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Analytic Report

The Analytic Report (or Analytic Ledger) allows you to analyze your financial performance by dimension (e.g., project, department, cost center) rather than just by the nature of the expense (e.g., salary, rent). This is the core of management accounting.

While the Profit & Loss tells you what you spent money on, the Analytic Report tells you why or for whom you spent it.

What is an Analytic Account?

An Analytic Account is a secondary "tag" or axis for tracking costs and revenues. It runs parallel to your General Ledger but doesn't affect your legal financial statements.

  • General Ledger: "We spent $1,000 on Flight Tickets." (Legal Requirement)
  • Analytic Account: "This $1,000 belongs to Project X." (Management Insight)

Key Concepts

  • Analytic Account: A specific cost center or revenue bucket (e.g., "HR Department", "Project Alpha").
  • Analytic Plan: A grouping of analytic accounts (e.g., "Departments", "Projects"). This allows you to track multiple dimensions simultaneously.
    • Example: A single expense invoice can be tagged to "Department: Sales" AND "Project: Q4 Campaign".

Where to Find It

Navigate to: Accounting → Reports → Analytic Report

How to Use the Report

1. Filter by Plan or Account

To get meaningful data, you usually want to filter:

  • Analytic Plan: Select "Projects" to see profitability for all projects.
  • Analytic Accounts: Select specific accounts (e.g., "Project Alpha", "Project Beta") to compare them.

2. Set the Date Range

  • Start Date: The beginning of the period you want to analyze.
  • End Date: The end of the period.

3. Generate Analysis

Click Generate Report to view the breakdown.

Understanding the Columns

The report typically displays:

Column Description
Analytic Account The name of the cost center or project (e.g., "Project Alpha").
Debit Costs and expenses allocated to this account.
Credit Revenues or budget allocations credited to this account.
Balance Credit - Debit. A positive balance usually indicates profit (more revenue than cost), while a negative balance indicates a net cost.

[!NOTE] Unlike the General Ledger where Debit is usually positive for assets/expenses, in Analytic Reports, we often look at the Balance to see the net financial impact.

Common Use Cases

1. Project Profitability

  • Goal: Knowing if "Project A" made money.
  • Setup: Tag all Client Invoices (revenue) and Vendor Bills (expenses) related to Project A with the "Project A" analytic account.
  • Result: The Analytic Report Balance shows appropriate Net Profit for strictly that project.

2. Departmental Costing

  • Goal: Tracking how much the "IT Department" costs the company.
  • Setup: Expenses (Laptops, Salaries) are tagged with "IT Department".
  • Result: The report shows total running costs for IT.

3. Grant Budgeting (NGOs)

  • Goal: Ensuring you don't overspend a specific grant.
  • Setup: Expenses are tagged to "Grant #123".
  • Result: Monitor the total spend against the grant revenue.

Drill Down

You can often click on an Analytic Account name in the report (if supported) or use the Analytic Items view to see the individual transactions that make up the balance.

Best Practices

  • Mandatory Tags: For critical projects, make Analytic Accounts mandatory on Purchase Orders and Bills to ensure no cost is missed.
  • Consistency: Use Analytic Plans to keep "Departments" separate from "Projects" to avoid reporting confusion.