Contents

Adding Adjustments

Setting up an Adjustment's Properties

Setting up an Adjustment's Details

Editing Adjustments

Deleting Adjustments

 

In Planning Maestro, you can analyze your company’s data and create budgets and forecasts. After your Actuals (historical data) are uploaded, you can build your budgets in Planning Maestro.

One part of your budget is your Adjustments. You can use the Adjustments application to budget for:

	Accounting entries, correcting (adding, editing, or deleting) journal entries from a previous accounting period.
	Debit/credit transactions between Balance Sheet GL Accounts.   Example: A purchase of new inventory that credits your Cash account and debits your Inventory account.

Please Note: You can also use the Adjustments application to budget for assets you plan to purchase (such as office furniture, vehicles, or equipment) and their depreciation.

 

Example: A company plans to buy new furniture and fixtures for its store interior for $120,000. The company records this value as a line item in Adjustments.

You do not need to record your company’s existing, already-purchased assets in this application. You can record existing assets’ depreciation as expenses in the Operating Expenses application.

This document shows you, a Planning Maestro user, how to:

• Review budgeted Adjustments in Planning Maestro.
• Add budgetary Adjustments.
• Edit Adjustments.
• Delete Adjustments.

Please Note: To learn how to add depreciation for an Adjustment that represents an asset you plan to purchase, see Setting up an Adjustment with Depreciation. To learn how to set up the properties of an Adjustment that represents changes between Balance Sheet GL Accounts, see Setting up an Adjustment for Changes between Balance Sheet Accounts.

Adjustments QuickView

The Adjustments application has three main sections:

1. Line items – The middle of the page or “working screen” displays Adjustment line items in a table. You can add and remove columns or filter line items using the Rows, Columns, and Filters sections at the top.
2. Properties – The Properties pane at the right side of the page enables you to add detailed information about dates, descriptions, amounts, schedules, and other information about each line item.
3. Details – The Details pane at the bottom of the page enables you to see how each line item affects your statistical accounts, Profit and Loss Statement, and Balance Sheet.

Please Note: First-time users: the Adjustments application may not display any line items when you first open it.

Use the sections below to add, edit, and delete Adjustment line items.

Locating Adjustments

To review your adjustments, open the Worksheets module and select Adjustments.

The Adjustments page opens.

On this page, you can:

• Review existing Adjustments (including filtering by name, account number, amount, spread method, and Dimension).
• Add budgeted amounts for new Adjustments.
• Edit existing Adjustments.
• Delete Adjustments.

Please Note: When you first open this page, the page does not display any line items. Use this page to build out your budget via templates or manually.

Reviewing Adjustments

The Adjustments page is designed as a table: each column represents a certain category of information, and each row represents one line item. You can set up this table with a certain layout to make it easier for you and other budget contributors to review and make changes.

To customize your view of this page and see all the information you need, review the current setup of Rows, Columns, and Filters at the top.

To add or remove columns or adjust the calendar view for the Adjustment module, see Navigating the Worksheets Applications.

Adding Adjustments

Please Note: This section describes the basic process of adding an Adjustment. For more specific instructions for adding an asset and its depreciation or changes to Balance Sheet GL Accounts, see Setting up an Adjustment with Depreciation or Setting up an Adjustment for Changes between Balance Sheet Accounts.

Step 1: To add a new Adjustment, select the Add icon ( ).

The new Adjustment line item appears.

Step 2: Use the first few columns of this table to enter the necessary information about this Adjustment line item.

• Name – Double-click on the Name field and enter a name for this line item that you and other employees can easily recognize.

• Account Number – Double-click on this dropdown menu and select a GL Account to charge this line item to.

• Amount – Double-click on this field and enter the total amount for this line item for the time period in this view of data (one year, two years, three quarters, etc.).

 Please Note: When you enter an amount, Planning Maestro automatically spreads the amount evenly over each period, quarter, or year on the right side of the table.

• Spread Method – Double-click on this dropdown menu and select a Spread Method, or a method for distributing the expense of this line item across a certain time period.

The right side of the table updates to show the amount and Spread Method you chose.

Please Note: If this line item represents an asset you plan to purchase, such as office furniture, leave the Amount and Spread Method blank. Otherwise, the Amount and Spread Method may make it seem as though you purchase this asset every period. Instead, enter the full value of the asset in the period in which you plan to buy the asset (for example, January if you plan to buy this asset on January 10).

Setting up an Adjustment’s Properties

After you enter the basic information for each line item, use the Properties pane to add advanced information about the line item (including dates, descriptions, amounts, schedules, and other information).

Step 1: To add advanced information about this line item, click on the Expand icon (  ) above Properties.

The Properties pane opens on the right.

General

In the General section of the Properties pane, use the fields provided to review the line item’s name and description.

• Name – If needed, click on this field to edit the line item’s name.

• Descriptions 1-4 – You can add up to four descriptions of this line item as reminders or extra information for yourself or other budget contributors. These notes do not appear in reports. To add a description, click on the space beside Description 1, Description 2, Description 3, or Description 4 and enter a description.

