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For situations where you might be forecasting a business event or change, but there are no Chart of Accounts line items to account for it, Fathom allows you to create future accounts.

Creating a future account enables you to add values against a new account that does not exist in your source accounting system and only exists within Fathom.

Some of the key use cases for Future Accounts include:

Once you have created an actuals account in your source accounting system, you are able to merge the future account with your actuals account.

You are able to create a future account within a microforecast. To do this:

Once a future account has been added to your forecast, it will also appear in your Chart of Accounts in 'Step 3 - Chart of Accounts' of the company or group's Settings. Any future accounts listed in the Chart of Accounts will be a light grey colour.

Once a future account has been created, it will be visible within the microforecast and the main forecasting grid. The future account will function similarly to actuals accounts in your Chart of Accounts. With a future account you’re able to:

💡Pro Tip: Because the timing of microforecasts is easily changed, it is recommended to work with future accounts only in microforecasts, especially if the timing of future events or business changes is uncertain.

Compared to actuals accounts, the only limitations for future accounts concern adjustments and default accounts in your forecast. Adjustments cannot be made on future accounts. Future accounts cannot be set as the default Current Earnings or the default Retained Earnings account for adjustments or in the Global Forecast Settings.

📝Note: Future accounts can still be classified as Current Earnings and Retained Earnings accounts; they simply cannot be the default Current Earnings or Retained Earnings accounts.

When the current month hits the first month where Fathom should be receiving actuals for a future account, you will want to do one of the following:

Merging a future account with an actuals account will result in the future account being removed from the forecast and the Chart of Accounts. The actuals account will essentially take the place of the future account.

📝Note: To easily differentiate between accounts and avoid potential import/update issues, we recommend giving the actuals account a name that does not exactly match the future account’s name. You can change the name of the future account (e.g. add ‘*’ to the end) by following the steps below and using the Pro Tip.

The rules and values applied to the future account may remain in the forecast, depending on the option you choose when merging the future account with your actuals account.

To merge a future account with an actuals account:

📝Note: If you have a budget amount attached to a future account, it will not be moved over to the actuals account. Instead, you will have to add the budgeted values to the actuals account in your source accounting system and update the budget in Fathom.

When merging a future account with an actuals account, you’re asked if you want to ‘Maintain baseline rules’.

The ‘Maintain baseline rules’ checkbox determines the following:

When you merge a future account with an actuals account from your source accounting system, changes will take place automatically, regardless of the option chosen for the ‘Maintain baseline rules’ checkbox.

These changes will primarily depend upon if the forecasting component (e.g. value rule, microforecast, etc.) contains or references both the future account and the actuals account it is being merged with or only one of the accounts.

In general, the rules and values associated with the future account are favoured over the rules and values associated with the actuals account. This is because the forecasting and planning would have likely been done on the future account before the actuals account existed in the source accounting system.

If your actuals are overlapping with your forecasted values in your future account, but the forecasted amounts have not yet been realised, then you may wish to change the timing of the future account.

If the future account only has microforecast values, then you can easily change the timing of the microforecast(s) using the Business Roadmap. Simply grab and drag a microforecast on the timeline to change its timing and move it further into the future.

If you have added future account values to the baseline, then you’ll need to edit the value rule for the future account in the main forecasting grid. If the future account is used in any schedules or journals that are not associated with a microforecast, you’ll need to edit those as well to change the timing of the future account values.

To delete a future account, it must not be present in any microforecasts and cannot be a default account:

This will remove the future account from the entire forecast and the Chart of Accounts for the company or consolidated group.

Additional knowledge & common questions: