Account Coding

Every Category and Account in Movie Magic Budgeting is expected to have an Account Number or string to identify it and (eventually) match it to the accounts recorded in your production's accounting system.

When you enter a row in the Topsheet or Category you can enter the Account Number by typing it in. As most production companies and accounting systems expect Account numbers to follow a certain pattern (defined in their Chart of Accounts), Movie Magic Budgeting lets you define the pattern to ensure it is used correctly across your budget.

Setup

In Budget Preferences you can define the pattern used for Account numbers across your budget.

Category, Account, SubAccount, and Set can all be defined to have between 1 and 6 numbers or letters each.

The Category/Account Separator can be set to None, Space, or Hyphen.

The complete pattern will be used to determine the how the Account Number is displayed and understood.

Entering an Account Number

When typing in an Account Number for a Category or Account the system will assume you are matching the pattern you have defined in your Account Coding.

For example, if you have Category set to 2 digits and Account set to 2 digits in Budget Preferences, then you enter 1001 for a new Account, the system assumes the first two digits are the category and the last two digits define the specific account.

You can type hyphens or spaces and they will automatically "fix" themselves to match the Category/Account Separator rule (so hyphens might change to spaces if that's what your setting is). The chosen separator will be applied for every part of the Account Number. You cannot currently have an Account Number that has no separator between Category & Account, then has a hyphen between Account and SubAccount.

Any other numbers, letters, or symbols you type are all assumed to be a part of the Account Number.

Mismatched Account Numbers

If you type less digits in an Account than your Account Coding pattern expects, the "empty" places at the end of the string will be ignored. This might be expected (you might only want to show the Category part of the string on the Topsheet), but it might cause issues when trying to import your budget to an accounting system if an Account is missing part of its Account Number.

If you type more digits in an Account than your Account Coding pattern expects, the additional digits will be removed.

NOTE: SubAccount and Sets cannot be set to 0 digits, so if you are not using those levels of coding you should make sure that all your entered Account numbers are exactly as long as your Category and Account settings.

What is a Category?

Most users commonly call the entire string the "account number". Movie Magic Budgeting separates the concept of the "category" and the "account" so there is a clear pattern.

Some users might say the Account Number used for a Category is the "Header" for all the accounts contained in that category.

This distinction is used by the system when automatically generating Account numbers for Fringes Posted by Category.