To save your changes, click away from these fields.

Date

Use the Date section of the Properties pane to set up the timing of this line item.

• Year End – To make this line item an adjusting entry or closing entry for a fiscal year, click on this toggle switch to turn it to the ON position (see below).
  • The other fields disappear, leaving only a Fiscal Year field.

• • To make this Adjustment a Closing Entry for a year in your fiscal calendar, double-click on the Fiscal Year field and select a year:

Please Note: You can review the Closing Entry for each line item in Adjustments by using the Closing – All FY calendar view in your Time Dimension.

If you leave the Year End toggle switch OFF, the following fields appear:

• Time Hierarchy – The structure of your calendar view, or how the columns on the right side of the table represent periods, quarters, and years.
• Start Date – Click on this field and enter the start date for the Adjustment. You can also select the date from the calendar.

Please Note: If this Adjustment represents an asset you plan to purchase, make the Start Date the day you plan to purchase the asset.

• End Date – Click on this field and enter the end date for the expense, or select the date from the calendar. You can also leave the date as Never Ends to let this expense continue indefinitely.

To save your changes, click away from these fields.

Adjustment Input

Use the Adjustment Input section of the Properties pane to determine how this Adjustment affects your total General Ledger (in other words, what GL Accounts it affects, how, and when).

• Use Data Link – To use a Data Link and connect this line item to information from this application or another application (such as making this line item a percentage of another line item) click on this toggle switch to switch it to the ON position.

 

• The toggle switch turns green and switches to the ON position.
• The Amount and Spread Method fields disappear.
• A new Data Link field appears below. Select Click to Edit to select the Data Link.

Please Note: For detailed instructions for setting up a Data Link, see Using Data Links.

You can use Data Links here to connect the line item for an asset to the line item that records that asset’s depreciation (see Setting up an Adjustment with Depreciation).

• Amount (Input) – This option only appears when you are not using a Data Link. If necessary, click on this field and enter a total amount for this line item. Leave this field blank for assets you plan to purchase (because you need to enter their amounts in the period in which you purchase them).
• Spread Method – This option only appears when you are not using a Data Link. If necessary, click on Even to open this dropdown menu and select a Spread Method for this line item.
• Increase/Decrease Method – If this line item involves periodic increases or decreases, select 0 selected (Edit) to choose an Increase/Decrease Method.
• Recognition Schedule – To include a Recognition Schedule for this line item, click on Immediate and select a schedule.
  • If this line item represents an asset you plan to purchase, this schedule acts as the Payment Schedule.
  • If this line item represents depreciation for an asset you plan to purchase, you could select a Recognition Schedule that acts as a depreciation schedule.

Please Note: The Properties pane in this application has two separate options for selecting a Recognition Schedule.

1. The Recognition Schedule used here in the Adjustment Input section spreads out the amount of the line item itself.
2. The Recognition Schedule used in the Adjustment Properties section below, if enabled, spreads out the amount as it debits or credits a Relief Account (explained further below).

• Adjustment Input GL Account – Click on this dropdown menu and select a statistical GL Account to which to charge this adjustment item. This account does not affect your Profit and Loss Statement or Balance Sheet.

Example: You could use a monetary Asset Price statistical account for an asset you plan to purchase, or a generic monetary Adjustment account for depreciation.

Adjustment Properties

Use the Adjustment Properties section of the Properties pane to set up Adjustments that go through a Relief (intermediate) GL Account before reaching their final GL Account.

Example: When you buy an asset and plan to pay for it 30 days later, you can credit an Accounts Payable account for the transaction first before crediting a Cash account (the transaction’s final destination). You would turn Enable Recognition Schedule to the ON position and select One Period (30 Days) as the schedule.

• Adjustment Increase Debit/Credit – Click on this dropdown menu and select one of the following options for how this adjustment affects a GL Account:
  • Debit – Select this option if this Adjustment debits the GL Account you selected on the main working screen (such as an asset that debits or increases an asset account).
  • Credit – Select this option if this Adjustment credits the GL Account on the main screen (such as fee payment that increases an Accounts Payable account).

Please Note: Set this to Debit for line items that represent assets you plan to purchase and for line items that represent those assets’ depreciation.

• Enable Recognition Schedule – To use a Recognition Schedule to spread out the amount of this line item as it debits or credits a Relief GL Account, click on this toggle switch to turn it to the ON position.

Please Note: The Recognition Schedule used in the Adjustment Input section above spreads out the amount of the line item itself. The Recognition Schedule used in the Adjustment Properties section here, if enabled, spreads out the amount as it debits or credits a Relief Account or intermediate account (explained further below).

 If this line item does not need to go through an intermediate account before debiting or crediting its final account, do not enable this Recognition Schedule.

• Click on Immediate to open this dropdown menu and select a Recognition Schedule (method for recording how/when this adjustment debits or credits the Relief GL Account).

