Role of Advanced Accounting in Business
by Bilal Akmal
Accounting in a business is a fundamental process that involves systematically recording, summarising, and interpreting financial transactions to provide crucial information for decision-making, planning, control, and performance evaluation. Its key roles include financial recording, reporting, decision-making support, planning and budgeting facilitation, performance evaluation, compliance with regulations, investor relations, and risk management.
Accounting serves as the backbone of a business, providing stakeholders with insights into its financial health, facilitating strategic decisions, ensuring compliance with legal requirements, attracting investors, and managing financial risks. Overall, accounting is essential for effective management and the sustainable operation of any business entity.
Numla ProACT - Advanced Accounting System
Numla advanced accounting is a comprehensive solution beyond mere bookkeeping, empowering businesses with the tools and insights needed to thrive in today's dynamic financial landscape. Numla advanced accounting is brimming with an array of features designed to streamline financial management and decision-making processes.
Recent Enhancements and Updates
1. Enhanced QR Code
The QR code functionality for asset management has been further enhanced. Upon scanning the QR code, users can now access all relevant information about the asset in one place. The asset tag is also displayed next to the QR code, allowing users to identify the asset's company or category quickly. This improvement streamlines asset tracking, making it more efficient and user-friendly.
2. Cost Centre Reassignment for Active Assets
A new feature now allows users to reassign the cost centre for active assets without the need to dispose of them. This means that users can start recording depreciation entries to a different cost centre for ongoing assets, offering more flexibility in managing financial records while maintaining the asset’s continuity in the system.
1. Approval Matrix Enhancements for Procurement
The approval matrix has been enhanced to meet the specific needs of the procurement department. Users can now create custom approval matrices tailored specifically for purchase orders. Additionally, we've made the approval matrix more adaptable—allowing users to modify the matrix on the backend without impacting previously created records that used older approval configurations. This ensures a seamless transition for ongoing processes, maintaining the integrity of historical data while giving more control over future approvals.
2. Forceful Approval of Approval Matrix
A new feature has been added that empowers authorized personnel to forcefully approve records within the approval matrix. This feature is designed for exceptional cases where urgent action is required. The user must provide a valid reason for the forced approval, which will be logged and visible to all members in the original approval hierarchy. This added transparency ensures that all stakeholders remain informed, while still allowing for expedited decision-making when necessary.
1. Automated Scheduled Actions
The automation process has been enhanced to streamline data updates. Currency rates, automatic posting, and Power BI views are now always up-to-date through scheduled actions.
2. Analytical Account Control
Users can now disable unused analytical accounts, making reports more streamlined and reducing unnecessary clutter.
3. Currency Field Protection
Safeguards have been introduced to prevent accidental changes to currency-related fields in non-draft journal entries, ensuring data integrity across the system.
Comprehensive P&L Report for Business Units
A new Profit and Loss (P&L) report has been developed for all business units, offering valuable insights that enhance decision-making processes.
Name Change from 'Return Invoice' to 'Credit Note'
The system now accurately reflects 'Credit Note' on invoices, adhering to Saudi Arabian standards. This corrects the previous mislabeling of these documents as 'Return Invoice.'
1. Indirect Cash Flow – FP&A – Including All Business Units
The Indirect Cash Flow report has been enhanced to include updated percentages. This improvement, driven by client feedback, provides deeper insights, allowing for more informed decision-making.
2. Financial Highlights – Full-Year Outlook Performance
Enhancements to this report include refined percentages, responding to user suggestions. These updates increase the flexibility and usefulness of the report, enabling clients to make better strategic decisions.
1. Exchange Rate Enhancement
The system now displays the applied exchange rate directly on invoices or bills generated from purchase orders or uploaded records. This improvement eliminates the need for manual calculations, providing clear visibility of exchange rates.
2. System Start Date Enhancement
The system has been upgraded to enforce the start date on the upload of accounting records, preventing the creation of backdated entries and ensuring accurate financial reporting.
Updated on 30/Aug/2024:
Executive Summary – Year-to-Date Performance Against Budget
The report now includes cash flow figures for a comprehensive executive summary of the entire organization, making it easier to make informed decisions.
