Frequently Asked Questions About FSG

This section includes the answers to many of the frequently asked questions about the Financial Statement Generator.

Question: Can I display account descriptions on my report in addition to the account segment values?
Absolutely. You simply have to define a Row Order, then assign it to your report. In the Row Order, set the Account Display options of the account segments for which you want to print descriptions. Select Value and Description as your segment display method. Also, make sure that you set the printing Width so there is enough room to print both the segment value and description.

Additional Information: To print the description without the account segment values, select Description as your segment display method.

Question: I've built a report which uses several row and column calculations. However, I'm not getting the results I expected. What might be causing this?
There are several reasons why calculations might not yield the results you expect. Here are some areas to explore:

• Review your calculations to make sure the logic is correct.

• Make sure you used unique row and column names in your report. If you use the same name for two different rows or columns, FSG won't know which value to use.

• If you used sequence numbers in your calculations instead of row or column names, make sure you entered the correct sequence numbers in your formula.

• What rounding option did you use for the report? If you used Round Then Calculate, you might see some rounding errors in your results. This can usually be corrected by selecting the Calculate Then Round option and running your report again.

Question: How do I print credit amounts on my report as positive instead of negative numbers?
For the related row or column definition, check the Change Sign checkbox. Credit amounts for this row or column will now print as positive numbers. "Negative" credits will print as negative numbers.

Warning: Selecting this option will also make any debit amounts generated by this row or column print as negative values. Therefore, when using this feature, be attentive to the accounts which you assign to the row or column definition.

Question: How do I suppress printing of "plus" signs for the numeric values in my report?
Change the General Ledger profile option Currency:Positive Format. This option determines how General Ledger and FSG display positive numbers. For example, if your positive format profile option is currently +xxx, FSG will print a positive number with a plus sign in front of it. If you change the profile option to xxx, FSG will print the number without the plus sign.

Question: Is there a way to suppress zero amounts on my report?
You cannot suppress individual zero amounts in FSG. However, when all the values in a row or column are zero, you can have FSG suppress them all. To do this, make sure the Display Zero option is not checked on the appropriate Rows or Columns windows.

Question: How do I review my reports online?
Reports can be viewed online from the Concurrent Request Summary window. To view a report, first select it then choose Request Output from the Special menu. Your report will appear in a new window.

Note: This feature may not be available in your version of Oracle General Ledger. If it is available in your version, the feature must be enabled by your System Administrator before you can use it to view reports.

Question: How do I download my FSG report to a file which I can then open in my PC's spreadsheet?
First, make sure your report definition uses the Spreadsheet output option. Optionally, you can specify this option when you run the report. Second, after you run the report, view it online, as described above. While the report is displayed in the view window, select Copy File from the Special menu. You must then enter a path name and filename to store the output file. Once saved, you can open the file in your spreadsheet.

Note: This feature may not be available in your version of Oracle General Ledger.

Question: I'm having trouble getting a complicated report definition to work correctly. Are there any tools I can use to help find the problem?
Yes. You can review the error message log files. If there is not enough detail in the log, you can increase it by changing the user profile option FSG:Message Detail.