What is a Build
A Build P&L, Balance Sheet or Ledger is a customized statement with highly editable columns and data types. In this article, we will explore how to create and when to use a Build statement. All Build statements have the same functionality and so we will use a Build P&L as a use case.
Navigation
Navigate to "Financials" > "Profit and Loss" and click on the "Build P&L" top tab.
How to create a Build
To create a Build P&L, follow the steps below:
Click on the + icon and choose whether to:
Start from scratch: Choose data sources, build formulas, pick custom date ranges, re-order columns, and rename anything you like.
Import a Build P&L from another entity: Syft will import actuals, forecasts, budgets, and equations. Select the entity you would like to import a Build from and choose one of their Builds to import. Be sure to review forecasts, budgets, and equations after the import for this entity. This option can save you time if you are creating a build with the same columns as another entity within your organization.
Click "Add columns" where you will be able to select an actuals, budget, forecast, equation, notes or journals column.
Click on the 3 dots next to a column heading to edit the data within the column, edit the formatting of the column, hide, delete or lock the dates of the column
Click "Save" when you are happy with your Build.
Build tools
There is a great deal of functionality and flexibility within Builds. An explanation of each tool is listed below.
Toggle the 🔨 button to switch to Layouts
Click "Reorder" to move around columns
Click the switch icon next to "Reorder" to pivot your Build
Click the dropdown arrow next to any account category or group to expand it. Click "Save" to keep that expanded view in the Build
Click the Build dropdown to switch between different Builds
Hover over the "fx" icon next to any equation row to view what makes up that equation
Click on the 3 dots next to any column heading to edit that column's data, lock the dates for that column, hide the column or format the column. Within the formatting tool you are able to change the font and color of your columns. You can copy this format across other columns by clicking "Copy existing" within the formatting tool.
Click on the column heading to rename it
Click the + icon after the last column to add a new column
Click the down-facing arrow at the top right of your screen to download your Build P&L as a PDF, Word or Excel. Similarly, click on the + icon at the top right of your screen to add your Build P&L to any report template.
Build P&L vs Standard P&L
A Standard P&L has 5 standard columns that cannot be changed which are:
Current period
Prior period
Variance
Variance %
YTF (FY)
Whereas, a Build P&L's columns can be customized with no limits.
📓 Note
You can apply a Layout of your choice to both a Standard P&L and a Build P&L. If you set a certain layout as default by clicking the star icon, then this layout will be applied to all P&Ls.
Layout vs Build
A Build P&L is used to customize the columns within your P&L where as a Layout is used to customize the rows within your P&L.
We recommend setting up your Layouts on Syft first and foremost as most features on Syft use the Layout that you set as default to generate reports. Use Layouts to set up your totals, group accounts or hide certain accounts.
After this you can then use Build to change or add columns within your P&L such as adding actuals, budgets, forecasts or equation columns where you can apply arithmetic operations to multiple columns. The Layout you choose will then be applied to your Build.
Change a Layout within Build
Click on the 🔨 toggle to view, change or edit your Layout. You can also set a certain Layout as your default by clicking the star icon. Alternatively, click on "Assign layout" within the "Build P&L" top tab to change your layout.
Consolidated budget and forecast columns
You are able to add a budget column to your Build P&Ls which will sum multiple budgets from different entities within a consolidation into one budget column. The underlying budget columns will automatically be hidden. This works the same for forecast columns.
You are also able to consolidate different budgets or forecasts for the same entity within one column (your entity does not have to be a consolidation).
More on columns
Actuals
Actuals represent your historic financials. Once you select actuals, you'll have the option to view the financial data using the standard Syft time periods (e.g. monthly, quarterly, annually, etc). You'll also be given the option to include multiple periods in a single column. For example, if you select monthly (as the time period) and 2 periods (as the number of periods), you'll see 2 months of actuals in a single column.
💡 Pro tip
You can add actuals for the whole entity or divisions by toggling the "Filter for divisions" on the add column popup. You can add actuals for the whole entity or divisions in the same P&L.
Lastly, you can set a time lag for the actuals vs. the date for the P&L. This is useful to compare different periods of data against one another. For example, if you select monthly (as the time period), the time period to lag vs. the date will also be monthly.
Budget
Budget represents budgets that you've created in Syft or imported via your accounting software. Similar to actuals, you'll have the option to view the financial data from your budget using the standard Syft time periods (e.g. monthly, quarterly, annually, etc). You'll also be given the option to include multiple periods in a single column. For example, if you select monthly (as the time period) and 2 periods (as the number of periods), you'll see 2 months of actuals in a single column.
An additional option for budgets vs. actuals is to show the historical or remaining portion of the budget. The historical or remaining portion of the budget will be based on the date you select for your P&L. For example, if your budget is for a calendar year (Jan to Dec), and you select "Historical" as your option along with June as the P&L date, the data for the budget column will include Jan to June (subject to the time period and number of columns you select).
Forecast
Forecast represents 4-Way Forecasts that you've created in Syft across the P&L, balance sheet, cash flow statements, and KPIs. Similar to both actuals and budgets, you'll have the option to view the financial data from your budget using the standard Syft time periods (e.g. monthly, quarterly, annually, etc). You'll also be given the option to include multiple periods in a single column. For example, if you select monthly (as the time period) and 2 periods (as the number of periods), you'll see 2 months of a 4-Way Forecast's data in a single column.
We've also introduced forecasts vs. actuals (using the option to show the historic or remaining portion of the forecast). The historic or remaining portion of the forecast will be based on the date you select for your P&L. For example, if your forecast is for a calendar year (Jan to Dec), and you select "Historical" as your option along with June as the P&L date, the data for the forecast column will include Jan to June (subject to the time period and number of columns you select).
Equation
Equations are formulae that can calculate variances, differences and changes between any data in any columns. Select "Equation" on the Add Column pop-up. In the create an equation editor, insert column variables and use the mathematical operators to finalize your equation. For example:
Calculate the difference: (Column A - Column B)
Calculate the percentage change: (Column C ÷ Column D) -1
You can also create equations within in equations by adding an equation as a column in the equation builder.
Notes
Add notes to any specific account within your P&L to explain what makes up certain totals and why.
Journal
Include a journal or multiple journals as a column in your Build.
More on ledgers
Who can use this feature
Roles: Owner, Admin, Staff, with options on custom roles
Plans: Available on Advanced and Scale
With "Ledgers" you can add accounts (P&L and BS), connections, product, customer and product data. You can also add totals and even import an entire P&L or BS layout to get your ledger started!
Navigate to "Analyze" > "Ledgers" to land on the ledger tools. Within "Ledgers" you will find the following top tabs which work the in the same way as the top tabs in "Financials" > "Profit and Loss" as well as "Financials" > "Balance Sheet":
Standard
Multi-Period
Divisional
Build ledger
Some things to note about Ledgers:
The totals data source pulls from the entity’s default layout which is a very useful data source but remember that these totals cannot be added to categories or groups.
If you need to build multiple, similar ledgers in different entities; consider building as much of the ledger as you can in a layout first. You can then share this layout across entities and then import the layout to the ledger. This will save you plenty of time!
Build ledgers are available to all of the ledgers in an entity and remember that they can be shared across entities.
The duplicate ledger button is also useful to eliminate unnecessary workarounds!