Chart of Account Levels

One of the most important fields in the chart of account entry is Levels. The level is used to group chart of accounts into various levels of detail and to allow flexibility in report totals. It allows a greater range of reports to be printed depending on the level chosen. Unlike most production accounting programs that restrict you to 3 levels of detail, Eclipse allows up to 9 levels.

Levels in the Chart of Accounts are assigned on how you want them to roll up in the cost reports. Standard Eclipse comes with:

• Level 3 for Non-Expense Header type accounts (Balance Sheet).

• Level 4 for Non-Expense postable accounts (Balance Sheet) and Standard Header expense accounts.

• Level 5 for Standard detail production expense accounts.

• Level 6 for Detailed sub-Account of the Standard Expense Account.
  
  

These levels will suit the needs of most users and provide very informative Cost Reports

Scenario:  You are working on a large Production with many Art Department Sets to be created as accounts in your Cost Report. In a situation like this the Art Department detail Cost Report component of your main Cost Report could run for pages which may be a cumbersome report to read. By simply making your Art Department expense accounts a level 6 and header accounts level 5 you can then avoid this problem. Similarly, this principle can also be applied if you are say reporting on initial construction of major sets for a long running production which no longer need to be reported but of course totals still need to be incorporated into main Cost Report.

Tip:  Ultimately the best way to see how levels can be used is to experiment with them and see what effect the changing of levels has on your reports. Use your Test Directory for this purpose if you are unsure. Once the Chart has been setup, run a Trial Balance and Cost Report through Financial Reports including zero balances to check if the level of detail is what you expected.