Restricted Analytical Distribution Changes
Users are now restricted from modifying analytical distribution percentages, ensuring more accurate reporting across platforms like Power BI, where previous issues with data display have been resolved.
Indirect Cash Flow Statement
The indirect cash flow statement has been enhanced to provide a clearer picture of cash flow, with accurate figures sourced from the income statement and balance sheet, ensuring alignment with cash and cash equivalents.
1. Indirect Cash Flow – FP&A – Including All Business Units
This consolidated report provides an overview of cash flow across all companies, segmented by business verticals. It supports informed decision-making and short-term investment strategies.
2. P&L – FP&A – Including All Business Units
This report offers a summarized view of business unit performance, combining revenue and net profit with forecasted values for a comprehensive analysis.
Receivable Aging Report
The Receivable Aging Report pulls accurate data from the system, detailing receivables by age categories: Current, 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, and 5 months, as well as total. It also includes graphical representations of receivables by industry type.
1. Financial Highlights – Full-Year Outlook Performance
A new addition to the FP&A reports the "Financial Highlights" report provides a comprehensive view of fiscal year performance for individual or consolidated companies. This report merges actual and forecasted data to illustrate current standings and projected year-end results.
2. Executive Summary – Year-to-Date Performance Against Budget
This report delivers a detailed year-to-date performance analysis against budget for selected companies or groups. It includes actual values and commentary from report managers, offering decision-makers a clear understanding of current performance.
VIEWS Table Improvements
This report delivers a detailed year-to-date performance analysis against budget for selected companies or groups. It includes actual values and commentary from report managers, offering decision-makers a clear understanding of current performance.
1. Financial Statement Comments
New functionality allows for the storage of Financial Statement comments by month and year, either per company or as a consolidated report. These comments can be integrated into custom and Power BI reports.
2. Income Statement
The Income Statement report has been upgraded to include newly introduced Financial Statement categories in the chart of accounts, offering greater customization and visibility into transaction details.
1. VIEWS Tables
New VIEWS tables for Financial Statement Comments and Partners Industries have been added, delivering more detailed and faster Power BI reports.
2. Executive Summary
A top-level summary report of the income statement and balance sheet provides a comprehensive overview of the business’s financial position.
3. Net Working Capital
This report details every aspect of net working capital, including ratios, to highlight current assets and liabilities.
4. Decomposition Tree for Variance
Allows users to break down income statement variances into subcategories like Revenue, Fixed Cost, Overheads, and more, down to the project or cost centre level.
5. Waterfall Charts
New waterfall charts for Contribution Profit, Net Profit, Fixed Cost, and Revenue have been introduced. These visual reports can be filtered by various criteria, offering a clear and customizable view of financial performance.
1. VAT Register Improvement
The VAT register report has been enhanced with two additional fields—Document Number and Description. This update ensures that users can quickly access every detail directly from the report, reducing the need for further exploration within the system.
2. Indirect Cash Flow Statement
A new Indirect Cash Flow statement has been introduced, tailored to custom-defined financial categories on the chart of accounts. This dynamic report automatically includes new chart of accounts values, allowing users to generate both Direct and Indirect Cash Flow statements to meet management and statutory reporting needs.
3. Custom Balance Sheet
A statutory balance sheet report, designed specifically for Saudi reporting requirements, is now available. Built on custom-defined financial categories, this sustainable report automatically adjusts to new chart of accounts values, ensuring seamless updates without requiring further customization.
4. Statement of Changes in Equity
A statutory Statement of Changes in Equity has been added, aligned with Saudi reporting standards. This report offers a clear comparison, helping users determine the status of their equity and assess whether additional investments are necessary for long-term business sustainability.
5. Business Unit Review – P&L Outlook Enhancements
This report now includes two additional rows for Bank Interest and Investment Income values, providing a comprehensive view in a single report and significantly reducing the time required for analysis.
6. Business Unit Review Outlook – Further Improvements
Enhancements to this report now deliver detailed insights into every FP&A category within a single report. A checkbox feature allows users to toggle between a summary or detailed view, facilitating more informed decision-making.
