[GNC] Does anyone produce a "UK balance sheet" (FRS 102) ?

[Gerald]

This isn't going to be within the realm of GC, but as a UK finance director
here is how I would do it.

- Give 'account codes' to all of your balance sheet accounts (you'll see
this in Edit Account, it isn't used by default)
- Update the Account Summary report to display account codes
- Copy/paste the Account Summary into Excel / Google Sheets
- Use SUMIF formulas to collate the totals and create a balance sheet

I do something very similar with my personal balance sheet, which I update
monthly in Sheets and compare against a very optimistic retirement plan!
By using account codes the balance sheet still works when I add new
accounts in GC, as long as I use an account code that is already
summarised.  e.g. all of my bank accounts have account code 20.
Adding another bank account with code 20 will automatically be included in
the total for cash.


All the best
Gerald



On Sat, 11 Dec 2021 at 00:42, Dr. David Kirkby <
drkirkby at kirkbymicrowave.co.uk> wrote:

> I realise this is not something the developers can realistically do, but I
> wonder if anyone has configured GnuCash to produce a balance sheet that
> looks like one that would be submitted to Companies House in the UK? (I
> attached a copy of mine, without obfuscating it, since the data can be
> found online at Companies House).
>
> Whenever I pick up a book on accounting, it normally shows something like
> this.
>
> 1) Adds up all the fixed assets, and gives a total for fixed assets.
> 2) Adds up all the current assets, and gives a total for current assets
> 3) Adds the fixed and current assets to get a total of *all *assets
>
> That all seems very logical to me.
>
> *But a balance sheet submitted to Companies House does not show the total
> assets.* One would have to get a calculator out to work them out, by adding
> the fixed assets and current assets.  I thought this very weird, and
> perhaps just a bizarre way my accountant produces the balance sheet, so I
> checked another UK company. That was exactly the same. The balance sheet is
> prepared in accordance with FRS 102. That's a 404 page document
>
>
> https://www.frc.org.uk/getattachment/69f7d814-c806-4ccc-b451-aba50d6e8de2/FRS-102-FRS-applicable-in-the-UK-and-Republic-of-Ireland-(March-2018).pdf
>
> with numerous amendments (some related to coronavirus). Realistically,
> that's only going to be readable by someone with a good knowledge of
> accounting - not an engineer/scientist like me. So I did not bother looking
> at that.
>
> Looking down the balance sheet for my company I see the following in order
>
> 1) Tangible Fixed Assets
> 2) Current Assets
> 3) Creditors amounts falling due within one year.
> 4) Net current liabilities (that's equal to #2 - #3)
> 5) Total assets less current liabilities (that's #1 + #2 - #3)
> 6) Provision for liabilities  - I can't work out how that's calculated, but
> I see it is of uncertain timing and amounts. I guess I should ask my
> accountant how he came up with the figure. (*With the usual disclaimers,
> does anyone know whether that would be sensibly listed in GnuCash as a
> liability, despite its only an estimate?*)
> 7) Net assets (I can't work out how that's arrived at)
> 8) Shareholders - same as net assets.
>
> I think I will write myself a computer program, that tries every
> combination of figures to arrive at others. I think if I add every
> combination, I will get there eventually. I have a computer with two
> 26-core CPUs and 384 GB RAM, so I should just about have enough computer
> power. 😂
>
> I'm thinking there's a good chance that someone in the UK has decided to
> make his/her balance sheet the same, despite it seems rather obscure.
>
> Dave
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