| User Roles |  Admin |  A Staff contributor | ✗ External Contributor | ✗ Pulse user |
This article explains how Silverfin assigns accounts to groups in a report template, why an account may appear in a parent group rather than a more specific sub-group, and how to fix this by adjusting your account ranges. It is relevant for anyone who builds or edits report templates in Silverfin.
Table of contents
- How does Silverfin decide which group an account belongs to?
- What is a prefix range and how does it match accounts?
- Why is an account appearing in the parent group instead of the sub-group?
- How to move an account to the correct group?
- Example: account appearing in the wrong group
How does Silverfin decide which group an account belongs to?
- When Silverfin renders a report, it walks through the template tree from top to bottom.
- As the engine encounters each group, it claims any accounts that match the range and removes them from the available pool.
- An account that has been claimed cannot be claimed again by any later group.
This means the order of groups in the template determines which group an account belongs to. A group that appears earlier in the template has priority over any group that appears later, including child groups nested beneath it.
Note that Silverfin always matches account ranges against mapped account numbers, not the original account numbers imported from your accounting software. If an account is not appearing where you expect it, always check its mapped number first.
What is an account range and how does it match accounts?
Account ranges can contain individual account numbers (e.g. 618202) or range notation (e.g. 454__459). They can also contain bare number prefixes such as 618 or 62. A bare prefix matches every account whose number starts with those digits.
| Range notation | What it matches |
| 618202 | Only the account with the exact number 618202 |
| 618 | Every account whose number starts with 618 - e.g. 618000, 618100, 618202, 618999 |
| 454__459 | Every account starting with 454, 455, 456, 457, 458, or 459 |
Why is an account appearing in the parent group instead of the sub-group?
- Silverfin uses a strict first-match rule.
- If a parent group's range includes a broad prefix such as 618, it will claim all matching 618xxx accounts, even if a child group lower in the template explicitly lists one of those accounts (e.g. 618202).
- Once the parent has claimed the account, the child group's listing has no effect.
The first-match rule applies in document order: top to bottom through the entire template tree, including nested groups. A child group is visited after its parent, not before.
How to move an account to the correct group?
If an account is appearing in a parent group instead of a child group, follow these steps:
- Open the report template and locate the parent group whose range is too broad.
- Identify the prefix that is capturing the unwanted account (e.g. the bare prefix 618 capturing account 618202).
- Replace the broad prefix with a set of more specific prefixes that cover only the accounts intended for that parent group. For example, replace 618 with 6180, 6181, 6183__6189 adjusting the set to reflect the 618xxx accounts that genuinely belong to the parent.
- Save the template and verify that the previously misassigned account now appears in the correct child group.
This fix requires editing the report template's account ranges. This is only possible in custom reports created or copied at your firm level. If the report originates from the Silverfin Marketplace, you cannot edit its template structure directly. In that case, contact Silverfin Support to request an adjustment.
Example: account appearing in the wrong group
The following example illustrates the issue and the fix.
Situation
A report template has a parent group, Wages and salaries, with the account range:
453000, 454__459, 618, 62, 612310
Nested beneath it is a child group Meal vouchers with the account range:
618202, 743050
The user expects account 618202 to appear under Meal vouchers, but instead it appears under Wages and salaries. Only account 743050 appears under Meal vouchers.
Why this happens
The bare prefix 618 in the parent group's range matches every 618xxx account, including 618202. Because the parent group is processed first, it claims 618202 before the child group is ever reached. The explicit listing of 618202 in Maaltijdcheques has no effect, the account is no longer in the pool.
Fix
Edit the Wages and salaries range and replace the broad prefix 618 with more specific prefixes that skip the 6182x range:
453000, 454__459, 6180, 6181, 6183__6189, 62, 612310
With this change, account 618202 is no longer claimed by the parent group and falls through to Meal vouchers, where it appears alongside 743050 as expected.
Adjust the specific prefix set (6180, 6181, 6183__6189) to match the actual 618xxx accounts that belong under Salaris en lonen in your chart of accounts. The example above is illustrative.