About Insights

Insights is an advanced financial reporting module built natively into AccountsIQ. With a more flexible reporting data model, multi-dataset reporting, multi-entity consolidation and drill-down, you can produce board-ready reports, such as a consolidated Profit and Loss, without exporting to Excel and rebuilding them by hand each month

Because Insights reads directly from the same consolidation data that AccountsIQ already produces, every figure reflects your eliminations, FX translation, ownership percentages and minority interest. Totals at GL Category and Sub-Category level always match the entity, period, and scenario in the GL Explorer.

With Insights you can:

• Build and publish a Board P&L layout that suits how your board reads the numbers, starting from your existing chart of accounts.
• Use standard metrics such as Gross Profit, Operating Profit, EBITDA, EBIT and Net Profit, calculated for you out of the box.
• Compare results against Prior Year, Budget, or Revised Budget, with favourable and adverse variances highlighted.
• Drill down from any report line to the entities, GL accounts and individual transactions behind it.
• Export the report to Excel exactly as it appears on screen.

Insights works for both single entities and consolidated groups, and it respects your existing AccountsIQ permissions, so each user only sees the entities they already have access to.

Insights Modules

Insights has two areas that work together:

• Data Model: This is where Finance Admins define the structure of the reports, including which GL categories and sub-categories are included, line names and order, line calculation, or KPIs.
• Report: This is where you view the Profit & Loss report built from the Data Model. You can change the period and comparison, adjust how and what figures are displayed, and drill down from any line to the entities, GL Accounts, and transactions, and export to Excel.

See:

📗 Insights Reports - Beta

📗 Building Calculations - Beta 

📗 Keeping your Data Model in sync with AccountsIQ - Beta

📗 Create & Manage Entity GL Accounts 

📗 Create & Manage Group GL Accounts 

Accessing Insights

Insights must be enabled on your account. Then the Switch Module icon will display in the account layer side navigation.  Ask your AccountsIQ representative to enable it.

Once you have the permissions set as outlined below, you can access Insights. 

Insights has its own side navigation, where you will see the Report and Data Model options, depending on permissions. The side navigation can be expanded or collapsed using the arrow at the bottom. To return to AccountsIQ click on Switch Module and select AccountsIQ.

User Permissions

The relevant permissions need to be enabled on your user profile to access Insights.  Any user with Manage Users access in AccountsIQ, can grant or remove these permissions.

1. In AccountsIQ, open the user's record and select Edit User.
2. In the Permissions panel, scroll down and tick the Insights permissions required (see table). Permissions are independent. For example, a user can have View Reports without Edit Reports, or View Data Model without Edit Data Model.
3. Click Save.

User Permission Defaults

A user's profile and type impact the permissions they can be granted:

Entity Access 

Insights uses the entity access set for each user in AccountsIQ.  Users only see data for the entities they can access in AccountsIQ, including when they drill down to transactions or export to Excel. To change which entities a user can see, update their entity access in AccountsIQ.

📗 Create & Manage Users

Enabling Insights for Partners

Partners enable Insights per account in the Partner Hub. 

In the Edit Customer Account screen, tick Insights Module and Save. It’s unticked by default, and disabling it keeps existing data.

The Data Model is where you define how the chart of accounts structure should display in reports, including reporting sections, section lines, line names and calculations. Currently, the Data Model can only be set up for the Board P&L, with Trial Balance coming soon.

Once user access and permissions are set up, login to Insights and from the side navigation select Data Model.

1. To get started, click on Build Data Model.
2. From the drop down choose the entity the Data Model will be built on. Select from either a single entity, or a top consolidation entity if you want to import all the GL coding from your consolidation group.  
3. A summary of the entity is then generated, including the number of GL accounts, and the chart of accounts coding and structure. Review it and click Build Data Model to continue.  Insights will build a starting Data Model from the entity's chart of accounts, with standard metrics already in place.
4. Review the Data Model structure. Click Preview to view a draft preview of the report or click Discard to cancel and start again. Or else, click on Re-build model to change entities. 
5. If needed, start editing, referring to the relevant sections below. If you made edits, click Save Changes.
6. Next validate and publish the Data Model. Refer to the relevant section below. The report will not be available until publishing is complete.
7. If required, once the Data Model is built, click Check for Changes to look for updates to chart of accounts structure in AccountsIQ. See the Notifications section for more details.

The Data Model is now in View Mode. Click on Edit Data Model to start reviewing and updating the chart of accounts structure for reports based on your business reporting needs.

