08.07 Planning Inside a P&L Structure

08.07 Planning Inside a P&L Structure

When to use this approach

This is a very common approach. Planners will see a P&L laid out the way it appears in board reporting, ie: Sales, Cost of Goods Sold, Gross Profit, Salaries, Overheads — and enter numbers against each named line. FastClose uses its hierarchy engine to map those lines to the underlying account nominals.

How it works

A FastClose hierarchy defines how account nominals are grouped into named nodes. Those node names become the rows of your planning template. When a planner submits a number against a node like Travel & Entertaining, FastClose stores it at that node level. When you report, the node figure is used directly.

Step 1 — Confirm your P&L hierarchy

You need to have previously built an account hierarchy that describes you P&L. If you haven't already done this, this article will help you rapidly construct one.

Step 2 - Setup the data-entry report

  1. In Designer, open or create a report based on the GL Balances template such as

    GL 06 Planning / Replanning This Year — for planning the current financial year

    GL 06 Planning for Next Year — for planning the year ahead

  2. Select your planning scenario in the "Planning Scenario" filter.

  3. In the Rows / Columns dialog (Layout tab), set the down axis to show your Account dimension only. Do not leave any Cost Centre dimensions (eg: Division or Department).

  4. Go to Insert→Hierarchies and bring in your pre-built P&L.

  5. For nodes where you want planners to submit a figure directly, open the node and tick the Submit checkbox. A node without Submit ticked will roll up from whatever is submitted beneath it. Nodes with Submit ticked will be editable in the planning report; their children will not.

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  6. It is possible to mix this on a node by node basis. So some can be submission nodes whilst others rollup from account nominals.

The key rule is: don't submit at individual account level as well as node level for the same items, or you'll end up with figures at both levels (Module 08.10 covers how to audit and clean this if it happens).

  1. Run the report. Confirm the P&L appears in rows, periods across the top, and that actuals are populating where expected.

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  2. Verify submission cells are yellow (see 08.05 if they are not).

  3. Save the report with a clear name — for example: Budget FY2026 — P&L Input.

Step 3 — Enter data in Excel

  1. Open the report in Excel via the Add-In.

  2. Type budget figures against each submission line (highlighted in yello) for each period. You can reference other worksheets using standard Excel formulas — for example, a separate payroll model: =Payroll!C14.

  3. Click Submit.

What you've learned

You can build a P&L-structured planning template where contributors enter numbers against named business lines. Module 08.13 covers the prebuilt P&L reporting templates that pair with this approach.

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