TB Report Guidelines

What changes can I make to a TB Report?

Documentation within TB Reports.  Reference trial balance amounts within Engagement's TB Reports for efficiency and to minimize the risk of typing over numbers in the TB Database.  Engagement's TB Reports (e.g. Lead Schedules, Trial Balance Reports, Journal Entry Reports, etc.) are dynamic and linked to the TB Database.  Therefore, these reports change as changes occur in the TB Database.  Although TB Reports are in Microsoft® Excel format, they are not standard Microsoft® Excel workpapers and must be used accordingly to avoid undesired workpaper changes.  Use the following guidelines when marking up trial balance reports:

• Account Grouping List.  Ensure that all building and grouping/mapping within the account grouping list is completed prior to documenting and/or marking up the related TB Reports.  Subsequent changes to the account grouping list may cause undesirable changes in workpaper documentation and/or mark up.  If a change in an account grouping list is necessary, "publish" the affected TB Report(s) prior to making the change.  Use the published copy, or picture copy, as a reference or the workpaper documentation and mark up existing prior to the account grouping list change.  Use copy/paste to efficiently transfer documentation and mark ups from the published copy of the TB Report, to actual TB Report if required.


• Hide/Unhide Rows and Columns.  Do not hide or unhide any rows or columns with TB Reports.


• Add/Delete Rows.  Do not add or delete rows within TB Reports as it can cause file corruption.


• Add/Delete Columns.  Columns may be added for additional workpaper references and tickmarks.  To avoid the risk of permanently deleting a column that is crucial to the TB Report, NEVER delete a column unless it was manually added by the user.


• Available Columns.  All unhidden, empty columns, with no header descriptions are available for documentation and mark ups.


• Available Rows.  Place all notes, summarizations, conclusions, comments, explanatory tickmark explanations, and descriptions below the linked trial balance data, two rows below the bottom-most total row.  Regardless of changes made in the related account grouping list, this documentation, and mark up will remain.


• Formatting.  Do not apply formatting changes to TB Reports, as most changes will not be saved.  Even though it is possible to change the formatting of the available cells in the rows and columns mentioned above, avoid all formatting changes within TB Reports for efficiency purposes.