Dynamics GP Tip of the Month: Use the Account Rollup Inquiry to summarize your GL Accounts

In Dynamics GP, financial inquiry is often account-by-account, which works, but can be tedious when you want to look at a broader picture. If your chart of accounts is segmented (e.g., by department, division, account, sub-account), you may find yourself running multiple reports or jumping between account details. That’s where the Account Rollup Inquiry comes in: it lets you roll up groups of accounts into a summarized view, combining actuals, budget, prior years, and even calculated metrics in a single window. This tip of the month blog will show you how to use the Account Rollup Inquiry to simplify your financial inquiries, saving time and reducing your reliance on external reporting tools.

Use the Account Rollup Inquiry in Dynamics GP to build and reuse customized “rollup” views of your GL accounts. With the Inquiry Options, you define which account segments to group, what metrics (actuals, budget, calculated, prior year, etc.) to display, and how to sort and drill in. Once set up, these rollups let you analyze aggregated account activity, compare to budgets, view variances, and drill into transactional detail, all within GP.

1. Open the Account Rollup Inquiry window
   • In GP, navigate to Financial → Inquiry → Financial → Account Rollup.
   • In the “Option ID” field, enter a name for your rollup (e.g., “Dept 05 Expenses Rollup”).
   • Tab out of the Option ID field; if this is a new rollup, GP will ask whether you want to create it. Say Yes to open the “Account Rollup Inquiry Options” window.

2. Define sorting and columns
   • In the Options window, pick the segment to sort by (e.g., Department, Division, Account). This will control how the detail drill-down is grouped.
   • Choose how many columns to display (up to four).
   • For each column, set a heading and type:
     • Actuals for current-year actual amounts.
     • Budget, choosing a Budget ID if desired.
     • Calculated, for custom formulas (e.g., variance = Budget – Actual) — click the blue “go to” button to build your formula in the calculated column window.
     • Previous Year, to pull in last year’s balance.
     • Other Currency, if you’re using multiple currencies.

3. Set your account segment filters (restrictions)
   • Choose whether to roll up unit or posting accounts.
   • For each segment, define From/To ranges, or individual values, to specify exactly which account groups to include.
   • Click Insert to add the restriction and repeat for as many segments/ranges as needed.
4. Save and run the inquiry
   • When you’ve defined all your columns and ranges, click Save on the Options window (or Inquiry to save + run).
   • Back in the main Account Rollup Inquiry window, choose the year to report on.
   • Choose whether to display Net Change for each period (i.e., activity) or Period Balance (cumulative).
   • Click Redisplay to refresh the view.

5. Drill into detail
   • To see the individual accounts rolled into each line, click on the blue underlined column headers (e.g., Actuals or Budget) for a selected period. That opens the Account Rollup Detail Inquiry Zoom window.
   • From the detail window, you can click on an account → then click the Balance zoom to open the Detail Inquiry window for that account in the selected period.
   • If you want to inspect a specific journal, highlight the journal entry and click the blue underlined Journal Entry link; you can then click the Source Document link to go back to the original transaction.

6. Export or print
   • You can print the inquiry results directly (both net change and period balances) from the Inquiry window.
   • Or, export to Excel (depending on your GP version) for further analysis.

• Saves time & reduces reporting complexity: Rather than running multiple reports or manually aggregating GL data in Excel, the Account Rollup Inquiry lets you build a reusable, consolidated view.
• Flexibility in analysis: You decide which segments to roll up, what metrics to display (actual, budget, calc), and how to sort your view.
• Drill-down for transparency: Even though you’re viewing a summary, you can quickly drill into individual accounts, see journal entries, and trace back to source transactions.
• Better decision-making: By combining budget vs. actual or comparing across years, you can more easily identify variances, trends, and risk areas, all within GP, without exporting to another tool.

The Account Rollup Inquiry is a powerful, but often underutilized, feature of Dynamics GP. When configured properly, it becomes your go-to dashboard for aggregated GL insight, eliminating manual consolidation, improving transparency, and giving your finance team a clearer picture in less time. If you’d like help with building or refining your Account Rollup Inquiry, our team is here to help. Contact our GP experts today, they can tailor rollup inquiries to your chart structure, financial processes, and reporting needs. Be sure to check back next month for the next entry in our GP tip of the month series.