Add an account group

It's typical to begin by creating account groups that will consist only of individual GL accounts or categories. Then create the types of account groups that contain other account groups, those that are part of a computational formula, and so on. These account groups are more likely to form the basis of your financial reports.

Subscription

General Ledger

Regional availability

All regions

User type Business
Permissions Account Groups: List, View, Add
  1. Go to Reports > Setup and select Add (circle) next to Account groups.
  2. Enter a Name for the new account group.
    3. The name of the account group determines how it appears on lists, and can't be changed after the account group is saved. However, you can change how it’s displayed on reports using the Display as fields.

  3. Optionally, select an account group purpose from the list. Or you can create one if needed.

    An account group purpose can be used to limit the list of account groups. Purposes are useful when adding a group to another group or when searching for groups in financial reports and dashboards.

    1. In the Account group purpose field, select Add.

    2. Enter the name for the account group purpose, for example Assets or Tax expense.

    3. By default, the status is set to Active. To make it inactive and not available, select Inactive.

    4. Select Save.

  4. Optionally, enter an Account group manager directly into the text box. The account group manager is used for filtering and is shown in reports.
  5. Optionally, change the display name in the Display on report as box, such as "Assets."
  6. Enter the title that will display as the heading in the Display total line as box.

  7. Select the down arrow in the Normal balance dropdown list, and then select Debit to use this account group as a debit balance. Select Credit to use it as a credit balance.

    Cash is generally a debit balance. Sales is generally a credit balance.

    Make sure that the normal balance is the same for all accounts in the account group. The normal balance takes the designation from the top of the group. For example, if the parent is debit normal, all included accounts will be added, regardless of their normal balance setting.

  8. In Global Consolidations companies, select Is a KPI to make the account group available for selection as a key performance indicator (KPI).

    This checkbox is available only for multi-entity shared companies that use Global Consolidations.You can view real-time KPI data for any entity or location on the Organization view when KPI roll-up is enabled. You can have as many KPIs as you want selected in Account groups, but only the first 10 KPIs (alphabetically) are shown on the Organization view. Go to General Ledger > All > Financial report structures > Account groups. Select an existing account group or create a new one, and under Account group information enable Is a KPI. You can disable this feature anytime.

    Only the first 10 account groups marked as KPIs appear in the organization view's KPI up. To ensure that your desired KPIs appear in the list, name (or rename) them with a letter or number prefix, such as a_Assets, b_Cash and equivalents, c_Expenses, and so on.

    If you enable KPIs for account groups later, Refresh on the Organization chart refreshes only existing data. Refresh the page in the browser to see the new KPI data.

Define the group structure type and calculation method

Assign a structure type to this account group. Select the Structure type down arrow, and from the list select the type of account group you want. Page options change, depending on which group type you select. For more information about structure types, refer to Account group types.

Each structure type is designed for a specific use and has different features. After you assign a structure type to an account group, it cannot be changed.

If the wrong structure was assigned to the account group, delete the group and recreate it, assigning it the correct structure type. You can only delete account groups that have not been used in a report yet.

  1. Select the structure type.
    Types include Accounts, Group of accounts, Statistical accounts, Computation, Category, and Statistical category. The group members that you add are based on the structure type.
    Calculation account groups are not supported for Interactive custom report writer reports
  2. Select the calculation method. Specify whether you want the report to calculate:
    • only the amounts in the period you selected (For period)
    • amounts cumulatively up to the start of the selected period (Start of period)
    • the amounts cumulatively up to the end of the selected period (End of period).
      The latter is useful, for example, in a balance-forward situation. Set up balance sheet account groups as End of Period. Set up income statement account groups as For period.

Computation structures use calculation methods that enable you to create formulas on your account group. You can add, subtract, multiply, or divide between selected accounts or account groups. You can also use a constant number as part of the calculation. Display the amount result as a ratio, percentage, or average, based on the formula you select.

Calculation structures can only take two accounts, account groups, or constants. For example, you could:

  • Divide the revenue general ledger account by the Employee statistical account to obtain your revenue per employee
  • Divide your total debt by your current assets to get the debt ratio

A general ledger account can be a member of more than 1 account group.

Learn more about account groups and account group types.

Add members to the group

Each structure type has a specific type of member. For each structure type, specify what you want this account group to consist of. The following table gives details about adding members for each structure type.

You can repeat adding group members as often as you like, until you've added all the members you want to this group.

Account group options
Structure type Add members

Accounts

Specify the discrete GL accounts you want this account group to consist of. You can:

  1. Select a range of accounts. Select the From account down arrow and then select an account from the list that appears. Then select the To account down arrow and select an account.
  2. Enter a specific account ID, if you know it, in the data entry boxes.
  3. Select Add to group.

Statistical accounts

Specify the discrete GL statistical accounts you want this statistical account group to consist of. You can:

  1. Select a range of statistical accounts. Select the From account down arrow and then select an account from the list that appears. Then select the To account down arrow and select an account.
  2. Enter a specific account ID, if you know it, in the data entry boxes.
  3. Select Add to group.

Groups of account groups
  1. Specify the discrete account groups you want this account group to consist of. Select the Account group down arrow and then select an account group from the list that appears. To filter the list for a specific type of account:
    1. Select the Account group purpose down arrow.
    2. Select the purpose to filter for.
    3. Select the account group from the list.
  2. Select Add to group.
  3. Specify another account group, and so on, until you've included all the groups you want in this account group.

