Control account

Control accounts can be used to keep track of balances. They are also referred to as running balances, corkscrews, and roll-forward calculations. A control account is a special case of a cascade.

A common implementation span four rows in the following order:

1. Opening balance. This picks up the closing balance from the previous period.
2. Additions. This picks up the values within the period that tend to increase the balance - for example deposits into a bank account.
3. Reductions. This picks up the values within the period that tend to reduce the balance - for example withdrawals from a bank account.
4. Closing balance. This is calculated based on the opening balance, additions and reductions.