What is a field?

A field is a placeholder for dynamic data. When the data that the field links to changes, the text in the field is automatically updated.

For example, a field could be inserted into a text block or a table cell linking to the current period end date. When the current period end date changes, the value shown in the field will automatically update. This means the report content updates itself, so the does not need to find all instances of the date and manually update them.

How do fields work?

The following explains the functionality of fields.

Example

When a field is inserted that links to a cell within table, the field is not locked to that cell. If the table structure changes, it is possible the field will then link to a different cell. Therefore, a warning message is shown when table structures are changed.

In the following image the field in the text block links to the yellow cell in the user inserted table beneath it. The field links to the 3rd row and the 2nd column.

Image shows a table Introduction rows. In the table, a field is linked to the paragraph above.

The rows with 'Row 1' and 'Row 2' in them are the Introduction for the table and this can be turned off in the table settings. Turning the introduction off would produce the following outcome.

Note that the field still links to 3rd row and the 2nd column.

Fields and Import report

It is possible when using Import report that the fields will link to tables which do not exist in the destination report. In this case #ERROR will be shown in the fields that cannot find the source of the field.

Pasting data into a table containing fields

A field is treated like a locked cell when data is pasted into a table. If a field is no longer required and data needs to be pasted in the table, delete the field first.

Fields values and formats

If a report is rounded to whole units and a cell value is 1,234,000 and that cell is used in a field in a text block, the field will show as 1,234,000. Updating the report rounding to thousands means the cell value would update to 1,234 and the field value would also update to 1,234.

Importing disclosures

A field is treated like a locked cell when data is imported into a table using Disclosures. If a field is no longer required and data needs to be imported into a table, delete the field in the table first. This means any cell with data in the Disclosures file will be ignored when imported, if in the destination table the corresponding cell is a field.

Roll forward

When a report is rolled forward:

Fields in numeric cells will not roll to the prior period
Where applicable, fields in text cells will roll to the prior cell

Adding fields to a table

Fields cannot be inserted into Chart of Accounts descriptions and date cells.

Fields can be formatted with text styles, such as bold. Styles apply to the whole field, it is not possible to partially format fields.

Inserting fields

Click a table to edit
Select the Fields header, then select Insert formula, Insert field or AutoSum
Alternatively, right mouse click where the field should be inserted and click Insert formula or Insert field

Insert formula

Formula fields can be linked to Tables or Chart of accounts (see below).They can also be manually entered into the formula bar.

Tables

Table headers cannot be used to insert formula fields.

In the Insert formula screen, select the Tables header
Select a table from the list. The table can be found by searching the table name. There is a default list of tables that have been automatically named by the software. The remaining system tables in the report are named sequentially according to the order it appears in the note. Alternatively, find the table by selecting the relevant section and note that the table appears in.
Select the cell, then Add selection. The cell will be added to the formula bar.
Type the formula into the formula bar. Tip: To flip the sign of a balance, type the negative sign (-) before the balance in the formula bar.
Select another cell, then Add selection again to include it in the formula. Cells can be added from different tables or from the Chart of accounts allocation codes.
Click Calculate to view the result of the formula
Alternatively, click Save to add the result as a field

Note: If only the balance of a cell is to be inserted as a field (i.e. no formula is required), select the cell from the table as normal, then Add selection. Click Save and the cell will be inserted as a field.

Chart of accounts

Table headers cannot be used to insert formula fields.

In the Insert formula screen, select the Chart of accounts header
Select the cell, then Add selection. The cell will be added to the formula bar.
Type the formula into the formula bar. Tip: To flip the sign of a balance, type the negative sign (-) before the balance in the formula bar.
Select another cell, then Add selection again to include it in the formula. Cells can be added from other Chart of accounts allocation codes or from Tables.
Click Calculate to view the result of the formula
Alternatively, click Save to add the result as a field

Note: Select Used allocations only to hide the unused allocations.

If only the balance of an allocation code is to be inserted as a field (i.e. no formula is required), select the cell from the table as normal, then Add selection. Click Save and the cell will be inserted as a field.

Insert field

Tables

Table headers cannot be used to insert Table fields.

