When a Report Looks Wrong
Work down this list in order.
Last reviewed
In practice the first two catch almost everything, and the order matters because each check rules out a class of cause the next one cannot.
Highlights of troubleshooting
- Five checks, in order. The first two explain the overwhelming majority of surprises.
- Almost every disagreement is a filter, not a fault in the data.
- Drafts are invisible to every financial statement, which is the single most common cause.
- Some questions cannot be answered in this module yet, because the report that would answer them is not built.
The checks, in order
Check the date range
Including whether it is set to your financial year or the calendar year.
Check for drafts
Unsent invoices and bills still in draft post nothing, so they are invisible to every report.
Check the ledger itself
General Ledger, Account Transactions and Account Type Summary are the built reports that show what actually posted. Trial Balance would be the natural check here and is not built, so these three are where the question has to be answered instead.
Check exchange rates
For multi-currency books, an unposted exchange adjustment will skew balances.
Check for journals to control accounts
A journal into receivables or payables makes the ledger and the ageing report disagree with nothing to explain it.
Common symptoms
| Symptom | Check first |
|---|---|
| Revenue lower than expected | Draft invoices in the period. |
| Costs lower than expected | Bills still in draft, and unrecorded expenses. |
| Margin worse than expected | Shipped but not invoiced. Cost without the revenue. |
| Ledger does not agree to the bank | Unreconciled items, and unrevalued foreign accounts. Balance Sheet is not built, so work from Account Transactions. |
| Ageing disagrees with the ledger | A journal posted to a control account. |
| Stock value looks wrong | Receives not recorded, or negative stock allowed. |
When the report you need does not exist
Fourteen of the sixty-nine reports are catalogued and greyed out, and the headline financial statements are among them. Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow Statement, Trial Balance, Aged Receivables and Aged Payables do not open, and no permission change makes them.
That matters here because it is a different problem from a wrong number, and it looks the same from the outside. If the answer you want needs one of those six, no amount of checking the range will produce it. Work from the built substitutes named in the introduction, and tell whoever asked which report the figure actually came from.