Accounting Dimensions

Introduced in Version 12

Accounting Dimensions enable you to assign each transaction with your own custom dimensions like Branch, Business Unit, or Department.

This keeps your Chart of Accounts neat while still providing you with the option to view costs and revenues by various business segments.

Cost Centre and Project are automatically treated as accounting dimensions in ERPNext. You can even define your own dimensions and apply them to transactions and reports.

Accessing Accounting Dimensions

To access the list of Accounting Dimensions:

Home > Accounting > Settings > Accounting Dimensions

1. Creating an Accounting Dimension

Go to: Accounting > Settings > Accounting Dimensions and click New.
Choose the Reference Document that you would like to utilize as a custom dimension.
- Example: If you choose Department, the dimension will then be Department-based.
Provide a Name for the dimension.

This name will be used in transactions.

In the Dimension Defaults table, define company-specific defaults.
- The system will automatically retrieve this dimension when creating transactions for that company.
Check 'Mandatory' if the dimension must be obligatory in transactions.
Save the document.

2. Features

2.1 Automatic Custom Fields

When you establish a new dimension, ERPNext creates custom fields (behind the scenes) for all transactions that affect accounting.

These will be found under the Accounting Dimensions section within transactions.

2.2 Using Dimensions in Transactions

To assign a dimension to a transaction:

Open a transaction (for example, Sales Invoice, Purchase Invoice).
In the Accounting Dimensions section, choose the correct dimension.

2.3 Filtering Reports by Dimension

Financial reports like:

Profit and Loss Statement
Balance Sheet
General Ledger

Can be filtered by dimensions, yielding detailed analysis.

2.4 Making Dimensions Mandatory

You can make a dimension mandatory for:

Profit and Loss Accounts (Income & Expense)
Balance Sheet Accounts (Assets & Liabilities)

By ticking these checkboxes in the dimension settings, the system will not let you post without the necessary dimension.

2.5 Disabling Dimensions

In case a dimension is no longer needed, you can disable it.

Historical transactions will retain their dimension tags.
Disabled dimensions will not show up in new transactions.