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Insights - Building Calculations - Beta

Insights - Building Calculations - Beta

A guide to building calculation formulas in Insights Data Model

Updated at November 11th, 2026

Introduction

If you have set up a Data Model and want to edit it to meet your business needs, you have the option to add Sections, Lines, Calculations, and Titles (titles are informational only).

📗 Insights Setup & Data Model - Beta

Calculation lines hold formulas that can reference other Calculations, Lines, or Sections, as well as GL Accounts, Categories, Subcategories and Measures.

This article explains:

how calculation lines work
how the different item types add up
how a typed formula stays in sync with the visual builder

Calculation Results

A calculation line never holds its own numbers. Its results are calculated from other lines and figures every time the report runs, so it's always in step with the underlying data.
Calculation lines reference other lines by ID, so they keep working if a referenced line is renamed.

How to build a Calculation

In the calculation editor, you can build calculations by using either the tags or the formula bar. You can switch between them freely as they are always kept in sync.

Item Types

Click Add Item + and select the Item Type (GL Account, GL Subcategory, GL Category, Measure, or Sections & Lines) and then the particular item. Items can be removed by clicking the X icon.

Below are the operators that you use to create formulas with the items. Click any operator tag to change it. Type a digit to multiply or divide by a fixed value. For example ‘x12’ to annualise a monthly figure (only available in the formula bar). Operators can be removed by clicking the X icon.

Operator	Function
‘+’ Add	Adds the next item to the running total.
‘-’ Subtract	Subtracts the next item.
‘x’ Multiply	Multiplies one value by another value or a fixed number.
‘÷’ Divide	Divides one value by another value or a fixed number (used for margins and ratios).
() Brackets	Groups part of a formula.

The formula bar

Instead of clicking Add Item + each time, you can type the whole formula in the formula bar. The empty bar prompts you with: “Type a formula or use $A $S $C $M $L shortcuts…”

Enter as follows:

Operators: See Operator table above.
Numbers: type digits to add a fixed value, for example 12.
Items: use a shortcut such as $C to pick a category. While typing in the formula bar, these shortcuts jump straight to the right picker:

Type	Opens
$A	GL Account
$S	GL Subcategory
$C	GL Category
$M	Measure
$L	Sections & Lines

Press Enter (or click away) and the tags above updates itself automatically to match what you typed. Editing the tags updates the typed formula in the same way. The two always describe the same calculation.

Calculation Formulas and cheat sheet

Calculation Formula Types

A single calculation line takes one of two shapes:

An Add / Subtract chain: any number of items combined with + and -. Example: Revenue - Cost of Sales - Operating Costs
A single multiply or divide: exactly two values: one value x or ÷ another value (or a number). Example: Gross Profit ÷ Revenue

Combining Formula Types

Need both at once? Use a formula like (A - B) / C

Formula Cheat Sheet

Calculation	How to build it
Gross Profit	Revenue - Cost of Sales
Operating Profit	Gross Profit - Operating Costs
Annual run-rate	Subscription Revenue x 12
Gross Margin %	Gross Profit / Revenue (set the line's format to Percent in the Format dropdown for the calculation)

How Item Types impact a Calculation

How are Item Type totals calculated?

When you click Add Item +, you need to select an item type. Each Item Type pulls numbers from a different place and totals them in a particular way.

Item Type	Source	Total calculation	Notes
GL Account	Chart of Accounts	Single GL account figure.	Includes a specific GL Account in a calculation rather than all accounts in a Category or Subcategory.
GL Category	Chart of Accounts	Totals all GL Accounts coded to the GL Category, across all GL Subcategories.	Automatically includes linked GL accounts in your calculations. Changing report layout will not have any impact on this. Even if accounts are shown elsewhere in the Data Model, such as your layout splits accounts across sections, the Category or Subcategory reference will still pull all accounts.
GL Subcategory	Chart of Accounts	Totals all GL Accounts coded to a single GL subcategory.
Section	Insights	Totals the lines in a Section.	Each section contains a curated selection of lines. These lines are highly customisable, letting you move, combine or exclude GL accounts, rather than relying on GL categorisation. Use Sections if you want your calculations to reflect sections on your report rather than your chart of accounts. Each Section automatically contains a Section total line that totals only the lines inside it. Nothing is counted twice; any nested subtotals and other calculations inside it are skipped. The Section total calculation follows any layout changes, such as re-naming or moving, without breaking. Check the Section total to make sure the lines you actually want are in that section.
Line	Insights	Individual line that totals all GL accounts mapped to it.	Includes the Subcategories and GL Accounts assigned to the selected line in the calculation.
Measure	Insights	A ready-made financial measure (KPI) that contributes a single value, for example Gross Profit or EBITDA.	See section ‘Measures’.

Measures

A measure is a ready-made financial calculation (KPI) that that already knows how to find its own numbers from your report structure. Measures carry the correct sign conventions and adapt to your model, so renaming a section won't break them.

Fixed vs Custom Measures

There are two kinds of measures:

Fixed Measures (built in): Total Revenue, Total Cost of Sales, Gross Profit, Gross Margin %, Operating Profit, Operating Margin %, EBITDA, EBITDA Margin %, EBIT, Net Profit, Net Margin %, Total Operating Cost, Effective Tax Rate, and Interest Cover.

Fixed Measure Prerequisites

Some measures depend on others, for example, the margin needs its profit measure to exist first. If a prerequisite is missing, the measure is greyed out with a note telling you what needs to be set up first.
Custom Measures: any calculation line you have already built can be reused inside another formula (shortcut $M). Edit it once and every formula that uses it updates automatically.

EBITDA Prerequisite: Tag Subcategories in AIQ

EBITDA, EBIT, Effective Tax Rate and Interest Cover rely on the EBITDA Reporting Type field on each GL Subcategory in AccountsIQ.

Check that every depreciation, amortisation, interest and tax subcategory is tagged, otherwise EBITDA may be wrong. Insights flags untagged subcategories as an unresolved (amber) item.

To set the field: in AccountsIQ, open the GL Subcategory, select the EBITDA Reporting Type (None, Depreciation, Amortisation, Interest Expense, Interest Income, or Tax), and save. From an unresolved item, Tag in AIQ opens the right subcategory for you. When you open Insights, this update will sync automatically.

Calculation Line Warnings and Errors

The formula builder stops you making calculations that won't work and flags ones that have gone stale.

Error Type	Logic	Error Message	Solution
Circular reference	You can't reference a line that depends (directly or indirectly) on the one you are editing.	Options that would produce circular references are disabled with a note such as ‘would create a circular reference: A > B > C > A’.	Reformulate the calculation to select only available options.
Broken reference	A line your formula used has been deleted.	The calculation line shows a warning triangle. “This line has been deleted and is no longer part of the model”.	Replace or remove the reference.
Measure not ready	A measure is greyed out because a prerequisite is missing.	Inputs can't be found. ‘Missing prerequisite(s)’	Add the required prerequisite.
		‘Cannot resolve’

measures ebitda data model insights reports analysis calculations calculation lines