7. Customer Profitability Improvements
This summary report highlights top customers, their gross profit percentage, and ageing analysis. It enables users to focus on key areas for delivering quality service, ultimately benefiting long-term business success.
8. Executive Summary – Year-to-Date Performance Against Budget
Designed for executives, this report provides a snapshot of the business's year-to-date performance against budget, including key metrics such as Revenue, Operating Profit, and Net Profit.
9. Auto-fetching and Processing of Invoices from OneDrive
The system now allows users to view the specific file fetched from OneDrive that generated the invoices, saving thier time.
10. Intercompany Report
The intercompany report now runs 3x faster, thanks to enhanced VIEWS functionality.
11. Monthly Balance Sheet
A new report has been created to review the balance sheet monthly, with year-to-date or month-to-date values. Reports are automatically updated on Power BI, eliminating the need for users to log into the system to access them.
12. Balance Sheet
This new balance sheet report includes user-defined filters for year-to-date or month-to-date comparisons. Reports are auto-updated on Power BI, providing instant access without requiring a system login.
1. Auto-fetching and Processing of Invoices from OneDrive
The system now integrates with OneDrive to automatically fetch and process invoices, reducing manual intervention. Invoice linkage tracking is included for better visibility.
2. Journal Items VIEWS
Enhanced Power BI integration with 5x faster report loading speeds thanks to improved data VIEWS functionality.
Features List
1. Real-time reporting
Generate real-time financial performance reports for informed decision-making. Annotate, export, and access detailed information for each report.
2. Multi-companies with hierarchy
Get all your subsidiaries within the same system with real-time consolidation reports. You can also automate business flows with intercompany rules.
3. Multi-currencies support
Automatically update currency rates daily
using different services available. Update rates at the group or individual company level.
4. Customer invoices and customer credit notes
Create or upload bulk invoices and credit notes. Utilize OCR and email alias functionalities for automatic invoice creation.
5. Vendor bills and refunds
Create or upload bulk vendor bills and refunds. Use OCR and email alias functionalities for automatic bill creation.
Vendor bills have the print view functionality to print the payables voucher.
6. Sales and purchase credit limit
Trigger alerts when creating invoices and bills for partners exceeding their total receivable or payable amount limit.
7. Journal Entry Management
Review, edit, and reconcile journal entries by type: purchases, sales, bank and cash, and miscellaneous.
8. Customer portal
Provide customers with a portal to view, download, and pay invoices online.
9. Automated follow-ups
Ensure timely credit collection with automated follow-up emails and tasks.
10. Automated bank feeds
Synchronise your bank statements and enjoy automatically imported bank feeds straight within the system.
11. Cash Register Management
Easily track every cash transaction with starting and ending balances.
12. Smart Reconciliation Tool
Get reconciliation suggestions automatically and register extra journal items on the fly. Manual reconciliations interface for both open and paid invoices. Learning of account numbers based on first manual reconciliation.
The system matches 95% of invoices and payments automatically. For the remaining 5%, the smart matching tool is extremely quick and convenient.
13. Outstanding Payments Management
Receive partial and full reconciliation suggestions directly from invoices or bank statements.
14. Hierarchies of Cost Accounts
Automatically structure analytic accounts based on projects, contracts, departments, etc. Has a strong check in posting journal entries, including invoices and bills, to always check for analytical accounts definition.
15. Analytic Distribution
Analytic JS widget on Invoices/Bills to create analytic distribution “on the spot”, directly from your invoices. Create templates according to your needs to make it even faster.
16. Multiple Analytic Plans
Manage multiple analytic plans and sub-plans with applicability conditions to shape your analytic multi-dimensions/axes for your company.
17. Budget management
Track budgets and compare actual performance with budgeted figures. Manage budgets for financial or analytic accounts.
18. Outlook management
Plan future performance with outlooks and compare with actual and budget performance. Manage the forecast of your financial accounting or analytic accounts.
