General Ledger Options - Fields

 

General Ledger Options

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1. Main

 

 

Auto Create when all Segments are Valid

Select an option to determine if accounts can be automatically created when a valid combination of a main account and subaccounts is entered but the account does not exist. A valid combination of a main account and subaccounts is a combination of a main account created in Main Account Maintenance and subaccounts created in Sub Account Maintenance that is entered and creates a general ledger account. This field determines whether accounts can be automatically created in General Journal Entry, Recurring Journal Entry, Transaction Journal Entry, Allocation Entry, Budget Revision Entry, and in other modules, such as the Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable modules.

Note: The option selected in this field does not affect Account Maintenance. If a valid combination of a main account and subaccounts is entered in Account Maintenance but the account does not exist, it is automatically created regardless of this option.

  • Select Yes to allow the system to automatically create accounts when a valid combination of a main account and subaccounts is entered but the account does not exist. The account is automatically created without any notification.

  • Select Prompt to allow the system to automatically create accounts when a valid combination of a main account and subaccounts is entered but the account does not exist. The Account Entry window appears and you can automatically create the account.

  • Select No if you do not want the system to automatically create accounts when a valid combination of a main account and subaccounts is entered. If No is selected, all accounts must be created in either Account Maintenance or in Copy Accounts accessed from Main Account Maintenance or Sub Account Maintenance.

 

Add Main Accounts in General Ledger

Select this check box to allow on-the-fly entry of a new main account in Account Maintenance, General Journal Entry, Recurring Journal Entry, Transaction Journal Entry, Allocation Entry, Budget Revision Entry. When a new account is entered, the Account Entry window appears and you can create the main account on-the-fly. For more information, see Account Entry. Clear this check box to allow entry of new main accounts only in Main Account Maintenance.

 

Add Sub Accounts in General Ledger

Select this check box to allow on-the-fly entry of a new subaccount in Account Maintenance, General Journal Entry, Recurring Journal Entry, Transaction Journal Entry, Allocation Entry, Budget Revision Entry. When a new subaccount is entered, the Account Entry window appears and you can create the subaccount on-the-fly. Clear this check box to allow entry of new subaccounts only in Sub Account Maintenance.

 

Account Changes to Track

Select the type of changes to track to your accounts. Based on the selection in this field, the Account Audit Report provides a listing of the information tracked.

  • Select All to retain an audit trail of all changes, deletions, and additions. This includes the creation and modification of accounts in the Copy Accounts and the Apply Changes windows accessed from Main Account Maintenance and Sub Account Maintenance; the automatic creation of accounts based on a valid combination of a main account and subaccounts whether in the General Ledger module or other modules; the creation, modification and deletion of accounts in Account Maintenance, and the deletion of accounts with a status of deleted during year-end processing.

  • Select None if you do not want to track changes.

  • Select Deletions to track deletions only.

  • Select Additions to track additions only.

  • Select Changes to track data field changes only.

 

Track Additions in Detail

Select this check box to record account additions in detail form. The Account Audit Report lists additions as they appear in their old and new forms. Clear this check box to record account additions in summary form. The Account Audit Report lists all new additions in summary format.

This field is available only if All or Additions is selected in the Account Changes to Track field.

 

Retained Earnings Account

Enter the account number to use for retained earnings, or click the Lookup button to list all account numbers. There is no automatic account creation or on-the-fly account creation available in this field. The account entered in this field must exist in the general ledger account file. The Retained Earnings Account must be an equity type account. Income and expense accounts are closed out to this account at year end, and the year-end account balance is carried over as the next year's profit/loss balance.

NoteIf you change the Retained Earnings Account in this field, the amount in the original Retained Earnings Account is moved to the updated Retained Earnings Account for each fiscal year. However, amounts posted by journal entry to a Retained Earnings Account are not moved to the updated account; the amounts remain in the Retained Earnings Account for which the journal entry was created.

 

Rollup Type 1-4 Description

Type up to four different rollup types. Rollup types are user-defined fields that allow you to group accounts for reporting purposes without affecting the structure of the general ledger account itself. For each rollup type defined, you can enter unlimited rollup codes in Rollup Code Maintenance. For more information, see Create Rollup Codes.

Each rollup type description entered appears as a field name on the Main Account Maintenance and Account Maintenance windows where you can further assign rollup codes for each rollup type defined.

Expand or collapse item Entry Sample

Rollup Type 1 Description: Irvine

Rollup Type 2 Description: Atlanta

Rollup Type 3 Description: New York

Rollup Type 4 Description: Houston

 

Current Fiscal Year

Select the current fiscal year when processing is beginning or occurring. This field is automatically incremented during year-end processing.

