Summary: Frequently-asked questions about
how profit centers work. Clients & Profits automatically numbers
your jobs when they are opened, eliminating the antiquated job log
book. It has flexible job numbering features with many user-defined
options. Jobs are numbered sequentially as they are opened. This FAQ
answers many commonly-asked questions about job numbering.
Q. What
is a profit center?
Any division or department in the company which has both billings and
costs associated with it can be considered a center of profit. It can
be one department in the company or a subsidiary company. 
Q. I want to subtotal by department on the financial
statements, should I set up profit centers?
No, profit centers are used for printing separate
financial statements for parts of the company. Use sub-classes instead
for organizing the departments on the same statement.
Q. How do the Profit Centers work in the
program?
Profit centers can be set up in Clients & Profits
Pro in order to print individual financial statements for different
parts of the company. Each profit center has its own general ledger
accounts assigned to it. When a profit center is specified in the
options for printing financial statements, only the accounts for that
profit center will appear on the statement. Statements can be printed
for one or all profit centers from the Snapshots > Financials menu.
Q. How do I see all profit centers on the same financial
statement?
Financial statements can be printed for one profit center by entering
the PC number in the Financials window. To show all profit centers,
enter "ALL" instead. When printing reports for all profit centers,
the account totals combine all PCs together--you will not see a separate
total for each profit center.
If you always need to see the company divisions
on the same statement, consider using sub-classes and roll-up accounts.
For information on sub-classes and roll-up accounts, see your Clients
& Profits Pro user guide.
Q. I want separate statements for my side businesses,
but I want to be able to consolidate the reports with my primary business.
Should I set up profit centers?
Yes, profit centers will allow you to choose between printing financial
statements for one business or all.
Q. I have a large, separate business with different
clients, jobs, and vendors. Should I set up profit centers or create
a separate database?
It will probably be more efficient to set up a separate database for
this company. Clients & Profits is designed to print separate
financial statements for profit centers. There is no provision to
print job reports, accounts receivable reports, etc. for only one
profit center.
Q. Can I track jobs (and print job reports) for different
profit centers?
No, since profit centers only affect financial statements. Jobs, estimates,
costs, and time don't track by profit center. However, one of the
job's user-defined fields can be designed as a profit center and used
to print custom reports.
Q. Can profit centers be assigned to any general
ledger account?
Yes. It's common to track the profit of divisions through income,
cost, and expense accounts. But the division's assets, liabilities
and equity can also be set up in the profit center. For example. if
the division is large and separate from the main company, if asset
purchases are budgeted, or the receivables and payables are separate,
a balance sheet for the profit center may be necessary.
Q. The balance sheet for ALL profit centers is in
balance. Why is it out of balance when I print it for one profit center?
If an entry to the general ledger involves more than one profit center,
printing the balance sheet for one profit center will reflect only
half of the journal entry and the balance sheet will be out of balance.
For example, if you transfer money from one profit center to the other
you have a debit to one account and a credit to the other. The balance
sheet for ALL profit centers reports both balances, but the balance
sheet for one profit center reports only one side of the transaction,
resulting in an out of balance.