This outlook report shows the near future trend of a company where users can see complete details of a financial year, including what was budgeted, actual results, and forecasts. This provides easy comparison in a single-page report, offering all the necessary information to make informed and timely decisions to increase profitability.
19. Mass edit
Edit analytic items, partners, or chart of accounts in bulk without opening individual entries.
20. Assets management
Track assets and depreciation, and generate amortization entries automatically. Manage asset events efficiently. Define the already depreciated amount when creating new asset records, ensuring precise accounting for historical assets. The system supports the disposal or sale of assets, automatically calculating the accounting entry based on the disposal/sale date and the sale amount. This automation simplifies asset management for users. Users can define gain/loss accounts and the cash/bank account for receiving sale proceeds.
21. Web-service API
Connect third-party applications using the web service API.
Auto-fetching and processing of invoices from OneDrive: The system can store separate OneDrive information per company, allowing users to set different OneDrive accounts per company to auto-fetch invoice data and process them to create ZATCA-enabled invoices without manual intervention. Users can easily see how many invoices are created against a file as the linkage to such invoices is also recorded on the fetched file record.
22. Authority and approval matrix
Define custom authority and approval workflows across different system areas with multiple approval levels based on amounts. Withdraw Purchase Requisition and Purchase Orders from approval to manage workflows flexibly. Includes accounts receivable invoices, allowing users to set approval rules with a hierarchy based on the amount of accounts receivable, giving more freedom to configure the system as per the company’s policies.
On submitting any record where the approval matrix is configured, users can see the whole chain of approvals. This helps in getting faster approvals by reminding approvers for approval. Due to this, the approval process speed is improved by 5x.
23. Access Control Management
Set user access rights and limit permissions across different models, views, or menu items.
24. Purchase requisition
Streamline procurement with formal requests for goods or services, maintaining control and transparency. Designed to simplify and expedite the procurement process:
- The request owner field is prefilled with the employee creating the record.
- The "Direct Manager" field is auto-filled with the direct manager of the request owner, serving for initial approval notifications.
- The "Request Manager" field is initially prefilled with the direct manager, allowing for subsequent approval routing based on direct manager approval.
- Each line item in a purchase requisition supports attaching a single file, enhancing documentation capabilities.
- The automatic addition of related users as followers ensures streamlined communication and notifications within the system.
- A report designed to help approvers look into everything regarding PR received for approval. This reduces the need for multiple clicks to know the activities performed on PR by other approvers.
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PR trail report includes the status of multiple RFQs generated against the purchase request. It is easier for approvers to see a single report with the complete trail of the purchase request, including which RFQ was approved, rejected, etc.
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By adding an easily applicable filter to see the “To Approve” records, it is easier to send the reports of POs pending for approval and get faster approvals.
25. Request for quotation and purchase order
Auto-create RFQs upon purchase requisition approval. Manage multiple RFQs and confirm the best quote, with options to cancel others. RFQ, PO, and invoice print views provide improved document visibility with flexibility in displaying currency signs.
Enhance the procurement process by filtering purchase orders pending for approval for logged-in users. Users can select multiple companies to view all pending POs for their approval.
RFQ approval now supports departmental approval, providing flexibility to set up an approval matrix with different combinations, allowing multiple approvals based on the set combinations.
26. 3-way matching vendor bills
Ensure accuracy by matching purchase orders, goods receipt notes, and vendor invoices.
27. Period closing
Automate monthly period closing to ensure timely completion of data entry. Access rights for users have been enhanced to address issues during bulk posting of invoices and journal entries.
The system allows control over each month per year. Users can manually close any month to avoid backdated transactions and set an auto-close day per year for automatic period closure. This provides flexibility to open or close specific periods without affecting other dates. The "System Start Date" feature prevents transactions from being posted before a specified date.
28. ZATCA compliance
The system is compliant with both ZATCA phase 1 and phase 2 regulations, ensuring adherence to Saudi Arabia’s tax authority requirements for a seamless user experience. It captures responses from ZATCA after submission, assisting in resolving issues or warnings and providing timely updates to users about potential penalties due to unresolved matters. Mandatory fields have been implemented to address specific ZATCA warning codes: BR-10, BT-46, and BR-KSA-81.
