Financial Statement using comparative when different period# in prior year data. GL9.0D (111017)

Client has changed year ends(13 periods being utilized). Have a 2011 year end 13 Periods, then a 2012 yearend is a single period, short year, then the 2012A yearend spans 13 Periods. The year 2012A Period 1 going forward needs to be compared to 2011 Period 2 to get a true comparative. This will be true for periods 1 thru 12 in 2012A. Then one month will be 2012A Period 13 compared to 2012 Period 1, then life will look normal going forward. (2013 compared to 2012A will be consistent again.)
Can I use a column spec that will enable compare to prior year plus one period?
I am thinking that I could use rolling perhaps and hide when printed all but the true comparative column?

Hi Jen

The basic answer is that you can't do comparatives across short years.

As a workaround, I have added 24 columns to the far right of the statement that are set to "hide when print", spanning the prior 24 fiscal periods. Each column shows the net activity for a different fiscal period (using ColSpecs in the format of _[12]M and {1}_[12]M (check out the SuperSpec statement for how these work). Then in the Prior Year column I use a Sum formula to sum up the various periods I want to show in that column. It is not elegant and you have to change the range of columns in the Sum formula each month, but it is the best I've come up with.

Steve

Thank you Steve, I was thinking along those lines. Just making sure I was not missing a simple answer like a prior plus one option.

Hi Jenny,

Yes - you can build the specification code using a string formula based on the FPERIOD() function. The formula may be more trouble than it's worth though. I've been working at this problem intermittently for a couple of months, and the formula will be specific to an individual site. Steve's approach works fine though.

Just need a couple of hours uninterrupted by other fires.

Thanks Andrew,
I look forward to hearing your cheer when you find those couple hours. Let us know where you find them I think we are all looking.