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Accounting

Time Balance Properties: Flow vs. Balance

Time Balance properties decide how data rolls up from Months to Quarters and Years.

1. The Definitions

* Flow (None): Adds all months together ($Jan + Feb + Mar = Q1$). Used for Revenue.

* Last: Takes the value of the last month with data. Used for Cash/Inventory.

* First: Takes the value of the first month. Used for Opening Balances.

* Average: Calculates the average across the months. Used for Headcount.

2. The Piggy Bank Example

* Flow (Salary): Getting $50 every month = $150 total for the quarter.

* Last (Balance): If you have $300 in your bank in March, your Q1 balance is $300, not the sum of every month.

3. Why it Matters

It prevents the system from "triple-counting" your assets. Without this, your Balance Sheet would show you have 3x the cash you actually own!

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