Defining General Ledger Accounts

A General Ledger (GL) is defined by an organization and shared across organization units within that organization. Some characteristics (e.g., account length and format, close date, etc.) are at the organization level. Each GL account number is identified with a financial company. An account number must be unique within the organization. One way to achieve a parallel account structure is to use the leading segment in the account number to refer to the financial company. The remaining characters can then be identical to accounts in other companies. For each company, a due from (debit) and due to (credit) account must be set up with every other company within the organization. 

A financial company can only be assigned to one organization unit, but multiple financial companies can be assigned to a single organization unit.

When revenue for a product is shared between companies, the company of the receivable account is the owner of the order line. For example, revenue is shared between company 1 and company 2. The receivable account belongs to company 1. In this case, there will be a due from (debit) created for company 2 (from company 1) and a due to (credit) for company 1 (to company 2). The due to/due from is created based on the company of the AR or PPL account being different from the company of the (deferred) revenue account.

When one receipt is applied to multiple order lines, each of which are in different companies, the company of the cash account is the owner of the receipt. For example, one receipt is applied to both order line 1 in company 1 and order line 2 in company 2.  The cash account is received into company 1. In this case, there will be a due from (debit) created for company 2 (from company 1) and a due to (credit) for company 1 (to company 2). The due to/due from is created based on the company of the cash account being different from the company of the AR or PPL account. This has implications for all financial transactions that affect order lines in multiple companies.

The GL definition applies to all financial companies within the organization, and therefore, to all organization units as well. In this screen, you can add new GL accounts or modify existing accounts, or define accounts by masked copy.

You must have permissions to view the organization in order to view the GL accounts on this screen. If you cannot view this screen, you can either change the organization you are logged in to, log in as another user, or contact your system administrator to change your permissions.

This screen changes if account segments need to be defined.

To add new GL accounts:

1.    From the toolbar, select System Admin > Organization Structure > Organization Unit Definition.

2.    Search for an organization unit and select it.
The General System Parameters screen in Organizational Unit Maintenance displays.

3.    From the Default GL Accounts task category, click Define New GL Accounts.

4.    Search for an organization or organization unit and select it.
The GL Accounts Maintenance screen displays.

5.    If necessary, you can filter the accounts that are displayed. Enter information in any of the following filter fields and click Search:

·           GL Account

·           Description

·           Classification

·           Account Function

6.    Click Add GL Account.
The GL Account Detail fields are enabled.

7.    In the GL Account Detail section, enter the Account Number. 
The segment length and separator format displays next to the Account Number caption.

GL account numbers may contain the following characters: ".", "+", and "-".

8.    Enter the Account Description.

9.    Select the Account Class from the drop-down.

10.  Select the Account Function from the drop-down.

11.  If necessary, check the Active checkbox.

12.  Click Save.