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 Overview

Main accounts are used as the basis for creating a chart of accounts. The combination of a main account and subaccounts creates a general ledger account. Use these procedures to create a main account in Main Account Maintenance or to create a main account on the fly in General Ledger data entry windows.

 Before You Begin

• Before creating main accounts, make sure your account structure is set up in Account Structure Maintenance.

• To create a main account on the fly from an Account No. field in a General Ledger data entry window, the Add Main Accounts in General Ledger check box must be selected on the General Ledger Options Main tab.

Use one, all, or a combination of the following methods to create a main account:

• To create a main account in Main Account Maintenance

• To create a main account on the fly

 

To create a main account in Main Account Maintenance

1. Select General Ledger Setup menu > Main Account Maintenance.

2. Enter the main account. For more information, see Main Account Maintenance - Fields.

3. Enter the description and short description. The short description is used when building the description of a general ledger account. If the Short Description field is blank, the description in the Description field is used.

4. Enter the account group. The account group initially defaults based on the value of the main account entered but can be changed.

Note  If the account group entered has an account category of Non-Financial, the Clear Balances check box appears. Select this check box to clear balances for accounts based on this main account.

5. In the Account Type field, select an account type, and in the Cash Flow Type field, select a cash flow type. The account type and cash flow type initially default based on the account group but can be changed.

6. In the Status field, select a status for the main account.

7. To define when postings to accounts based on this main account can occur, enter the Start Date and End Date fields.

8. If rollup types are defined, in the Rollup Types field select a rollup code for each rollup type and click Accept.

The main account is created.

 

To create a main account on the fly

1. In a General Ledger data entry window, in the Account No. field, enter a new main account and press ENTER.

2. In the Account Entry window, select the main account Value field and click the Add button. For more information, see Account Entry - Fields.

3. In the Main Account Maintenance (On-the-Fly) window, in the Copy From field, select an existing main account to copy information from. For more information, see Main Account Maintenance (On-the-Fly) - Fields.

4. Enter the description and short description. The short description is used when building the description of a general ledger account. If the Short Description field is blank, the Description field is used.

5. Enter the account group. The account group initially defaults based on the value of the main account entered but can be changed.

Note  If the account group entered has an account category of Non-Financial, the Clear Balances check box appears. Select this check box to clear balances for accounts based on this main account.

6. In the Account Type field, select an account type, and in the Cash Flow Type field, select a cash flow type. The account type and cash flow type initially default based on the account group but can be changed.

7. In the Status field, select a status for the main account.

8. To define when postings to accounts based on this main account can occur, enter the Start Date and End Date fields.

9. If rollup types are defined, in the Rollup Types field select a rollup code for each rollup type and click Accept.

The main account is created on the fly.

 

  Example - Account Number Structure

This example account number structure consists of 5 segments. The account number separator defined is the dash (-). The main account description separator defined is the colon (:). The subaccount descriptions separator defined is the dash (-). The account description of up to 50 characters is created by combining the main account's short description along with the short descriptions for each remaining account segment.

Account Number	Account Description
40000-01-000-010-100	Desk Sales: Irvine-Main-Steelcase-Sales
40000-01-000-010-200	Desk Sales: Irvine-Main-Steelcase-Marketing
40200-01-000-020-100	Chair Sales: Irvine-Main-Miller-Sales

The first segment designates the main account, and segments 2 through 5 represent subaccounts that identify the detail accounts.

	Segment 1 is five positions	Segment 2 is two positions	Segment 3 is three positions	Segment 4 is three positions	Segment 5 is three positions
Segment Description	MAIN	CITY	LOCATION	PRODUCT LINE	DEPARTMENT
Account Description & Values	Desk Sales = 40000 Chair Sales = 40200 Lighting Sales = 40300	Irvine = 01 Atlanta = 02 New York = 03 Houston = 04	Main St. = 000 Peach Ave = 001 Broadway = 002 Clay St = 003	Steelcase = 010 Miller = 020 Geiger = 030 Kimball = 040	Sales = 100 Marketing = 200 Receiving = 300 Shipping = 400 Warehouse = 500 Accounting = 600 Payroll = 700 Human Res = 800 Admin = 900

The account structure applies to all accounts for the same company. If a particular account does not require subaccounts, you only need to enter the significant digits. The remainder of the account number will either be zero-filled or contain blanks (if the account segments left unfilled are truly alpha).