How the Data Model works

The Data Model is where you define how your chart of accounts should be presented in reports.  The chart below outlines key concepts and components used. 

Readers cannot see the draft you edit, only the published version. Only one draft can exist at a time; if a colleague has the draft open, you see the Data Model as read-only with their name displayed.

1. Select Data Model in the left navigation.
2. Click Edit Data Model. When editing the Data Model you have the flexibility to either edit the existing lines, calculations, or sections, or add new lines, calculations, or sections. Use the features in the table below:

4. If you made edits, click Save Changes.

Edit, Re-order, Hide, Delete, or Merge Lines

• Rename a line: Click the line's Name in the Structure Tree and type the new name. 
• Hide: Click on the eye icon to remove a line from the report but keep its figures in any calculation that uses it. Hidden lines appear dimmed in the Structure Tree with a toggle. Use this, for example, to keep Depreciation inside EBITDA without showing it as its own line.
• Delete: removes the line and its mapping completely. Deleting a line used in a calculation will cause a Broken reference error.
• Change line mapping: Select a data line, then in the Line Editor add or remove GL Category/Subcategory and account combinations.
• Reorder or regroup lines: Drag a line to a new position, or into a different group or subtotal.
• Merge: Click the Merge icon and click on the lines you want to merge. The new line name will append each selected line name. Rename the line and click Merge Lines. The GL Accounts in these lines will be merged into a single new line.

Add new Sections, Lines, Calculations or Title headings

1. Click the plus icon to add a new section, line, calculation or a new title heading to the current structure.
2. Based on your selection, complete the fields as outlined below.

Calculation

You build a calculation line by adding items (categories, subcategories, sections, report lines, or ready made measures), and combining them with + - x ÷, or by typing the formula straight into the formula bar. For example Gross Profit, Operating Profit, EBITDA, margins, or an annual run-rate. 

1. Select Calculation to add a new calculation in the structure.
2. Name the calculation line (for example Gross Profit or Revenue without Other Revenue).
3. Select a Favourable variance (higher is better, or lower is better). This tells the report whether an increase in the result is good or bad news. It’s most useful when the calculation behaves differently from the category it sits in.  For example, Gross Margin % placed under Direct Costs should be set to higher is better, even though a rise in costs is normally unfavourable. Likewise, Marketing as % of Revenue placed under Operating Income should be set to lower is better.‘’
4. Choose Format (Currency, Percent, or Ratio).
5.  Choose the Emphasis (Normal, Subtotal, Key total).

A calculation line never holds its own numbers.  It works out a result from other lines and figures every time the report runs.

 

6. Build the calculation. There are two ways to build the calculation line:
   • Either click Add Item, select the relevant item types and use operators (+,-,x,/) and brackets to build the formula. 
   • Alternatively use the Formula bar to type the formula as text using the operators and quick shortcuts. These are kept in sync so you can switch between them. 
7. If you don't want the calculation to appear on the final report, click Hide (eye icon).
8. Click Save Changes, or to delete the calculation, click the trash can icon.

For a full guide on item types and setting up calculations including shortcuts and error messages see: 

📗Insights - Building Calculations - Beta 

 

 

When you have completed all the GL account mapping, there will be no more GL accounts left in the Unassigned panel, and you are ready to publish the Data Model.

Validating and publishing

1. Click Validate. Insights checks the draft and lists errors, warnings and information.
2. Fix any warnings or errors. Publishing is blocked until they are resolved. Each error links to the affected line. See Notification section.
3. Review any warnings, such as GL accounts not mapped to any line. Warnings do not block publishing; unmapped accounts are often balance-sheet or unused accounts.
4. Click Publish. A summary shows what has changed since the last published version: lines added, removed, renamed or remapped.
5. Enter a Version Name.  Every publish is logged with the user, time and a record of the changes. You can revert to an earlier published version if needed.
6. Enter any Change Notes (optional)
7. Click Confirm Publish. The report updates for everyone with access.

Your chart of accounts will change during the year. Insights compares the published Data Model with AccountsIQ whenever the Data Model is opened, when you publish, when a report is viewed, and when you check on demand by clicking Check for Changes in the banner. 

Anything that needs attention appears as an unresolved item.

Amber and red items cannot simply be dismissed. While they are open, the Board P&L shows a banner explaining what is affected, and continues to show the last published version.

📗Sync Insights with AccountsIQ - Beta