Spotting errors with reports
You will be able to: Tie one report to another to find mistakes; Use Data health and the Exception Centre; Trace a number with Ledger Audit and Posting Trail.
- Read not done yet
- Self-check: not taken not done yet
- Lesson complete not done yet
Reports are not only for reading results. They are how you find mistakes. The method is the tie-out: two reports that should give the same figure, and a difference that tells you something is wrong.
Tie-outs
| Compare | With | A gap usually means |
|---|---|---|
| Trial Balance Closing Dr | Closing Cr | Damaged data; call support |
| Party Balance Summary total | Trade Receivables in the Trial Balance | Entries with no party, or a party of Kind BOTH, which the summary leaves out |
| Goods Received Not Invoiced total | Account 2150 in the Trial Balance with no filter | A filter left on the report |
| VAT Box Summary box subtotal | The same box in VAT Return (VAT 201) | A branch limit, wrong direction or missing party |
| VAT Return (VAT 201) | VAT Return worksheet | A calendar month against a tax period |
| Cash Flow Net change in cash | Actual cash movement | Something to take to your accountant |
Aging is not on that list on purpose: it counts invoices only, so it can differ from the ledger for known reasons (module 7).
Data health
Reports, Data health runs read-only checks across the company: balanced entries, party balances, stock, VAT and numbering. Open the Analysis tab. Trial balance should say In balance and Must be fixed should be 0. Press Open on a finding to reach the document. Findings are for you and your accountant to investigate: correct a posted entry by amending the document or posting a journal, never by editing the ledger.
Exception Centre
The Exception Centre checks your books against 14 rules and ranks the problems by money at stake: sale below cost, discount above role cap, credit limit breached, overdue receivables, dead stock, negative stock, an RCM declaration expiring and others. Nothing runs by itself: press Run rules now. Categories are Margin, Cash, Stock, Compliance and Operations.
- Fix the problem where it lives, then press Resolve. Ack means you have seen it. Mute needs a reason.
- Ack, Resolve and Mute all take the row off the list, and a resolved or muted exception is not raised again for the same cause. Resolve only what is truly dealt with.
- Reading the list and running the rules need the Advanced reporting licence. Without it the screen says it is a licensed feature.
Ledger Audit and Posting Trail
- Ledger Audit: one timeline of postings (documents submitted, amended or cancelled) and data changes. From starts 14 days ago. Data-change rows need the Audit add-on and the security.view permission.
- Posting Trail: type a document number, including /A1 after an amend, and see what it posted into the general ledger, the stock ledger and the VAT register. A chip says Balanced. If it says NOT BALANCED, report it; do not try to fix it there.
- Day Book: walk through a day or a month and spot documents that should not be there.
Rules change; always check the FTA website.
Try it in the demo
- Open Data health, wait for the checks and read the Analysis tab. Is Trial balance In balance?
- Open Exception Centre (it needs the Advanced reporting licence in your plan). Read the tiles. Do not press Resolve or Mute.
- Open Posting Trail, type a recent invoice number and read the three tables and the Balanced chip.
- Open Ledger Audit and press Detail on a posting row.
Public demo company, sign in as admin / demoAdmin123. Data refreshes nightly.
- A tie-out compares two reports that should agree; a gap is a clue.
- Data health checks balance, parties, stock, VAT and numbering without changing anything.
- The Exception Centre ranks problems by money at stake; Resolve and Mute take the row off the list.
- Posting Trail shows everything one document posted, with a Balanced check.
Check yourself
3 questions on this lesson. Not timed, not the exam, and you can try again. Score 60% or more, and read the lesson, to complete it.
1. Which statements about the Exception Centre are true?
Select all that apply.