The Revenue Management report is Synergist's month-end reconciliation report. It shows every job with revenue activity in a chosen financial period, whether that job is still open or was closed during the period.
Finance teams use it to check accrued and deferred revenue is correct, matches what's actually been delivered, and is ready to post into your accounting software, such as Xero or Sage.
This article explains what the Revenue Management report shows and how to use it.
Note: This report becomes available once the Revenue Management module has been activated on your account. If you can't see it, speak to your system administrator about switching it on.
Where to find the report
The report sits under the Jobs & Organisations menu, in Revenue Mgmt.
The report always runs against a set financial period, shown as a date range at the bottom of the page.
Why this report matters
If your finance package isn't linked to Synergist by a nominal journal, this is one of the key reports you'll rely on.
Nominal journal link: an automated link between Synergist and your accounting software that posts every transaction across individually, giving you a full audit trail in your finance package.
With that link in place, your finance software already holds the detail behind every transaction, so this report matters less day to day, though it's still valuable for reconciling to your balance sheet at month end.
Without it, you're likely creating a manual journal at month end, usually as a single total rather than broken down by job. The Revenue Management report gives you that missing detail, down to job and transaction level, so you can see exactly what's driving the number.
Understanding the financial period
Financial period: the date range Synergist is reporting on, usually a calendar month, that lines up with your accounting close.
By default, the report's period is set to last month. If you don't set it manually, it rolls forward automatically as soon as the new month starts, for example moving to August the moment September begins. Check the period before you rely on the figures.
To change it, go to Company Settings > Periods and update the financial period you're working in. The dates on the report update to match.
You can filter the report to show specific records, but you can't save a custom view. That's deliberate. A saved view could hide jobs without you realising, and this report only works if you're seeing the full picture.
The report shows every job that's currently open, plus every job closed during the current period. Close a job in August, and it still shows on the report while you're reporting on August. Move the period to September, and that closed job drops off.
What the report tells you
Each row compares the revenue position of a job against its purchases and invoiced values.
- Organisation: the client name.
- Job: the job number, linked through to the job itself.
- Handler: the job handler.
- Completed: a tick shows if the job has been marked as completed.
- Description: the job description.
- Date due: the job's due date.
- Status: Live, Quote, Special, On-Hold or In-house.
- Purchases Total: total purchase cost recorded to the job.
- Accrual: the balance of open purchase orders not yet allocated to a purchase invoice.
- Invoiced This month: value invoiced against the job in the current financial period.
- Invoiced Total: total amount invoiced on the job to date.
- Recognised This month: revenue recognised in the current period.
- Recognised Total: total revenue recognised on the job to date.
- Deferred/accrued total: the job's revenue balance for the period.
Revenue recognition: recording revenue against the work actually delivered, rather than against the invoice date.
The Deferred/accrued total column covers two things:
- Deferred revenue: money invoiced ahead of the work being delivered. Shows as a positive value.
- Accrued revenue: work delivered ahead of it being invoiced. Shows as a negative value.
Setting financial periods in Company Settings
Using financial periods properly gives you much tighter control over this report, and it's worth setting up even if you've never touched it before.
Periods live in Company Settings > Periods. By default, Synergist sets them up simply, but it's worth splitting out two things:
- Sales period: the period you're invoicing against, for example September.
- Revenue period: the period this report is reporting on, for example August.
Splitting these out means you can be invoicing in September while still finalising the revenue figures for August. The dates shown on the Revenue Management report always reflect the revenue period.
You can also close a period, much like you would in your finance system. Closing a period locks the figures. Nobody can accidentally raise an invoice into a closed period, and the numbers can't change once they're signed off.
Closing a period doesn't stop you working. You can still make revenue write-offs and adjustments in the previous, still-open period. Once you've reconciled it and you're happy the figures are correct, close that period off and move on to the next month.
Find out more about setting up financial periods in Company Settings.
Exporting the report
You can export the report to Excel for reconciliation. Switch on the deferred and accrued split before exporting, and those totals appear in separate columns, so you can match them straight to the deferred and accrued revenue balances on your balance sheet.
- Tick the checkbox at the top of the report to select all rows.
- Select Export to Excel
When to use the report
- To validate recognised revenue against deferred revenue.
- To find completed jobs that still have outstanding revenue balances.
- To reconcile Synergist's figures against the deferred and accrued revenue on your balance sheet in Xero, Sage, or your finance package of choice, at month end.
Tips
- Run the report before you close the financial period, not after. It's much easier to fix a job's revenue position while the period is still open.
- Check the period date range every time you open the report. It defaults to last month and rolls forward automatically if you leave it untouched.
- If a job shows a large accrued balance, check whether work has been delivered but not yet invoiced. That's usually the cause.
- Split your sales and revenue periods in Company Settings, so invoicing in the new month doesn't stop you finalising the previous month's revenue.
- Close periods once you've reconciled them. It locks the figures and stops anyone invoicing into a period that's already been signed off.