Skip to main content

Topsheet Level: Overview

The Topsheet is the top level of every budget — one row per major account (department), with the whole budget's story summarized beneath it. It's the page you'll show a studio, and the launch pad for everything else: double-click any account to drill into it.

What you're looking at

Each row is a major account: its number, name and rolled-up totals — Subtotal, T & F (tax & fringe), Incentives and Total — aggregated live from every line item beneath it. The % column shows each account's share of the budget (based on Subtotal or Total, your choice under Preferences → View Options → "Percent Column values are based on"). A flag chip in the last column and a padlock in the Lock column mark flagged and locked accounts.

For the full column-by-column reference, see Columns.

The summary rows

Below the accounts, the Topsheet always ends with a read-only summary stack:

  1. Total — the sum of all account subtotals.
  2. Applied Tax & Fringe — expandable to a subtotal per fringe.
  3. Gross Total — total including taxes and fringes.
  4. Applied Incentives — expandable to a subtotal per incentive — and Incentives Total.
  5. Net Total — the bottom line after incentives.
  6. Location totals, when locations are in use.

These rows can't be edited, deleted or moved, and nothing can be dragged into or below them.

Structure rows

Three kinds of rows exist only on the Topsheet and let you shape the page:

  • Production Totals — shaded subtotal rows that total the group of accounts above them. When you insert one you choose Above the Line Total, Below the Line Total or Simple Subtotal, which is how the classic ATL/BTL topsheet layout is built.
  • Budget Adjustments — charge or credit lines with their own rules engine (include/exclude by amount, account, tag, location, line type, phase, or tax & fringe). They carry an edit icon in the Lock column; double-click the row number to reopen the editor.
  • Dividers — empty grey spacer rows for visual grouping.

Original & Variance

Turn on Budget → Show Variance Comparison to add two columns: Original (a saved snapshot of each account's Total) and Variance (current Total minus Original). Click the sync icon in the Original column header to re-baseline every account to today's totals — unless the budget preference "Lock Original totals column during Variance Comparison" is on, which protects the snapshot. In Compare Mode, Variance is measured against whichever compare budget you select instead.

Editing basics

  • The Edit Mode switch (top right of the toolbar) governs the whole level: with it off, the Topsheet is read-only and the right-click menu is unavailable.
  • Rows can be dragged to reorder accounts (never into the summary stack).
  • Selecting rows feeds the Heads Up Display and the Sidebar's Selected Total with the aggregate fringes, incentives, tags and totals of your selection.
  • Everything is undoable with Ctrl/⌘ Z (redo Ctrl/⌘ Y).

For inserting, numbering, duplicating, suppressing, locking and flagging accounts, see Working with Accounts; for the complete right-click menu, see Right Click Menu Actions.

Special cases

  • Goalpost budgets — the Topsheet is the budget: the Total column is directly editable, % is measured against your assumption amount, and detail-oriented tools (batch fringes/incentives, budget adjustments) are hidden. Entering more than 100% of local spend is rejected ("Total can't be greater than 100% of local spend on amount").
  • Compare Mode — adds Compare 1 / Compare 2 columns and header cards with each budget's total, hides Page/%/Original, and disables most editing until you Close Compare.