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How do you get balance sheet, P&L and receivables straight out of Exact Online?
Exact Online holds everything you need for a financial dashboard, but it does not come out in that shape. A general ledger is not a balance sheet and a chart of accounts is not a profit and loss statement. The translation between them belongs in a mapping table outside the report code, so a controller can reclassify an account without a developer.
Transport and logistics Exact Online, Power BI
The challenge
A transport company wanted balance sheet, profit and loss and receivables in one place, refreshed automatically. Everything needed was in Exact Online, but not in a form anyone could steer on: a general ledger is not a balance sheet, and a chart of accounts is not a profit and loss statement.
Our approach
We connected Exact Online through its API with OAuth and incremental loading, so the call limits are respected and no records go missing. The translation from ledger to financial statement was built as a mapping table across four levels, held outside the report code.
Results
242 general ledger accounts mapped: 69 lines for the balance sheet and 173 for the profit and loss statement. The controller can reclassify an account without waiting for a developer, which is what keeps the dashboard current after the project ends.
Expertise involved
Exact Online API and OAuth, incremental loading, data modelling on a star schema, and the financial knowledge required to map a chart of accounts to a statement that a board recognises.
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Why does the mapping sit outside the report code?
Because a chart of accounts changes and a report should not need editing every time. With the mapping in a separate table across four levels, the controller can reclassify an account. If that logic sits in the report, every change needs a developer.
How many general ledger accounts need mapping?
In this engagement 242: 69 lines for the balance sheet and 173 for the profit and loss statement. That is patient work, and it only has to be done once if it is recorded properly.
How current are the figures?
Refreshed nightly, which is enough for financial steering. More frequent is possible but changes the architecture, so it should follow a decision that genuinely happens more often.
Does this work with several administrations?
Yes, as a dimension rather than as separate reports. One model with division as an attribute, so consolidated and per-entity views come from the same source.