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After creating main accounts in Main Account Maintenance and subaccounts in Sub Account Maintenance, you can create general ledger accounts. There are three ways to create accounts when you initially set up the General Ledger module for a new company:
Allow the system to automatically create accounts when a valid combination of a main account and subaccounts is entered at an Account No. field in data entry windows. To enable this feature, select Yes or Prompt in the Auto Create when all Segments are Valid field in the General Ledger Options window. For more information, see General Ledger Options - Fields. This is the recommended method for creating accounts. Using this method, you can begin daily processing without having your chart of accounts set up.
Automatically generate single or multiple new accounts based on existing main accounts and subaccounts. Generated accounts inherit their default settings from the account and subaccount values for each segment. For more information, see Generate an Account.
Create each account one-by-one in Account Maintenance. For more information, see Create and Maintain Accounts in Account Maintenance.
After you have created accounts, you can also use the Copy Accounts window to create new accounts based on existing accounts. For more information, see Create Accounts Using a Main Account and Existing Accounts and Create Accounts Using a Sub Account and Existing Accounts.
Account groups are groups of main accounts that are used to organize your chart of accounts into sections of similar types of accounts. You can create either numeric or alphanumeric account groups. A numeric account group applies to all main account numbers between the beginning number of the account group to, but not including, the beginning number of the next account group.
Each account group is assigned a category. Nine account categories are predefined in the General Ledger module and include the following types: assets, liabilities, equity, revenue, cost of sales, expenses, other income and expense, income tax, and non-financials. An account group defines the account type for a range of account numbers. Account groups are used as printed headings on the Chart of Accounts Listing and Financial Reports, and account group information determines how each account is handled for reports, subtotals, and the year-end balance.
One of the most important factors for obtaining optimum performance from your accounting system is the design and structure of your chart of accounts. The first step in designing a chart of accounts is determining the structure of the account number. The General Ledger module allows you to use up to 32 alphanumeric characters for an account number. The account number structure can be a minimum of one segment or a maximum of ten segments.
The following rules apply to the creation and maintenance of account segments:
Each segment can be either numeric or alphanumeric.
The first segment must be the main account and the main account size can be a minimum of 3 characters and a maximum of 15 characters.
The description for the first segment is "Main" and cannot be changed.
The remaining segments 2 through 10 are optional subaccounts and can have a size between 1 and 15 characters.
Segments 2 through 10 can have up to a 15 character description. This description is used throughout the system to refer to that particular segment.
It is important to plan how you want to set up your account structure. After you set up the account structure in the General Ledger Setup Wizard, these additional rules govern the maintenance and creation of account segments:
A segment can be made larger but cannot be made smaller.
Segments can be added but cannot be removed.
A segment type can be changed from numeric to alphanumeric
A segment type cannot be changed from alphanumeric to numeric.
