What is the Formula Library?
The Formula Library, is a core feature of the new Reporting Studio that allows you to builder your own custom formulas for use in KPIs and Charts. This functionality is available at both the organisation level (for practice-wide metrics) and the individual farm level (for bespoke farm setups).
Where this is really significant, is it allows accounting practices to load in their “secret recipe” bespoke formulas unique to their practice. These custom metrics are often part of an organisation’s unique competitive advantage for advisory services. Having the ability to now include this within your reporting suite in Figured is an incredible opportunity and removes much of the stress and fuss of having external spreadsheets for these.
Managing your Formulas
Organisation Level
To manage formulas, first navigate to the Formula Library, this area is located under the Reporting Studio heading of the blue navigation panel of your Organisation. If you are not an admin of your organisation you will not have access to this. Here you will all of the existing formulas available for use in Custom Reports.
Default - These are Figured's standardised formulas commonly used throughout the industry. They are created by Figured for immediate universal use and cannot be changed by users. They can be copied to an org or individual file to create a version that can be altered.
No Status - Formulas listed with no visible status are the Formulas created by someone in your Organisation.
On the right hand side of every formula line, there is three dots, clicking this will allow you to View, Copy, Edit or Delete a formula, the actions available are dependent on the formula type ie. you will not be able to edit or delete Figured's default formulas.
Farm Level
Farm level formulas are very similar to above except there are 3 different types of formulas, indicated by the status column.
Default - These are Figured's standardised formulas commonly used throughout the industry. They are created by Figured for immediate universal use and cannot be changed by users. They can be copied to an individual file to create a version that can be altered.
Org - These are created by the organisation and are available to members of that org. They must be managed through the organisation's Formula Library and cannot be edited in an individual file. As with "Defaults" you can copy them as needed.
No Status - Formulas listed with no visible status are the ones local to the individual file, and can be edited provided the user has the "Can Edit" or higher permission level.
❗IMPORTANT: If you change a KPI that is in use on one of your custom reports, it will update on the report too. For this reason if you want it to not update, you should copy the formula and change the copied KPI so the report remains unchanged.
Creating Custom Formulas
Formula details
You will be able to create your own equation in Figured, similarly to how you would in Excel, using common operators and functions, and relating it to specific data sets that can be from the financial or production areas.
To create a custom formula, go to your Formula Library, there you will see a blue button the top right-hand side that says + Create Formula clicking this show a panel on the right on the right where you add a name and description (optional) of your new formula.
You also need set the Format and the Comparison Rule for the formula to tell the system how to display the KPI.
Format options:
Number/ Accounting - a number with 2 decimal places
Currency - Shows currency unit, with the symbol always directly next to the value
Percentage - Shows the result as a %
Comparison rules:
Lower is better - If the KPI value for the selected period is lower than the comparison year value the KPI will display in green. If it’s higher, it will show as red. eg for expenses lower is better
Higher is better - If the KPI value for the selected period is higher than the comparison year value the KPI will display in green. If it’s lower, it will show as red. eg for Income higher is better
Formula Builder
Next Open Formula Builder and you’ll see a pop up window which is where you’ll actually construct your formula. You’ll have a list of all available data points for your financial data, and your production data, in separate tabs. Using these you can add them to the box at the top, and click on any of the equation operators, such as + or - etc. to design the KPI. If you need help understanding a data point or help creating a formula please reach our via the green bubble.
Once you have saved your formula you will be able to select it for use in any KPI or custom Bar Chart.
💡 If you think you have created a highly useful custom formula you would like to see added to the Figured “Default” list, please feel free to message our support team and let them know!