Almost all standard monetary elements in the US-GAAP taxonomy have a normal balance type of either credit or debit, depending on the accounting principal that element represents. When creating a custom monetary element, it is a good idea to decide whether or not that element should have a normal balance type assigned to it. If the element should have a normal balance type, follow the instructions below to add the balance type.
- Navigate to the Custom Fields Sheet in the .xfr file using the Sidebar navigation.
- Locate the row that contains the custom element.
- Place the selector on the row and use the right arrow key to move toward the right. The last column on the sheet is the Balance Type column.
- Enter either “credit” or “debit” into the cell and press the Enter key to add the data. (Please note that you should not include the quotation marks when entering the data.)
Elements that do not have normal balance types set for them can cause warnings to appear during the validation process, if those elements are used in calculations. These warnings will inform the user that the calculation could not be completely validated due to this missing information. GoFiler Complete will check all calculations to ensure that they follow the guidelines for creating calculations. These guidelines are based on the normal balance types for elements. If the normal balance type is missing, the calculation cannot be verified as correct.
