you can create a fully customized ledger, including all kinds of data! To add columns, click on "Add column." You can then choose from:
Actuals: choosing how to view these (e.g. monthly or quarterly), the number of periods to display and periods to lag. You can also choose to exclude custom journals or filter for divisions with a simple toggle.
Budget: selecting the relevant budget, budget type (period budget or total), historical or remaining data, viewing options, number of periods, and periods to lag.
Forecast: with the same options as budget.
Equation: choosing between a column equation (where the same equation is applied to every cell in the equation column) or cell equations (where a different equation can be applied to each and every cell in the equation column). This is a lot like conditional formatting in Excel!
📓 Note:
Cells in a cell equation column cannot be referenced in other equations within the same cell column. Similarly, cells in the cell equation column cannot reference cells in other cell equation columns.
Notes: a text-based column.
Journals: where you can select the relevant journal or journals, how to view them (i.e. as monthly, daily, etc.), the number of periods to show, and periods to lag.
Templates: choosing between a rolling average using prior actuals, a quick forecast for the next period, or a quick forecast for the financial year.
You can once again switch to build mode to configure your rows. As with other ledgers, you can add sources and formatting within the Build menu.
Ultimately, your ledger works in a similar fashion to your profit and loss or balance sheet across entities, divisions and consolidations.