• Relief GL Account – This field only appears if you enabled a Recognition Schedule above. Click on this dropdown menu and select a GL Account a Relief GL Account (the intermediate or holding GL Account for the transaction before it reaches its final account – for example, Accounts Payable for a bill payment that eventually ends up in another GL Account).

• Adjustment Decrease GL Account – Click on this dropdown menu and select the GL Account which is the final destination for this Adjustment. This account is usually the GL Account that the transaction decreases (a credit account if you selected Debit as Adjustment Increase Debit/Credit, or a Debit account if you selected Credit).
  • For an asset you plan to purchase, use a cash account.
  • If this line item represents depreciation, use an accumulated depreciation account.

Setting up a Line Item’s Details

The Details pane shows advanced accounting details, or how each Adjustment line item affects statistical GL Accounts, the P&L statement (Profit and Loss, or Income Statement), and Balance Sheet over the time period you are viewing. Use the Details pane to review how this line item is debited and credited to various GL Accounts.

Please Note: The Details pane is useful for accountants who are running reports such as the Income Statement. If you are a budget contributor (department head or manager) who just needs to enter your budget for the coming year, you most likely do not need to use the Details pane.

Step 1: To open the Details pane, select the line item in the table, and then select the Expand icon (  ) in the bottom right.

The Details pane opens. This pane displays a table.

You can customize your calendar view in the Details pane separately from your view in the main application.

Example: You can set your Details pane to a different calendar view from the main application. In the screenshots below, the main application’s calendar view is of 2022, while the Details pane has a calendar view of 2020-2022.

The columns of the table present the following information:

• Transaction Type – This column displays what type of transaction this line item affects: GL Accounts, increases, decreases, and payments.
• DR/CR – This column shows whether the line item is a debit or credit in each transaction.
• Account Number – This column shows the GL Account Number for each transaction.

The rest of the columns display the calendar view you set up above.

Reviewing Adjustment Details

Use the Adjustment section of the Details pane to review how this line item affects adjustment GL Accounts over the time period displayed in the application.

Please Note: Use the [Time] dropdown menu under Columns to control your calendar view, or what periods, quarters, and years you can see in this pane. Use the Properties pane to edit the GL Accounts debited or credited for this line item.

Reviewing P&L Details

Use the P&L section of this pane to review how this line item affects revenue and expense accounts.

Reviewing Balance Sheet Details

Use the Balance Sheet section of this pane to review how this line item affects asset and liability accounts.

Please Note:  To learn how to add depreciation for an Adjustment that represents an asset you plan to purchase, see Setting up an Adjustment with Depreciation. To learn how to add depreciation for assets you already own, see Managing Operating Expenses. To learn how to set up an Adjustment that represents changes between Balance Sheet Accounts, see Setting up an Adjustment for Changes between Balance Sheet Accounts.

Editing Adjustment Line Items

You can edit line items in the Adjustments application.

Editing Individual Line Items

Step 1: To edit line items in the Adjustments application, reopen the Adjustments application. Open the Planning module and select Adjustments.

Step 2: Select any line item on this page to edit its amount, properties, or details.

Step 3: To edit an amount for a specific period, double-click on the amount’s cell in the table and enter the new amount.

• When you enter a new amount and click away, the amount changes.
• The text changes from blue to purple.
• All users who can access this application and the related Dimensions can see this purple text.

Step 4: To reverse this change and return to the original amount, double-click on the amount’s cell in the table, press Delete, and then press Enter.

• The amount turns back to the original (the total amount as divided by the Spread Method).
• The text changes back from purple to blue.

Please Note: If edit any item on this page connected to another line item through a Data Link, all other items connected through the Data Link also change.

Editing Multiple Line Items

To edit the amounts for multiple line items quickly and easily, you can use the Export/Import tool to export this page as an Excel spreadsheet, edit amounts as needed, and then import it back in.

 Please Note: Only use this Excel spreadsheet to edit the amount for each line item. If you edit the name, GL Account, Dimensions, or other information, Planning Maestro creates a new line item with the edits and keeps the unedited line item as it was.

To export an Excel spreadsheet, hover over the Export/Import icon (  ) and select Export Data Projections to Excel.

Please Note: For specific guidelines for exporting and importing Excel spreadsheets, see Exporting/Importing Excel Templates in Planning.

Deleting Adjustment Line Items

Please Note: You cannot recover a deleted Adjustment.

Step 1: To permanently remove a line item from the Adjustment page, select the line item and select the Delete icon ( ).

Step 2: A popup message appears. Click Confirm.

The line item disappears from the page.

Please Note: You cannot delete a line item connected to other line items through a Data Link. If you try, a warning message appears and shows you how this line item is used in other Data Projections (other line items).

To delete this line item, remove all the Data Links connected to it (listed in the popup message) first. You can:

• Remove this line item from a Record Set.
• Remove the Data Link from the other item(s) connected to it.
• Delete the other items connected to this line item through Data Links.

For detailed instructions for using Data Links, see Using Data Links in Planning Maestro.