Every report in SeroBooks opens in the same report window. Whether it is a Profit & Loss, an A/R Aging Summary or a price list, you get the same date control, the same toolbar in the same order, the same search and filter panel, and the same way of clicking through to the transactions behind a figure. This article walks through that window from top to bottom.
To find a report, use Reports ▸ Report Centre (see The Report Centre) or open it directly from the Reports menu.
The report window at a glance
From top to bottom:
- The title block — the report's name, its period (for example 1 Jan 2026 – 25 Sep 2026), Accrual basis or Cash basis on reports that have a basis, and Customer: … (or Vendor: …) in blue when the report is about one party. The date button sits at the right.
- The toolbar — Print, Email, Refresh, Export, Search, Summary, Filter, Columns, Customize, Previous year (on reports that can show it), Pin, Memorize, Comment on Report and Hide Header.
- The search panel — Search this report…, Filters, Group By, Favourites, followed by the report's own filters (basis, customer or vendor, location) and, on reports with headings, Collapse all and Expand all. The number of lines shown sits at the end.
- Alerts and notes — anything the report needs you to act on, and an About this report link that explains how the figures were worked out.
- The table — headings, detail lines, subtotals and totals. Lines you can click are highlighted when you point at them.
- The footer — the number of rows, and either Click any line to see what is behind it, Click any line — or any figure — to see what is behind it, or Read-only — reports never change the books.
Step by step: run a report
- Open the report from the Report Centre or the Reports menu. A period report opens on the year to date (1 January to today); an "as of" report opens on today. The Cash Flow Forecast opens on today and the eight weeks after it.
- Click the date button at the top right and choose the period (see Choosing the dates). The report reruns as soon as you click Apply.
- If the report offers them, set Accrual or Cash, pick one customer or vendor, or choose a location (see The report's own filters).
- Read the report. Click any highlighted line or figure to see the transactions behind it (see Drilling down from a report).
- Narrow what is on screen with Search, Filters and Group By if you need to.
- Print, export, email, memorize or comment on it from the toolbar.
Choosing the dates
The date button shows what the report's dates mean:
| The button reads | The report is | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Jan 2026 – 25 Sep 2026 | a period report: activity between two dates | Profit & Loss, Sales by Customer Summary, GST/HST Return |
| As of 25 Sep 2026 | an as of report: balances on one day | Balance Sheet, A/R Aging Summary, Customer Balance Summary |
| (no button) | a current report: no date at all | Open Sales Orders, Pending Sales, lists |
Click the button to open the period chooser (titled Choose a period, or As of which date? for an as-of report; for an as-of report the date used is the last day you choose).
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| This month | The first of this month to today. |
| Last month | The whole of last month. |
| This quarter | The start of this quarter to today. |
| Last quarter | The whole of the last completed quarter. |
| Year to date | The start of this year to today. |
| Last year | The whole of last year. |
| Year and arrows | Step back (and forward, up to this year) to choose months in another year. |
| Month cards | Click one month for that month; click a second month to make a range from the first to the second. The hint underneath says what is selected. Future months cannot be chosen. |
| Exact dates… | Pick any two days. |
| Cancel / Apply | Close without changing, or rerun the report for the chosen dates. |
When your company's fiscal year does not start in January (set in Edit ▸ Preferences ▸ Reports & Graphs ▸ First month of the fiscal year), the quarter and year presets follow your fiscal year and say so: This quarter to date · Jul–Sep, Last quarter · …, Year to date · from July, Last year · …, with the line Quarters and years follow this business's financial year, which starts in July. The month cards always stay calendar months.
Reports that look ahead
The Cash Flow Forecast, Money to Collect by Due Date and Bills to Pay by Due Date are about what is still to come, so their date button opens a calendar of days instead (titled Choose a period, or As of which date?) that reaches two years ahead. Click a day to start and another to end the range, or click one day and Save for that day alone. Every other report is about what has already happened, and its chooser stops at today.
The report's own filters
Some reports can be narrowed on the server before they are built. A report shows only the filters it actually honours, so if a control is missing, that report cannot be narrowed that way.
Accrual or Cash
The Accrual | Cash switch appears on the Profit & Loss family (Standard, Detail, YTD Comparison, Prev Year Comparison, by Month, % of Income) and on the budget comparison reports.
- Accrual counts a sale when it is invoiced and an expense when it is billed.
- Cash counts them when the money arrives or leaves.
These reports open on the basis chosen in Edit ▸ Preferences ▸ Reports & Graphs ▸ Summary reports open on. The basis you are looking at is printed under the title and on every printout and export. Every other report is accrual only.
One customer or vendor
Reports about customers or vendors (aging, balances, open invoices, sales by customer, purchases by vendor and so on) show a chip reading All customers, or All vendors on the reports about what you buy and owe: the payables and aging reports, bills to pay by due date, purchases, open purchase orders and goods received.
- Click the chip. The Filter to one customer (or Filter to one vendor) window opens, listing customers or vendors to match the report.
- Type in Search name, company or phone and click the name. All customers (or All vendors) at the top goes back to everyone; No customer matches that. means nothing matched what you typed.
- The report reruns for that one name and the chip shows the name, highlighted. The title block shows Customer: …, and a printout carries the name and address.
- Click × on the chip to go back to everyone.
