Can I round the figures in my financial reports to the nearest pound?

Currently, it's not possible to round figures within the ExpensePlus finance reports to the nearest pound.

The challenge with rounding figures to the nearest pound is that the total of the rounding amounts then looks incorrect.

Here is an example:

Three categories with expenditure, with a total expenditure shown at the bottom, might look like this:

If rounded it would then look like this...

The total line for the bottom table appears to be incorrect. Someone looking at this report and not knowing the un-rounded figures would naturally anticipate the total row to show as £3 (because 1 + 1 + 1 = 3).

However, the rounded total of course needs to show £4 (as the actual total is £4.30).

The problem: rounding at a larger scale

Whilst this is a trivial example, over many more categories, the apparent 'rounding error' is likely to be more than just £1.

So, whilst rounding may make reports easier to read for some users, it also causes other users to question whether the data is correct.

As well as an issue with the total lines within reports, a similar issue exists with drilling. Currently, when you click on a cell to view transactions that make up the total you are viewing, the transactions 100% add up to the cell on the income and expenditure report you clicked on.

The solution: getting rounded figures in a spreadsheet

To get a rounded version of a report you will need to:

1) click the download to .csv button at the bottom of the report you are viewing;

2) open the file within your spreadsheet software, select all cells, and click the 'reduce decimal places' button.

To better understand the Finance Reports module, please view the module overview video here.