Computation
  1. On the left side of the equation, use the top of the 2 boxes to specify a constant, a single GL account, or an account group. These are discrete account groups you want this account group to contain. Select the Account group down arrow and select an account group from the list that appears.
  2. Repeat this for the right side of the equation.
  3. Specify whether you want to add, subtract, multiply, or divide.
  4. Set the display options. Use display options to define the number and unit of measurement for the computation. The options include decimal places, type such as number or percentage, unit, and alignment.
    For example, you could set:
    • 0
    • number
    • each (unit)
    • right
    to display the item as x each using only whole numbers, or set:
    • 2
    • number
    • R
    • left
    to display the item as R x.
  5. Specify another account group, and so on, until you've included all the groups you want in this Computation Account Group.
Some operators (add, subtract, multiply, divide) aren't compatible with all display options. For example, addition, subtraction, and multiplication can't be displayed as a percentage.

Categories

Applies only to companies that were created using a setup template.

Specify the discrete category you want this account group to consist of. However, you can't modify categories or create new ones, you must choose from the predefined list.

Select the Category down arrow and then select an account category from the list that appears. Then select Add to group.

You can repeat this as often as you like, until you've added all the accounts you want to this group.

Using a Services setup template? By default, the categories "Manpower" and "Direct Materials" are assigned to account groups that are only used in the reports "Project Profitability" and "Project Estimation versus Actual." These two categories don’t appear in balance sheet reports or income statements. If you’ve assigned any accounts to these two categories that you also want to show up in your balance sheet, income statement, or other reports, assign these categories manually to the appropriate account groups.

Statistical categories

Specify the discrete statistical category you want this account group to consist of. Select the Category down arrow and then select a statistical account category from the list that appears. Then select Add to group.

You can repeat this as often as you like, until you've added all the accounts you want to this group.

(Optional) Add filters to the account group

You can use the Report filters section to restrict the data displayed by dimension or other factors. Before you create filtering for the account group, consider how you’ll use it in reports, and if filtering here might be too restrictive.

Usually, we recommend that you use the filtering on the report or graph instead of on the account group. Filtering on the account group limits the flexibility in reporting.

To help you decide which filtering method is best, consider who will see the report. For reports created for a single audience where the information needed is always the same, filtering by account group might be best.

For reports with multiple audiences, filtering at the report or graph level might be a better solution. You can create 1 report and filter it at runtime so that the report displays the results for different departments. For example, show the results based on who will receive the report. You can set report filtering without having to create multiple account groups and reports.

Another advantage to filtering on the report instead of the account group is to include multiple members of the same dimension for the same report. When you use the filtering on the report or graph instead of on the account group, you can filter on multiple dimension members by using a dimension group.

After you determine that filtering on the account group is the right choice, set up your filtering.

Filtering

  1. Filter transactions so that the report will display debits, or credits, or both.
  2. Select the item to filter on, such as Debit or credit, a dimension, or other related option. Some filters, like Debit only/Credit only, have limited choices. The filters here work on charts, graphs, performance cards, and financial reports, but are ignored in GL reports. Most options are dimensions. Dimensions offer four choices from the dropdown list: 
    • No filter. Select this option to include all objects in the report (such as all the departments, all the projects, all the classes, and so on), in addition to all of the object's children.
    • Specific (dimension), including sub-dimensions. Select this option to include the parent object that you chose in the corresponding dropdown, along with all its children.
    • Specific (dimensions). Select this option to include only the dimension that you chose in the corresponding dropdown.
      • Groups can be selected for Department and Location.
      • For Account Group filters can be selected for Department and Location, and other standard dimensions that include a hierarchy.
    • No (dimension) specified. Select this option to show transactions that are not related with any dimension.
  3. To avoid conflicting filters, filtering by Task is not supported because project Tasks that use standard tasks could have the same task ID. If you must use a filter by task, create an account group for a financial report and then filter the report by Task. To see the task group in a list, filter by a specific task and select a specific project.
  4. Select Save to save your changes.

To save this account group and create another one, select Save & new. Another blank Account group information page appears.

Here are some examples of account groups that you might find useful.

  • An account group called “Withdrawal” that's filtered for credit only on your bank accounts; Intacct will display only credit transactions such as withdrawal transactions on the report.
  • An account group that includes summary revenues for a single location, such as "Sales: Location 1," and include it as a row in a report.
  • An account group that contains just the debit transactions to an equipment account, such as "Equipment Purchases."

How do accounts appear on reports? (credit vs. debit)

Whether an account appears as a credit or debit on a report is influenced by two factors:

  • Normal balance of the accounts in the account group.

    When you create an account, you specify whether the normal balance, from an accounting standpoint, is a debit or credit. For example, expense accounts are normally a debit. Sales accounts are normally a credit. If you were to run a Trial Balance report, the normal balance of the account is what determines whether the account is a credit or debit.

  • Normal balance of the account group.

    When you create an account group, you specify whether the normal balance is credit or debit, based on how it's used in financial reports. For example, Revenue is a credit account group and Expenses is a debit account group.

Why is there a normal balance for the account group? The normal balance of the account group adjusts whether the accounts in the group are a credit or debit, in the context of the report.
  • If the Normal balance of an account group is Credit, then credit accounts appear as a positive and debit accounts appear as a negative.
  • If the Normal balance of an account group is Debit, then the credit accounts appear as a negative and debit accounts appear as a positive.

For example, Expenses is a debit account group. The accounts in the group, such as Utilities, are typically debit accounts. The accounts in Expenses to appear as a positive number on income statements. Also, Net Income is a credit account group, which causes Expenses to be treated as a debit when determining total net income.

To find granular items such as what journal entries are made to an account group for a specific reporting period, create financial or custom reports.