What is a supporting schedule?

Definition

A supporting schedule is a worksheet that lists the items behind one reported total. On the books, this is not an account you post to; it is the detail that makes a single statement line add up.

The Balance Sheet or the Income Statement shows one number. The schedule shows the remaining months, contracts, or assets that sit inside that number.

Where it shows up

Balance Sheet: Related to the worksheet that backs a single line.

P&L: Related to the worksheet that backs a single income or expense line.

Cash flow: Related to the worksheet that backs a cash line when one is needed.

See also: Account Reconciliation · Roll-Forward Schedule · Financial Statement Package

When you look at your Balance Sheet, you will not find this worksheet as its own line. It sits behind prepaid expenses, loans, or another total that needs a list of remaining pieces.

The profit and loss statement works the same way. A schedule can sit behind one expense line when that line is a sum of several contracts or several months.

Cash flow reports rarely need their own schedule. When they do, it is still a list behind one cash total, not a new statement.

A thick financial statement package often includes these worksheets after the statements. The line is the total; the schedule is the proof of the pieces.

How it works

A typical path starts with a line that is too coarse by itself. Prepaid rent of $3,600 is one Balance Sheet number, but someone still has to see which months are left.

You build a worksheet with the original payment, the periods it covers, and the leftover amount. Each row is one item or one remaining month.

At month-end close, you read the schedule to confirm the ledger total. The leftover on the worksheet should equal the leftover in the general ledger.

If a month is used up, you drop that row or reduce it. If a new payment is made, you add a row so the list still adds to the statement line.

A depreciation schedule is one common form of this worksheet. It lists each asset, cost, life, and depreciation taken so far, and those totals should agree to the asset lines.

The source document for each row still matters. A lease, a policy, or an invoice is what makes a row real.

The schedule is support, not a second set of books. You do not post from the worksheet into a "supporting schedule" account.

Anyone following the audit trail should be able to walk from the statement line to this list, then to the documents behind the rows. If the list and the ledger disagree, the statement line is not ready.

Keep the file next to the period's statements so the next person can open it. A schedule that lives only in someone's head cannot back a line.

Example

A pottery studio paid $7,200 for a year of kiln-room rent and has six months left. The remaining prepaid is $3,600, which is six months at $600.

The studio keeps a one-page worksheet: original payment, months used, months left, and leftover dollars. That page is the supporting schedule behind prepaid rent.

When June is used, the worksheet drops one month and the leftover falls to $3,000. The Balance Sheet prepaid line should show $3,000 too.

No extra journal entry is posted to a schedule account. The schedule only explains the line that is already on the statements.

Common mix-ups

A supporting schedule is not a reconciliation workpaper. The schedule lists the pieces behind one line; the workpaper is the documented proof that a ledger balance was compared to independent support.

A supporting schedule is not a roll-forward schedule. A roll-forward shows how a balance moved from beginning to ending; this worksheet is the detail that makes the current line add up.

A supporting schedule is not the statement line itself. Prepaid rent of $3,600 is the line; the six remaining months at $600 are the schedule.

Related terms

• Account Reconciliation: Proving that a ledger balance agrees to independent support.
• Reconciliation Workpaper: The documented support showing how a reconciled balance was proven.
• Roll-Forward Schedule: A schedule showing how an account moved from its beginning to its ending balance.
• Depreciation Schedule: The supporting schedule listing each asset, its cost, life, and depreciation to date.
• Prepaid Amortization Schedule: A supporting schedule that spreads a prepaid balance into expense over the periods it covers.
• Month-End Close: The monthly version of the close, ending in issued financial statements.
• Audit Trail: The traceable chain from a reported number back to its source document.
• Financial Statement Package: The bundled set of statements and schedules delivered after a close.