The system incorporates the issuance date as the invoice date for ZATCA compliance submissions, enhancing flexibility for users. Additionally, it prevents the specific warning code BR-KSA-F-06-C3 from occurring in ZATCA compliance checks.
29. Historical data archival
Record multi-year-old data with the option to create accounting impact, ensuring comprehensive historical records.
30. Intercompany transactions
Record intercompany transactions to reduce data entry repetition and ensure seamless consolidation. The system supports various types of intercompany transactions, such as funding, income, and cost, with automatic generation and confirmation of related bills and invoices. It also includes automatic reversal processes for specified transactions with debit/credit notes, streamlining accounting operations and ensuring accuracy.
31. VAT Register Reports
Generate Sales and Purchase VAT register Excel reports, providing detailed summaries and breakdowns of tax within specified date ranges to support compliance and reporting.
32. Reporting Engine & Integration with Power BI
Utilize the powerful reporting engine for deeper analysis of accounting entries, comparisons, and examination of related documents. This engine enhances analytical power, empowering data-driven decision-making and providing comprehensive insights. Users can run the income statement report against any date range to see the MTD and YTD values.
The system is integrated with Power BI, giving management more freedom to see reports directly from Power BI without looking into minute details.
Income Statement with FP&A Hierarchy: Directors can view reports directly from Power BI connected to Odoo, frequently fetching data. This report can be compared with budgets and the same period last year.
Monthly Income Statement: This monthly income report provides a 360 view of the business with flexibility to compare it with defined budgets.
Intercompany Report: This report shows all receivables and payables details of subsidiaries, helping to understand inter-company transactions.
Journal Items VIEWS: The functionality of the system has been enhanced to convert reporting data into VIEWS, resulting in a 5x improved loading speed of reports and helping Power BI integrations to fetch and build reports faster.
33. Consolidation of Multi-Companies
Consolidate multiple companies in accounting, generating customized, bespoke reports tailored to specific business needs for efficient and accurate financial reporting.
34. Unrealized Foreign Currency Revaluation Report
Create realized foreign revaluation journal entries with an auto-reversal function, enhancing accuracy in foreign currency accounting and financial reporting. The system also creates the adjustment entry in the draft stage, giving users more flexibility to post adjustment entries for unrealized currency gains/losses for the month. Users can choose which account/entry to adjust with how much amount on any foreign currency. Upon posting the adjustment entry, the system automatically reverses that entry on the date specified by the user.
This reporting has the flexibility to include other balance sheet type of accounts to revalue the balances to show the accurate figures in base currency. Users can add any liability or investment accounts for recording any revaluations for month-end/year-end reporting, giving more ways to accurately show the data.
35. Summarized Statement of Account
Get a comprehensive view of any partner's ledger, consolidating issued invoices and recorded payments within a specified date range. This report includes options to view detailed ageing information or just outstanding balances, and includes every customer/vendor, even if their balances are zero.
The Statement of Account can be printed on the company’s letterhead, enhancing the report's credibility. The calculations accurately reflect opening balances and unreconciled balances.
The statement of account supports different currencies beyond the company’s base currency. This allows users to generate statements of accounts in customers’ or vendors’ currencies upon request.
36. Partner Ledger Print View
Print partner ledgers with company header and footer for enhanced presentation.
The partner ledger reports can be printed on the company’s letterhead, giving more ways to like the system for companies.
37. Aged Receivables and Payables Report
View amounts in different currencies to better understand incoming and outgoing amounts, aiding in financial planning. Reports can be sorted alphabetically for easier navigation.
The report can be printed on the company’s letterhead, ensuring its credibility.
38. Sort General Ledger Report by Date
Default sorting from higher to lower date, providing a chronological view of financial transactions for easier analysis.
39. Outlook 365 Email Setup
Configure Microsoft Outlook 365 email and set up multiple outgoing mail servers directly within the system for streamlined notifications and email management without relying on the Outlook desktop application.
