Putting a file under monitoring and importing the trial balance
The plan says what was supposed to happen; the client's trial balance (balance / proefbalans) says what did happen. Putting a file under monitoring means receiving its trial balances at the chosen pace, checking them, then comparing them with the plan at the same date.
What it is for
The file's Monitoring module receives the client's trial balances (an export from their accounting software, or figures entered by hand), checks them, maps each account to Fiplan's chart of accounts and keeps them, version after version. The plan is never touched: monitoring reads it to compare.
The module follows the bar shared by the modules: ① Data, ② Checks, ③ Assumptions, ④ Result, ⑤ Report. This article covers the first two steps; the year-end forecast (③), the variances (④) and publication to the client (⑤) each have their own article.
Step ① recalls how it works in three cards — One trial balance per closed month, Same month imported again: it replaces, Monitoring uses the latest one —, shows the trial balance compared with the plan (Current monitoring: its date, its months, whether it balances, its check points to address) and summarises, on the right, the Monitoring settings: the variance threshold, and publication to the client, always “Manually, at step ⑤ Report”.
Step ② answers Is the trial balance ready to be compared with the plan?: it checks the trial balance and proposes the period-end entries it lacks, so that comparable figures are compared.
Steps
- Open the file, Monitoring module. Choose the Frequency and the First period monitored, then click Start monitoring.
- ① Data: the “Import the … trial balance” card names the expected month. Click Import a trial balance and drop the file (Excel, CSV or TXT), or choose Enter the figures by hand. Import several trial balances takes several at once: Fiplan proposes a file for each one, you confirm.
- The assistant moves in four stages: The file, The checks, The closing entries, Confirm. Review the period read and the recognised columns, then Check (balance, recognised accounts, opening balances, suspense account, duplicate import) and Continue. On the last trial balance of the financial year, tick Closing trial balance (year-end entries posted). Finish with Confirm the trial balance.
- The most recent confirmed trial balance carries the Followed badge. In the Trial balance history, Follow this one picks another one and Follow the latest goes back to the last one; Restore brings back a replaced version; Delete removes a confirmed trial balance from monitoring, after a confirmation that says what will be recalculated.
- ② Checks: read the five checks (balanced trial balance, recognised accounts, opening balances equal to the previous closing, suspense account (499), period-end entries), passed or to address, then the Other checks.
- In Entries proposed for the comparison, accept the missing entries one by one: Depreciation and Accrued finance costs, taken from the plan, and the Change in inventory after Enter the inventory. Accept keeps it; Remove undoes it.
- To change the file's frequency, delay or thresholds: Change the settings.
Worked example · Boulangerie Dupont SRL
The bakery has been monitored every quarter since January 2027. Its trial balance at 31 August 2027 is confirmed: monitoring compares its year-to-date figures with the plan at the same date.
| At 31 August 2027 | Plan | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 144,000.00 | 136,800.00 |
| Cash | 98,665.38 | 89,465.38 |
Suppose the client has not yet posted their depreciation charges. At step ②, Fiplan proposes “Depreciation · 6 months”: €533.33 per month, taken from the plan's depreciation table (the delivery van, put into service in March 2027), €3,199.98 in all.
| Profit before tax at 31 August 2027 | Amount |
|---|---|
| Trial balance without depreciation | 61,877.21 |
| Depreciation accepted, “est.” (estimated) | -3,199.98 |
| Trial balance comparable with the plan | 58,677.23 |
Without the entry, profit would look €3,199.98 better, while the plan does carry that depreciation. The plan's income statement, balance sheet and cash have not moved: the accepted entry lives only in the monitoring trial balance.
Pitfalls
What it changes · 2027
Source
Fiplan convention (classement.ts): each account in the client's trial balance is mapped to Fiplan's chart of accounts, the Belgian minimum chart of accounts (PCMN / MAR) — the one used by the plan's lines (see Choosing a PCMN account, which quotes the text); the mapping kept for a client is used for their following trial balances.
Fiplan convention (ecritures-fin-periode.ts, ajustements.ts): the period-end entries proposed are the plan's, read in its journal — the charges of its depreciation table, the interest of its repayment schedule (debited to 650000, credited to 492000 “Accrued charges”), a change in inventory only on an inventory entered; an accepted entry lives only in the monitoring trial balance.