Overview: At the firm level, Administrators are able to create binder templates specific to the firm. This ensures standardised workflow across the firm, providing consistent structure for all client engagements.
Please refer to the Glossary for definitions of key terms used in this article.
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Create and add a firm binder template
From the Admin Centre, click on Binder Templates under the Workpapers banner.
This ships a list of default binder templates offered through the Active Platform as part of your subscription. This list may slightly depending on the jurisdiction/s you are in.
To add a new firm binder template, click + Add Binder Template.
Ensure the 'Active' checkbox is selected to make your new binder template available for your firms users to access. Select the binder type for the type of compliance work your binder template relates to, e.g. Accounts and Tax for year end work, or Activity Statements for BAS related binders.
Give your binder template a name, such as 'Year End Compliance'. Select a date range where you want the binder template to be available for. If you want the binder to be available for only one specific year you can select it to be available from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024, for example.
However, most likely you will want the binder template to be available for multiple future periods so extend the end date as pictured.
Select the entity types that you want the binder to be available for. For example, for a year end binder that you wish to make specifically for company, trust and partnership entities, select these types as shown.
Select jurisdictions if your firm has multiple jurisdictions or leave unselected for the binder template to be available to all jurisdictions.
Document defaults
Within the Document Defaults section is where you nominate the job type, filing cabinet, document type and status for documents loaded into the customised binder.
For example, if a user uploads a bank statement as a supporting document to this Year End Compliance binder when using it to prepare a job, the bank statement will be automatically saved under year end compliance, accounting cabinet as a source document type with an awaiting review status.
Record templates
In the Record Templates section area you can add specific sections to your customised binder. A section is an area within the Workpaper binder that houses specific information. Every binder will have a trial balance section as standard, however you can add other sections for users to store information in.
Click + Add Section.
Give your section a name, such as 'Permanent' for example and assign it a code, such as 'PERM'.
You can make entity specific sections to only show in certain entities. For example, you can add a section called 'Trust Information' and make it available only to trust entities. A Permanent section relates to any entity, so leave it available to all entity types.
Select the template categories that would be relevant to the section you are creating. Template categories are the different categories that Business Fitness and your firms record templates are stored in. For example, the Permanent section would require record templates that sit within the General, Summary Info and Job Management categories as no financial templates would be used within this section.
Once you have selected record template categories, you can add standard record templates from the template list and set them as recommended, mandatory or optional records to add within the section.
Click + Add Recommendation to link appropriate record templates.
Select the record you would like to include as standard within this section, such as 'Accounts & Tax Checklist'. Click Next Step.
Tip: If you want to add your own firm worksheet as a recommendation in a binder, you must first have added this worksheet within the Admin Centre. See the support article: How to add a firm record template for guidance on how to do this.
Select the level from the options below.
LEVEL | DESCRIPTION |
Optional | A worksheet that may or may not be used as support for a balance at the firm level. |
Recommended | A worksheet that is desired to be used as support for a balance at the firm level. |
Mandatory | A worksheet that must be used as support for a balance at the firm level. Any mandatory worksheets that are not accepted and used will be flagged as such in the QA Centre. |
Edit the default title to call the worksheet if applicable, and write notes as required.
Click Next Step.
Select the entity type you wish this record to be recommended for. For example, if creating a provision for tax record type recommendation, select only tax paying entities in this section (such as companies, superfunds and individuals). Leave blank if the worksheet applies to all entities.
Filters
Date filters
Change the date filter where you only want the worksheet to be recommended for a specific time period. For example, for COVID related worksheets, these may only be recommended for binder period dates between 01/07/2019-30/06/2022. For this example, we will leave as Always.
Click Save and Close.
This record template will now appear in the Permanent section.
Note: Add as many sections and templates to each section as you desire to customise your binder.
Trial balance recommendations
Within the Trial Balance section you can select which record templates are recommended to users at different account lines.
Click on + Add Recommendation.
A record can be attached as a recommendation to a specific account, such as Plant & Equipment using the account type, or by not selecting any specific account type.
For detailed examples of these options, see the support article: How to customise record template recommendations.
Finalising the binder template
To finalise the binder template, scroll to the bottom and click Create.
Your binder will be available for selection from the create binder screen as below.
The binder will look like this when the user opens it.
