Populating cells of an electronic financial statement

• US 20020055952A1
• Filed: 05/16/2001
• Published: 05/09/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/19/1997
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Modernsoft Incorporated
• Inventors: Wu, John, Clancey, William J., Hecht, Lee, Canty, Edgar P., Helfert, Erich A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,379,908 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/504
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/183 Tabulation, i.e. one-dimensional positioning
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

A computer-implemented method of populating row and column cells of an electronic financial statement document containing with formulas and data, and related apparatus. A formula for a cell in a financial statement is generated from a row definition for the row and a column definition for the column of the cell, where the row definition defines a term of the statement and the column definition specifies a period of time. The resulting statement is displayed to a user, and new formula expressions can be generated to reflect changes in the statement. The statement can have three kinds of columns, namely base columns, subtotal columns, and grand total columns. Data in columns of an input database corresponds to a database period of time, and the base columns in the statement have statement period unit. For each base column of the statement, a correspondence to more than one column of the input database can be computed dynamically. The cells of the statement column can be populated using data from the corresponding database columns. The cells can be repopulated in response to a change in the statement period unit.

Claims

1. A method of generating a formula expression for a cell that is at an intersection of a row and a column in a financial statement, comprising:

obtaining a row definition for the row, the row definition defining a term of the statement;

obtaining a column definition for the column, the column definition specifying a period of time; and

interpreting the row definition and the column definition to generate a formula expression for the cell.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

interpreting definitions to generate a formula is done with reference to the position of the cell with respect to other columns in the statement.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating the formula expression for the cell on the fly in response to a change in either the row definition or the column definition.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

evaluating the formula expression in each cell of the statement having a formula expression and displaying the resulting statement to a user; and

obtaining data for the formula expressions from a database.

5. The method of claim 4 for generating and evaluating a formula expression for the cell, further comprising:

providing a statement base period, being the smallest time duration represented in a column of the statement; and

providing a database base period, being the smallest time duration represented in a record of the database, the database base period being no greater than the statement base period.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein:

the database base period is automatically detected from column labels read from the database.

7. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

displaying the statement to a user;

receiving from the user a command to change a current time period style of the statement to a new time period style, a time period style specifying the period of time covered by the statement and the duration of a period unit defining the temporal granularity of the statement; and

generating a new formula expression for the cell according to the new time period style, and displaying the resulting statement to the user.

8. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

displaying the statement to a user; and

receiving from the user a command to use a new database for input data having a new base period different from a current base period, generating a new formula expression for the cell reflecting the new base period, and displaying the resulting statement to the user.

9. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

providing three kinds of columns, namely base columns, subtotal columns, and grand total columns, where for a row holding a flow term, a subtotal column has a row value defined as the sum of base column values, and a grand total column has a row value defined as the sum of subtotal columns, and for a row holding a stock term, a subtotal column has a row value defined as a preceding base column value, and a grand total column has a row value defined as a preceding subtotal column.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

collapsing the period columns to show the user a view of the statement consisting of the term column and total columns.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving from a user a subtotal time period for a subtotal column, comparing the subtotal time period to the period of time covered by the statement, and extending the period of time covered by the statement to allow computing the subtotal column.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving from a user a subtotal time period for a subtotal column, comparing the beginning of the subtotal time period to the beginning of the period of time covered by the statement, and leaving a row value in the subtotal column blank if the row has a flow term.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

accepting from a user a command to insert a subtotal column in the statement and generating new formula expressions in cells of the statement reflecting this insertion.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

accepting from a user a command to insert a grand total column in the statement and generating new formula expressions in cells of the statement reflecting this insertion.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the statement is displayed to a user and the user can change the statement period unit, further comprising:

repopulating the cells in response to a change in the statement period unit.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

automatically detecting the database base period unit from column labels read from the database.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the statement is displayed to a user, further comprising:

inserting subtotal columns in the statement in response to a user request;

populating the statement including the subtotal columns with cell formulas for calculating cell values including values for the subtotal columns.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein:

the cell formula for a cell in a row holding a flow term defines a sum of base column values and the cell formula for a cell in a row holding a stock term defines a copy of a preceding base column value.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

inserting a grand total column in the statement in response to a user request; and

populating cells of the grand total column with cell formulas for calculating cell values, where for a row holding a flow term, a grand total column has a cell value defined as the sum of subtotal column values.

15. A method of populating a financial statement having columns and rows, comprising:

identifying an input database having columns as a source of input data for the statement, the data in the columns corresponding to a database period unit of time;

identifying a statement period unit for the base columns of the statement, the statement period unit being greater than the database period unit;

dynamically computing for each base column of the statement a correspondence to more than one column of the input database; and

populating cells of a statement column using data from the corresponding database columns.

21. A computer program residing on a computer-readable medium for causing a processor executing the computer program to generate a formula expression for a cell that is at an intersection of a row and a column in an electronic financial statement, the computer program comprising instructions to:

obtain a row definition for the row, the row definition defining a term of the statement;

obtain a column definition for the column, the column definition specifying a period of time; and

interpret the row definition and the column definition to generate a formula expression for the cell.

22. A computer program residing on a computer-readable medium for causing a processor executing the computer program to populate an electronic financial statement having columns and rows, the computer program comprising instructions to:

identify an input database having columns as a source of input data for the statement, the data in the columns corresponding to a database period unit of time;

identify a statement period unit for the base columns of the statement, the statement period unit being greater than the database period unit;

dynamically compute for each base column of the statement a correspondence to more than one column of the input database; and

populate cells of a statement column using data from the corresponding database columns.