In the Insert field screen, select the Tables header
Select a table from the list. The table can be found by searching the table name. There is a default list of tables that have been automatically named by the software. The remaining system tables in the report are named sequentially according to the order it appears in the note. Alternatively, find the table by selecting the relevant section and note that the table appears in.
Select the cell, then click Save

Note

Table headers cannot be used to insert Note fields.

In the Insert field screen, select the Note header
Click the note to insert as a field
To include the word 'note' before the note number, tick Include the word 'note'
To include the note number before the note name, tick Include the note number
To include the note name after the note number, tick Include the note name

Note: Select Used notes only to hide the unused notes.

Variable

In the Insert field screen, select the Variable header
Click the variable to insert as a field
Click the Edit button to edit variable value

Conditional

Conditional variables analyse the column content and change wording based on their values. For example, when all columns are positive, the field may say 'Profit'. When the column values change to positive and negative, the field may say 'Profit/Loss'.

In the Insert field screen, select the Conditional header
Click the conditional variable to insert as a field
Click the Edit button to edit the conditional variable value

Note: Table headers cannot be used to insert Conditional fields.

Custom variable

In the Insert field screen, select the Custom variable header
Click the custom variable to insert as a field
Click the New button to add new custom variables
Click the Edit button to edit custom variables
To add, edit or delete custom variables click Report options > Variables

AutoSum

This option is only available when groups of cells have been selected. The AutoSum option will automatically sum groups of cells by inserting multiple addition formula fields into a table at once.

To AutoSum columns:

Click a table to edit
From the table, select the cells to sum using SHIFT plus click
Under the Fields header, click AutoSum
Select the desired position of the Formula fields being inserted, either Below or Both
Select the tickboxes above the columns to include them in the total formula

To AutoSum rows:

Click a table to edit
From the table, select the cells to sum using SHIFT plus click
Under the Fields header, click AutoSum
Select the desired position of the Formula fields being inserted, either Right or Both
Select the tickboxes next to the rows to include them in the total formula

Note: When selecting the desired position of the Formula fields being inserted, the Right and Both options will be disabled if the column to the right of the selection is not editable or if the column has the wrong data type selected (for example, if the column data type is Text). If the row below the selection is not editable, the Below and Both options will be disabled.

Prefix and suffix

Fields can have a prefix or suffix added to them. For example, if a currency cell from a table is inserted as a field, the prefix could be the local currency symbol.

Prefixes and suffixes are not available in numeric cells.

Case

The case of fields can be set to:

Default - no changes made
Lowercase - all text is converted to lowercase
Sentence case - first character of the first word is converted to uppercase, all other characters are converted to lower case
Proper case - first character of each word is converted to uppercase, all other characters are converted to lower case
Uppercase - all text is converted to uppercase
Capitalise first character - first character of the first word is converted to uppercase, no changes made to all other characters

Note: Case does not change the case of the prefix and suffix.

Example

Below is an example of a system table with Chart of Accounts items, where a subtotal is required in the middle. This can be achieved by inserting a table and using fields to populate the numbers. Then insert balance checks to ensure there is a warning if other allocations are used in the future.

Image shows a system table switched off and a manual table formatted to include a subtotal for the first 3 rows. Fields have been inserted in the manual table linking to system table above.

Unlocking total and subtotal cells in tables

Total and subtotal cells in tables can be unlocked. Unlocked cells will be converted to Formula fields, which can be edited.

To unlock a cell:

Select the cell containing the total or subtotal
Alternatively, select a range of cells containing totals or subtotals by SHIFT + Click
Select the Fields header, then select Convert to field
The cell will convert to a Formula field and the editable cell icon will display
The field can be edited as normal

Adding fields to a text block

Fields can be formatted with text styles, such as bold. Styles apply to the whole field, it is not possible to partially format fields.

Inserting fields

Click a text block to edit
Select the Fields header, then select Insert formula or Insert field
Alternatively, right mouse click where the field should be inserted and click the Insert formula or Insert field

Insert formula

Formula fields can be linked to Tables or Chart of accounts (see below).They can also be manually entered into the formula bar.