40. Unrealised Foreign Currency Revaluation Report
Create realised foreign revaluation journal entries with an auto-reversal function. Post unrealised gains/losses of different currencies than the company's currency, enhancing accuracy in foreign currency accounting and financial reporting.
41. Sort Aged Payable/Receivable Report in Alphabetical Order
The aged payable/receivable report is alphabetically sorted by default, facilitating easy search and navigation of customers/vendors. This sorting enhances efficiency in accessing relevant information within the report.
42. Business Unit Review
The Business Unit Review Report features two levels of financial planning and analysis (FPA) categorization, helping users obtain detailed reports and comparisons. It provides a more detailed analysis of the business, with access to more data for deeper analysis. The report shows the data from the same period last year, giving users more detailed knowledge and helping them make informed decisions.
The report includes percentage and variance calculations for enhanced reliability.
43. Budgets and Outlooks
Users can reset budgets and outlooks to draft status post-confirmation, enabling necessary corrections or updates to specific records. This flexibility ensures accuracy and agility in financial planning and management.
The calculation of budgeted values in the Business Verticals Review Report shows the correct variance, ensuring more accurate reporting.
This report has the functionality to show the comparison of budget with actual values and the forecasted values, all in a single report. This is a crucial report to take next actions to meet the forecasted targets. Users have the flexibility to run the report in millions or absolute values.
44. Bank Reconciliation
The system is flexible in bank reconciliation, allowing users to rectify situations where bank statement entries were mistakenly reconciled with the same bank account, leading the journal entry to a non-reversal stage.
The bank reconciliation can be Force Reset, enabling users to request a manager to reset such transactions and make the necessary corrections.
45. Dashboards
The Vendor Bills / Purchase Invoices dashboard allows reviewing reports and focusing on key points related to vendor bills and purchase invoices.
The Fixed Assets dashboard offers additional ways to review reports and focus on key points related to fixed assets.
The Executive Summary dashboard allows a review of reports, focusing on key points related to ratios and the company’s position.
46. Customized Reports
The income statement tailored to the requirements of the group of companies shows every aspect of the company group and its shareholding. In this report, users can compare the income statement against any period to see the MTD and YTD values. The comparison is further enhanced with the inclusion of budgeted figures.
Chart of accounts: Users can configure and generate unlimited accounting reports based on their needs.
Balance Sheet: Balance sheet is customized as per the financial statement category hierarchy defined in the chart of accounts, allowing user-defined reports. Users can also define different layouts of the balance sheet reports, thanks to the powerful accounting reporting engine.
Income Statement: Income statement is customized as per the financial statement category hierarchy defined in the chart of accounts, allowing user-defined reports. Users can also define different layouts of the income statement reports, thanks to the powerful accounting reporting engine.
47. Project Profitability Report
The project profitability report provides detailed information about any project or cost center. Users can easily identify Gross Profit margins and net profit margins, thanks to the auto-classification of transaction types for analytical items.
48.
Customer Profitability Analysis
A report offering a quick overview of top customers with their profitability and ageing.
48.
Customer Profitability Analysis
A report offering a quick overview of top customers with their profitability and ageing.
49.
Notification for PO Approval to PO & PR Creator
The system sends notifications to PR and PO creators upon full approval of their request.
50.
Hide/Remove Other Print Options on Invoice/Bill
Removed additional print options to prevent inadvertent sending of wrong templates.
51.
Tracking for "Electronic Invoicing" Field on Journal
Tracks changes made to the "Electronic Invoicing" field on journals for ZATCA compliance.
52. Classification of Verticals for Companies
The companies have the functionality to be classified based on their verticals, giving users the flexibility to run reports based on company verticals combination. Users can define the pre-defined vertical options.
53.
Depreciation Schedule Report
The report now has more details like the major and minor category of the asset and asset number. Now it is easier to find the asset’s summary based on asset, major category, and minor category.
Numla Advanced Accounting offers a comprehensive suite of features designed to streamline financial management and empower businesses. With real-time reporting, multi-currency support, automated processes, and more, Numla Advanced Accounting is your solution for efficient accounting.
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