Consolidation

Overview

Many companies using Francis have multiple entities or work with. dimensions in their accounting system. Here, we walk through how to set up a system of templates combined with a consolidation to manage all of it.

Basics

Currency conversions

If some of your accounting systems' base currencies do not match your desired modeling or reporting currency, you can convert them at import.

Before enabling the conversion of actuals from your accounting sources, you'll first need to add a Custom Exchange Rate source to your organization through Data Sources. Once you've selected 'Add Data Source', you will need to:

1. Specify the currency pair by defining a base and target currency, e.g., EUR/USD.

2. Input the custom exchange rates used for converting actuals between the two currencies.

Once the Custom Exchange Rate source has been configured, automatic currency conversion can be enabled on any connected accounting source. Enable currency conversion by going to the Settings of your accounting source and selecting 'Convert base currency on import'. Once enabled, you must (1) define which Custom Exchange Rate to use and (2) specify your desired target currency.

The rate for the earliest month applies to all months before that, but rates are not extrapolated into the future. Following the month-end closing process, you must update the Custom Exchange Rate source you've defined to avoid multiplying actuals by zero.

Consolidation templates

You can convert a tab into a Consolidation Template, which is a system of templates combined with a consolidation. To do this, navigate to the tab settings and select Split by... from the action menu.

Select whether to filter by entities or dimension values when configuring your consolidation template. You are free to group dimension values as you see fit. Instances are spawned based on your filters and typically represent entities or departments.

Once you have applied a split, all structure is defined top-down, while actuals and forecasts are consolidated bottom-up.

Templates for entities on non-supported accounting systems

If you have entities using accounting systems not currently supported in Francis, you can still create instances for them to include in your consolidation system. In this case, the instances will not automatically import and show any actuals, and you will have to import these manually. You can hardcode them or copy-paste values from other tools.

Companies with a mix of supported and non-supported accounting systems can reap Francis's benefits and automate many activities by manually inputting actuals for non-supported systems.

"Empty" instances are also a great way to create plans for new entities without an accounting system. You can apply the template to the new entity for planning purposes, and once the accounting system is set up, you can link it to the relevant instance.

Inter-company eliminations

If you need to exclude inter-company transactions from the consolidation, we recommend including an extra instance to account for eliminations.

A prerequisite is that you have separated inter-company transactions in your accounting system, either via separate general ledger accounts or dimension values. That way, you can separate inter-company transactions in your Francis model via mappings or dimension filters, making it easy to set up formulas in the elimination template that offset inter-company transactions.

This way, the entities include inter-company transactions on a stand-alone basis, but the consolidation will not, as it also includes the elimination template that offsets inter-company transactions. The elimination template is a great way to keep all eliminations accounted for in one place.