Tables

In the Insert formula screen, select the Tables header
Select a table from the list. The table can be found by searching the table name. There is a default list of tables that have been automatically named by the software. The remaining system tables in the report are named sequentially according to the order it appears in the note. Alternatively, find the table by selecting the relevant section and note that the table appears in.
Select the cell, then Add selection. The cell will be added to the formula bar.
Type the formula into the formula bar. Tip: To flip the sign of a balance, type the negative sign (-) before the balance in the formula bar.
Select another cell, then Add selection again to include it in the formula. Cells can be added from different tables or from the Chart of accounts allocation codes.
Click Calculate to view the result of the formula
Alternatively, click Save to add the result as a field

Chart of accounts

In the Insert formula screen, select the Chart of accounts header
Select the cell, then Add selection. The cell will be added to the formula bar.
Type the formula into the formula bar. Tip: To flip the sign of a balance, type the negative sign (-) before the balance in the formula bar.
Select another cell, then Add selection again to include it in the formula. Cells can be added from other Chart of accounts allocation codes or from Tables.
Click Calculate to view the result of the formula
Alternatively, click Save to add the result as a field

Note: Select Used allocations only to hide the unused allocations.

Decimals

Under Number of decimals, specify the number of decimal places for the resulting formula field.

Insert field

Table

In the Insert field screen, select the Tables header
Select a table from the list. The table can be found by searching the table name. There is a default list of tables that have been automatically named by the software. The remaining system tables in the report are named sequentially according to the order it appears in the note. Alternatively, find the table by selecting the relevant section and note that the table appears in.
Select the cell, then click Save

Notes

In the Insert field screen, select the Note header
Click the note to insert as a field
To include the word 'note' before the note number, tick Include the word 'note'
To include the note number before the note name, tick Include the note number
To include the note name after the note number tick Include the note name

Note: Use the filter to show either All or Used notes.

Variable

In the Insert field screen, select the Variable header
Click the variable to insert as a field
Click the Edit button to edit variable value

Custom variable

In the Insert field screen, select the Custom variable header
Click the custom variable to insert as a field
Click the New button to add new custom variables
Click the Edit button to edit custom variables
To add, edit or delete custom variables click Reports > Options > Custom variables

Prefix and suffix

Fields can have a prefix or suffix added to them. For example, if a currency cell from a table is inserted as a field, the prefix could be the local currency symbol.

Case

The case of fields can be:

Default - no changes made
Lowercase - all text is converted to lowercase
Sentence case - first character of the first word is converted to uppercase, all other characters are converted to lower case
Proper case - first character of each word is converted to uppercase, all other characters are converted to lower case
Uppercase - all text is converted to uppercase
Capitalise first character - first character of the first word is converted to uppercase, no changes made to all other characters

Note: Case does not change the case of the prefix and suffix.

Creating formula fields with negative cell balances

When inserting a formula field, negative cell balances will be inserted with the negative sign (-). To create formulas, the addition, subtraction, multiplication and division symbols must still be entered to create the formula. For example:

Errors

If a field shows the value #ERROR, then the report has an issue displaying the field. The easiest resolution for this is to delete the field and insert it again. #ERROR could be displayed for several reasons, including, but not limited to:

A table cell used for a field has since been deleted
A custom variable used for a field has since been deleted
The table the field links to has no name

Editing fields

To edit an existing field:

Double click it or;
Right mouse click the field and click Edit field or;
Select the field, click the Fields header, then click Edit field

Deleting fields

To delete a field:

Click the field, then press the delete key or;
Right mouse click the field and click Delete field or;
Select the field, click the Fields header, then click Delete field

What is a circular reference?

A circular reference happens when a field in a cell refers to itself either directly or indirectly.

The following image shows an example of a circular reference. The #ERROR cell has a field within it linking to the total column for the same row. That is not possible and so the #ERROR is shown.

Circular reference 2

How to resolve circular references after opening a report

If a report contains a circular reference, the following screens will show automatically when the report is opened.

The screen shows all fields which contain circular references, including:

Note - the note the circular reference is in
Table name - the name of table the circular reference is in
Row - the row number in the table the circular reference is in, with the text description in brackets
Column - the column number in the table the circular reference is in

The following options are available to resolve a circular reference:

Delete all circular references. This will delete all fields which are listed.
Edit the circular reference. This will show the edit field screen, so a new cell can be selected for the field value. Once edited, the report will recalculate to check for circular references that still exist.
Delete the circular reference. Once deleted, the report will recalculate to check for circular references that still exist.

It is also possible to ignore the circular reference by clicking any menu option in Accurri. This is not recommended as it will leave the circular references and will result in unexpected report calculations.