Mastering Sage Intacct Financial Reports: Configuration

  • Sage
  • 1/30/2025
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Learn the different data options you can configure, most of which exist within the “Columns” tab of the Intacct Financial Report Writer.

The configuration of Sage Intacct financial reports refers to the different data elements within the report itself. In the last post, we focused on building the fundamental framework of a report.

Today, we will discuss the different data options we can configure within our structure, most of which exist within the “Columns” tab of the Intacct Financial Report Writer. The primary configuration data elements include, but are not limited to:

  • The number of columns within your financial report
  • The type of columns in your financial report (Actual, Budget, Actual vs Budget, etc.)
  • The time period your columns will focus on (Current Year, Current YTD, Prior Year, etc.)
  • The reporting book you are pulling data from (Accrual, Allocations, Encumbrances, etc.)
  • The dimension/time period you would like to further analyze or compare (optional)

Number of columns

The number of columns to include in your report depends on the data you plan to analyze within your report. For example, if you are creating a report to analyze current month actuals, you would only need two columns in your report configuration – one for your GL Accounts and one for the current month actual data. You can easily add or move columns as needed by clicking the “Column #” option and selecting to add/move columns to the right or left.

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Column types

Intacct has multiple column types to choose from allowing you to determine the value included in the column. Some of the more commonly used column types include:

  • Actual — To show the actual amounts for a selected period.
  • Budget — To show the budget amounts for a selected period. (Note — you must specify an existing Intacct budget for any column type referencing a budget.)
  • Actual vs. budget differences/variances — To show the difference between actuals and budget, either as an amount or percentage.
  • Period differences/variances — To show the difference between two reporting periods, either as an amount or percentage.
  • Computation — Taking an actual/budget amount and performing a predefined calculation (i.e. dividing expenses by revenue to show expenses as a percentage of revenue.)
  • Summary on columns — To show a calculation between two of your columns.

For our example, if we wanted to configure our report to show our GL Account’s actual amounts, budget amounts and the difference between the two, we would set up a four-column report like shown below:

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Reporting periods

The reporting period you select in your column(s) is always relative to the date you are running the report “as of.” For example, if I set a column’s reporting period to be prior month and my as of date is 12/31/2024, then my column will pull in data from 11/1/2024 - 11/30/2024. Consider the period you would like to pull data from in your report columns and select the corresponding reporting period. In our example, we compare actual and budget amounts for the current year up through today’s date, so we will select “Current Year To Date” as our reporting period.

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Bonus tip — If you ever need a 3- or 6-month trending report, or something similar, use the “offset” option to choose the number of prior periods the column will pull data from. For example, if I wanted a 3-month trending report, I would have three columns set to current month, with the offset field set to 0, 1, and 2 in each of my three columns, respectively.

Reporting book

You may not ever need to update the reporting book your financial report pulls data from. However, if you use a custom (user-defined) reporting book to track committed expenses, allocations, or any other entry specific to your organization, you can edit the reporting book that a specific column in your report will pull data from.

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Expand columns by time period or dimension

Each column in your report has an “expand by” option allowing you to expand a single column into multiple. You can use this Intacct functionality to break down data by time period or compare data by a certain dimension. For example, if you ever have the business need to compare net income by department, rather than setting up multiple reports or multiple columns within a report, you can expand a singular column by your department dimension to break out this comparison. See below for reference:

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See below for the result:

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You now know all about structure and configuration. You’ve mastered two of the three legs of the Intacct Triple Crown. Eternal glory is in sight.

What’s next?

Make sure you subscribe to the blog to join us for the last installment of our series, format, next week and let’s finish strong. Need additional report writing assistance in the meantime? Reach out to your CLA Sage Intacct team!

This blog contains general information and does not constitute the rendering of legal, accounting, investment, tax, or other professional services. Consult with your advisors regarding the applicability of this content to your specific circumstances.

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