Understanding the Dashboard

The Dashboard is the first screen you see after selecting a company. It shows a summary of your company's financial position, recent activity, and common actions. The balances, ratios and net worth come from posted journal entries only.

Who is this for?

Business owners and bookkeepers who want a quick overview of their financial health without running full reports.

Dashboard Sections

The Dashboard is divided into cards, each focusing on a different aspect of your accounting data:

Quick Actions

Two shortcuts appear in this section:

• New Transaction: always shown. Its Create Entry button opens the Journal Editor to capture a new entry as a draft. Posting is a separate, deliberate step on your Mac.
• Pending Journals: shown only when draft journals exist. Its Review N Drafts button opens the journal list, where you can review the drafts and post them on your Mac.

Liquidity

A snapshot of short-term financial resources:

• Cash & Equivalents: total balance across all cash and bank GL accounts.
• Accounts Receivable: the balance of the accounts with the Receivables sub-type. This includes GST/HST Recoverable in a starter chart.
• Net Working Capital: current assets minus current liabilities.
• On an iPhone, Bank Accounts opens your bank accounts.

Obligations

A breakdown of amounts your business owes:

• Accounts Payable & Credit Cards: trade payables and credit-card liability balances combined.
• Short-term Debt: short-term borrowings and lines of credit.
• Tax Payable: income tax and sales-tax payable balances.
• Other Current Liabilities: general accruals and other current liabilities.
• Long-term Debt: long-term borrowings and mortgages.
• Total Liabilities: sum of all liability account balances.

Net Worth

The equity position derived from the accounting equation (Assets − Liabilities):

• Total Assets: sum of all asset account balances.
• Total Liabilities: sum of all liability account balances.
• Net Worth (A − L): the residual equity of the business.

All balances in the Liquidity, Obligations, and Net Worth sections are calculated from posted transactions only. Draft journals are not included.

Financial Health

Six key financial ratios computed from posted transactions only. Each ratio label shows a formula popover when tapped.

• Current Ratio (Current Assets ÷ Current Liabilities): measures short-term ability to meet obligations; a value of 1.0 or above is generally healthy.
• Quick Ratio ((Current Assets − Inventory) ÷ Current Liabilities): a more conservative liquidity test that excludes inventory from current assets.
• Debt-to-Equity (Total Liabilities ÷ Total Equity): indicates how much of the business is financed by debt relative to equity; lower values signal less financial risk.
• Profit Margin ((Net Income ÷ Total Revenue) × 100): the percentage of revenue that remains as profit after expenses.
• Return on Equity ((Net Income ÷ Total Equity) × 100): measures how efficiently the business generates profit from shareholders' equity.
• Working Capital (Current Assets − Current Liabilities): the dollar amount of short-term buffer available after covering current obligations.

Profit Margin and Return on Equity use net income for the open fiscal year. Total Equity is the balance of the equity accounts and does not include the open year's income. A ratio with a zero divisor shows no value.

Account Health

• Active Accounts: the number of active accounts. View All opens the Chart of Accounts, also on an iPhone.
• GIFI Code Linkage: the share of active postable accounts that have a GIFI code. Aim for 100% before you generate T2 schedules. On the Mac, Fix Now opens the accounts that need a code.
• Assets, Liabilities, Equity, Revenue, Expenses: the number of active accounts of each type.

This Week

A count of journals created in the last 7 days, drafts included. The section appears only when the count is above zero.

Refreshing Data

The Dashboard updates automatically when you return to it after posting journals, reconciling accounts, or making other changes. No manual refresh is needed.

What's Next

• Getting Started with Addsworth Accounting: Return to the overview for the full accounting workflow.
• Creating Journal Entries: Record the transactions that populate the Dashboard.
• Running Financial Reports: Generate detailed Balance Sheet and Income Statement reports.
• Bank Reconciliation: Verify cash balances shown on the Dashboard.