The Walk-In Customer line on some reports gathers every sale made without a named customer. Clicking it narrows the report to those walk-in sales.
Location
When your company has more than one location, reports that can be split by store or warehouse show a location chip. The location is chosen with the location picker at the top of the SeroBooks window, not on the report: the chip shows what the report is scoped to (hover over it for Set in the location picker at the top of the window). Change the picker and the report reruns.
Refresh
Click Refresh to rebuild the report from the latest figures, for example after you have entered or corrected a transaction in another window. The report also reruns by itself whenever you change its dates or filters.
Search, Filters and Group By
These work on the lines the report already shows; they do not rerun it.
| Control | How to use it |
|---|---|
| Search this report… (F3) | Type to show only lines containing the text. Under the box, Search suggestions such as Customer: surrey let you search one column only. Press Enter to keep the word as a filter, so the next word narrows further. |
| Filters (F7) | Choose a column, then a condition in the Filter by … dialog: for words contains, is, is not, is empty, is set; for numbers is, more than, less than, is not; for dates is, more than, less than. For is on a word column the dialog lists every value on the report with a count; tick one or more (ticking two means either). Click Apply. The button shows Filters (2) when two are on. |
| Group By | Group the lines by a column, with a subtotal for each group. Section groups by the heading a line sits under (Income or Expenses on a P&L, the customer on an aging detail). No grouping removes it. |
| Favourites | Save current search… names the current filters, grouping and sort so you can apply them again from this menu. Saved searches belong to this report on this computer; the × beside one deletes it. |
Each filter and grouping appears as a removable tag under the panel, with Clear all when there is more than one. The line count reads, for example, 24 of 310 lines. If nothing matches you see No lines match this search. with a Clear search button.
Sorting
Click a column heading to sort by it, low to high (↑). Click again for high to low (↓), and a third time to go back to the report's own order.
Summary, folding and last year
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Summary (F5) | On a report with dated lines, folds the lines into one line per month under their headings, with the report's own totals untouched and a small month chart under the table. Each month line opens the same report for just that month. On a report without dates, Summary shows only the group headings and their totals. Press it again, or Esc, to go back to every line. On a report with nothing to fold, F5 refreshes it. |
| Collapse all / Expand all | On reports with headings, show only the headings and their totals, or every line. Click the arrow beside any single heading to fold just that group; a folded heading says how many lines it hides. Your folding is remembered for this report. |
| Previous year | Puts last year's figure for the same dates beside every figure, matched line by line. Offered on period and as-of reports with a few amount columns; not on reports that already compare years, and not on reports that list individual documents. |
Alerts and notes
A report can raise three kinds of message above the table:
- A red bar — This report does not balance. Do not file from it. The report failed its own balancing check. Find the cause before relying on any figure.
- Alert cards — something to act on, in red (error), amber (warning) or blue (information), with the documents involved as chips you can click, and sometimes a button that opens the report or screen where it is fixed.
- Amber notes — warnings that stay in view, such as THIS REPORT IS INCOMPLETE — it stopped at 5,000 rows and the totals below cover only those rows. Narrow the date range., These figures cover EVERY location — this report does not filter by store. or This report is ACCRUAL only….
- About this report (n) — click to read how the figures were worked out: which transactions are included, where a figure comes from, and anything the report had to assume.
Hide Header, Pin, Memorize and Comment on Report
- Hide Header removes the title block to give the figures more room; Show Header brings it back.
- Pin adds the report to ★ Pinned in the Report Centre (the button then reads Pinned).
- Memorize saves the report with its filters and a relative period. See Memorized Reports.
- Comment on Report makes a copy you can annotate. See Comment on Report and Commented Reports.
- Print, Email and Export are covered in Print, export and email a report; Columns and Customize in Customise a report.
Keyboard
| Key | Does |
|---|---|
| F3 or Ctrl+F | Put the cursor in Search this report… |
| F5 | Summary (or refresh, on a report with nothing to fold) |
| F7 | Open Filters |
| Ctrl+P | |
| Esc | Leave the monthly summary; otherwise go back one step (to the report you drilled from, or to where you opened the report) |
Permissions
Anyone whose role can open the Reports area can run reports. The Export / Download permission under Reports ▸ Report Centre controls the Export and Email buttons everywhere; without it they are not shown. Payroll reports also need the payroll permissions. See Roles and permissions explained.
Common problems
| Problem | Cause and fix |
|---|---|
| Nothing to report for this period. | Nothing matched the dates and filters. Widen the period, clear the customer or vendor chip, or set the location picker to all locations. |
| Could not build this report with a message | The server could not produce it. Read the message: a tax return covering too long a period, for example, asks for a narrower one. Click Try again after fixing it, or check your connection. |
| This report is not available on your plan, or you do not have permission to read it. Ask an administrator. | Your role or plan does not include this report. |
| The figures do not change when I change the location | That report does not split by location; it says so in a note. Use a report that shows the location chip. |
| The P&L does not match what I expected | Check Accrual or Cash under the title, and the period. See Reports and numbers that do not match. |
| A total disappeared after filtering | Intended: that total is not a plain sum of the lines shown. Clear the filter to see it. |
| THIS REPORT IS INCOMPLETE | A report stops at 5,000 detail lines. Narrow the date range or add a filter. |