 

Current Period

Select the accounting period when processing begins. The period selected should be based on the Trial Balance (closed-out financial data) from your most recent closed accounting period, which you will use as initial input data during new company setup for the General Ledger module. For example, if you begin using your General Ledger module in March, the trial balance amounts from February are used as the starting data. If your business year coincides with the calendar year, February is period 2. Under these circumstances, you would select 2 (February) as your current period.

This field is used in conjunction with the Current Fiscal Year field to differentiate between the current period and a future period. When General Ledger period end is processed, this field is incremented automatically.

Note Updating General Ledger does not increment the current period in other modules.

 

Years to Retain General Ledger History

Enter a number from 01 through 99 that represents the number of years to retain general ledger history. General ledger history includes the period summary posting history, the transaction detail posting history, the budget detail by period history, and the source journal history.

Note: Entering 01 retains only the current year's information.

Expand or collapse item Entry Sample

Enter....

If....

01

you only want to retain the current fiscal year's information.

02

you want to retain the current fiscal year's information plus the past fiscal year's information.

03

you want to retain the current fiscal year's information plus the past two fiscal years' information.

04

you want to retain the current fiscal year's information plus the past three fiscal years' information.

 

Integrate with Bank Reconciliation

Select this check box to integrate the General Ledger module with Bank Reconciliation. You can enter bank information in Transaction Journal Entry. Clear this check box if you do not want to integrate the General Ledger module with Bank Reconciliation.

This check box is available only if the Bank Reconciliation module is activated and set up.

 

2. Entry

 

Description (Batch Processing)

This field indicates that batch processing is available for General Journal Entry and Transaction Journal Entry. This field can only be viewed.

 

Enable

Select this check box to allow batch processing for each corresponding window description. For example, to enable batch entry for General Journal Entry, select this check box for the General Journal Entry field. Clear this check box for each corresponding window description where batch processing is not enabled.

 

Next Batch

Enter the next batch number to assign when using the batch processing feature in General Journal Entry or Transaction Journal Entry. You can enter numeric or alphanumeric characters. This field is available only if the Enable check box is selected.

Expand or collapse item Entry Sample

Enter....

If....

00001 at the General Journal Entry row

you want the next batch number assigned in General Journal Entry to be 00001.

00005 at the Transaction Journal Entry row

you want the next batch number assigned in Transaction Journal Entry to be 00005.

 

Reset Journal Numbers During

Select a base for resetting journal numbers at year end or period end.

  • Select Never Reset to allow journal numbers to continue incrementing after period end and year end.

  • Select Year End to reset journal numbers to one at year end.

  • Select Period End to reset journal numbers to one at period end.

 

Reset Register Numbers During

Select a base for resetting register numbers at year end or period end.

  • Select Never Reset to allow register numbers to continue incrementing after period end and year end.

  • Select Year End to reset register numbers to one at year end.

  • Select Period End to reset register numbers to one at period end.

 

Track Deleted Journals

Select this check box to track any journal entry number that is used but then deleted through General Ledger data entry. Clear this check box if you do not want to track cancelled or deleted journal entry numbers.

This option does not apply to register numbers created in other modules because register numbers are automatically tracked based on the way other modules create the numbers during the update process.

 

Next Allocation Number

Type the next number to assign to an allocation when using the Next Number feature in Allocation Entry.

 

3. Budget

 

Budget Code

The system provides two budget codes, "Original" and "Revised," that cannot be deleted; however, the descriptions can be customized. Type additional budget codes in the Budget Code column. An unlimited number of budget codes can be defined.

Note: A budget code can be deleted only if there is no activity in the Budget Detail by Period file for it.

 

Description (Budget)

Type a description for the budget code. You can change the descriptions of the system-provided "Original" and "Revised" budget codes.

 

Default

Select this check box for the budget to use as the default on the Financial Reports. Only one budget can be selected as the default budget.

 

Copy Actual to Default Budget at Year End

Select this check box to copy the actual amounts into the default budget during year-end processing. Clear this check box if you do not want to copy actual amounts to your default budget at year end. For more information, see Copy Actual Figures to the Next Fiscal Year Budget.

 

4. Terminology

 

Default Description (Terminology)

This field displays the default financial terminology used by the system, and can only be viewed.

 

Description (Terminology)

Type a new description for the financial term in the corresponding field. The default descriptions can be customized and the new descriptions will be used as the headers on the Financial Reports and Trend reports.