Setting up cell groups and display options

You can control the setup of cell groups and how values are displayed in tables in the financial statements.

Prerequisites

To set up cell groups and display options, you must open the Financial statements document and select the Format tab.

Modifying cell groups

Cell groups are pre-defined formats that can be applied to any cell. If the document can be divided into groups of cells that require common formatting attributes, it is possible to store these formats in a cell group. The cell group can be assigned to blocks of cells that automatically acquire the attributes of the cell group. Think of cell groups as sophisticated "cell styles".

Financials uses cell groups to manage formatting for numeric, alphanumeric, percentage and decimal cells. You can modify the properties of any of the cell groups that have been defined for your client file.

Procedure

  1. Open the Financial statements document and select the Format tab.
  2. From the (Modify cell group) drop-down, select the cell group that you want to modify.

  3. In the Cell Groups dialog, the cell group selected from the drop-down is automatically in focus. Cell groups are divided into three areas:

    • Tables, which affects cells in statements and schedules
    • TableNotes, which affects cells in note tables
    • TextNotes, which affects cells in note text

    The name of each area depends on the tab that you have selected. For example, if you have selected the Alpha tab, the Table pane is named Alpha Table.

  4. In the Table area, do the following:

    • From the Shade Type drop-down, select the shade type to use for that cell group. When asked to confirm whether you want to modify the cell group, click OK.
    • From the Shade Colour drop-down, select the shade color to use.
    • From the Decimal point drop-down, select the number of digits to display after the decimal point. If you have selected the Alpha tab, this drop-down is not available.
    • From the Display zero as drop-down, select how zero values are to be displayed. If you have selected the Alpha tab, this drop-down is not available.
  5. Repeat step 4 for the TableNote area.
  6. Repeat step 4 for the TextNote area.
  7. Click OK to close the Cell Groups dialog.

Results

The cell group properties are modified.

Setting cell display options

Financials provides options that enable you to control cell display in tables. These options are:

  • Whether to reserve space for brackets
  • Whether to display the rounded to zero symbol
  • How positive and negative numbers are to be displayed
  • The dash position

Procedure

  1. Open the Financial statements document and select the Format tab.
  2. Select (Display options). The Display Options dialog appears.
  3. Select the Reserve space for bracket check box if all numeric values are to be right-aligned whether they are enclosed in brackets or not.
  4. Select the Rounded to zero symbol check box if amounts that have been rounded to zero are to be marked with an asterisk.
  5. From the Display positive as drop-down, select how positive numbers are to be displayed.
  6. From the Display negative as drop-down, select how negative numbers are to be displayed.
  7. From the Dash position drop-down, select the alignment of the dash when it appears in a cell. The dash can be left aligned, centered, or right aligned.
  8. If the dash is left aligned or right aligned, the Distance from border field appears. In this field, specify the distance of the dash from the border, measured in thousandths of a centimeter. For example, a distance of 1000 specifies that the dash is to be one centimeter from the border.
  9. Click OK to close the Display Options dialog.

Results

The cell display options that you have specified are modified.