$image\gls000_shg.gif$ General Ledger Overview

The General Ledger module enables you to account for every cent of each transaction through a custom Chart of Accounts.

Accounts are represented by user-definable numbers in the GL Account F/M program.

You can determine the length of the G/L number (4-10), the format (or mask) of the G/L number, the location in the sequence to insert the branch number and department number, and the length of the department number. The GL number controls are located in the Company Control F/M in the System Management module.

You should select a G/L number length based on the length of the department number, whether your company uses branches, and the number of accounts to be recorded. For example, if you select a department length of two, and your company uses branches, the G/L number should be at the very least four plus enough digits to cover the number of accounts to be stored. Each account contains a record of transactions, an account type (asset, liability, capital, revenue or expense), a summary management type, the period ending balance for the last 27 periods and the current period balance. If you need to post to GL from other modules, the system automatically updates the records for the account numbers.

The system is designed to produce a printed audit trail for each transaction. This provides security for the user in that all information and all changes to information are traceable. The audit trail for the General Ledger module is provided by the Trial Balance/Detail Ledger and Journal Print programs. The audit trail for other module interaction is the GL distribution that optionally prints during the running of registers that post to GL. These reports show the transactions for each journal number and G/L number that were affected. The system stores each transaction and also totals the accounts for timely reports on the financial position of the company.

FACTS System interaction with General Ledger is automatic. You can select the amount of information to be posted and stored through a number of posting and static control file maintenances throughout the system. Great flexibility in that information exchange is available through the use of General Ledger posting tables.

The General Ledger menu is composed of the following subsystems or menus:

$image\gls100_shg.gif$	Journal Entry, which is used to manually enter and correct any entries to the GL journal file. This includes both manual entries and system entries that have been posted automatically from other modules.
$image\gls200_shg.gif$	Recurring/Reversing/Allocating Entries, which is used to set up recurring/reversing or allocating journal entries that post into the journal file on a period basis.
$image\gls300_shg.gif$	Financial Reports Setup, which is used to set up and display your own financial reports, such as balance sheet, profit and loss, and so on.
$image\INQ_shg.gif$	GL Inquiries displays information stored for each General Ledger account number, journal entries for the current and next general ledger period, and all past journal entries stored in the yearly journal file.
$image\REP_shg.gif$	GL Reports and Prints provides a wide variety of reports and prints with General Ledger information.
$image\EOP_shg.gif$	GL End of Period contains programs that you should run at the end of each General Ledger period to close it correctly.
$image\FLM_shg.gif$	GL File Maintenances enable you to enter, change and delete account and budget data and create accounts from existing account information. Some maintenance programs are used often, such as Account F/M, while others are only used during initial installation. Infrequently used file maintenances as Infrequent File Maintenance programs, and they are located on their own menu.