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General Ledger

Table of Contents

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Table Of Contents Objectives ...................................................................................................... 1

General Ledger Overview ............................................................................. 2

General Ledger Overview Key Items to Remember .......................................................... 2

Journal Entries .............................................................................................. 2

Creating Journal Entries ..................................................................................................... 3 Creating Recurring Entries ................................................................................................. 4 Posting Previously Created Recurring Entries ................................................................... 4 Journal Entries Key Items to Remember ............................................................................ 5

Account Inquiry ............................................................................................. 5

Financial Reports .......................................................................................... 6

Closing a Fiscal Period ................................................................................. 7

Period End Checklist .......................................................................................................... 7 Payroll ................................................................................................................................. 8 Account Register ................................................................................................................ 8 Inventory ............................................................................................................................. 8 General Ledger ................................................................................................................... 8 Items to Compare ............................................................................................................... 9 Cash ................................................................................................................................... 9 Comparing Deferred Revenue with the Agreement Reserve ............................................. 9 When Balances do not Match........................................................................................... 10 Researching Deferred Revenue or Agreement Reserve Transactions ............................ 11 Closing a Fiscal Period Key Items to Remember ............................................................. 12

General Ledger Budget ............................................................................... 12

Budget Setup .................................................................................................................... 12 Automatically Generated Budget for the Entire Year ....................................................... 13 Automatically Generated Budget based on Fiscal Periods .............................................. 13 Modifying an Existing Budget ........................................................................................... 14 Create/Refresh Budget Items ........................................................................................... 15 Reset Options ................................................................................................................... 15 Comparative Income Statement ....................................................................................... 15 Multi-departmental Income Statements ............................................................................ 16 General Ledger Budget Key Items to Remember ............................................................ 16

General Ledger

SuccessWare, Inc. 1

OBJECTIVES

After completing this unit, the student will be able to:

Create journal entries.

Create recurring entries.

View General Ledger activity by account.

Compile posted transactions for financial reports.

Print financial reports from the REPORT GALLERY.

Close fiscal periods.

Set up periodical and yearly fiscal budgets.

Modify existing fiscal budgets.

Run income statement reports.

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GENERAL LEDGER OVERVIEW

SuccessWare was designed so that there is very little you will enter as a journal

entry. Many functions that you have previously entered as journal entries are

handled through the other modules.

For instance, cash receipts that do not pertain to receivables are entered using

miscellaneous cash receipts. Doing so will post to the general ledger correctly

and will update the undeposited receipts cash box so that the receipt will be

included in your deposit along with the other monies received.

Miscellaneous payments can be processed through Accounts Payable or the

ACCOUNT REGISTER.

Other adjustments to cash, such as bank fees, interest income, etc., are processed

through the account register so that they will be available for reconciliation at

month end.

You can also process monthly entries, such as depreciation, as journal entries.

Other General Ledger functions include:

Compiling posted entries for reports,

Viewing transactions, and

Printing financial reports.

General Ledger Overview Key Items to Remember

SuccessWare21 was designed so that many of the functions were typically

journal entries are handled through other modules.

JOURNAL ENTRIES

You will post journal entries only for activity that cannot be entered through

Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, or the ACCOUNT REGISTER.

You can open the JOURNAL ENTRY by going to the Main Menu, click on

Accounting, and then Journal Entries, or you can access it by clicking the

Journal Entry icon from the toolbar.

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Creating Journal Entries

1. Press Insert, or click New.

2. Enter the POST DATE.

3. Enter a REFERENCE. The reference is optional but we recommend that you use the

reference to group entries in a batch. You can find and print batches of

transactions by the reference ID later.

4. Select the account number from the drop down list, or enter the account if you

know it. If the account is one that contains sub-accounts, select or enter the

correct sub-account. If the account is an income statement account, you will be

required to enter or select a department number.

5. Enter a DESCRIPTION for the transaction.

6. Enter the amount of the transaction in the appropriate field, either DEBIT or

CREDIT.

7. Click Save. The transaction will be listed in the grid below the data entry fields.

8. Press Insert, or click New, to enter the next transaction and continue until all

entries have been made and the TOTAL DEBITS and TOTAL CREDITS balance at the

bottom of the form.

9. Click Post to commit the transactions to the General Ledger.

Journal entries can be changed or deleted prior to being posted. Once entries have

been posted you must correct them by making reversing or correcting entries.

To change an entry -- highlight the entry in the grid below the data entry

fields and click Edit. Make the necessary changes then click Save.

To delete an entry -- highlight the entry in the grid below the data entry

fields and click Delete. Confirm the deletion.

To delete all entries -- click DeleteAll and confirm the deletion.

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Creating Recurring Entries

You can create recurring entries to process transactions that you post periodically,

such as depreciation.

To create recurring entries

1. Enter the transactions as you normally would.

2. Before you post the transactions, click Make Recurring, or right-click and select

Make Recurring.

3. Name the recurring group and click Save.

4. After naming the recurring group, you can post the entries. If you do not wish to

post the entries at this time, click Close.

Posting Previously Created Recurring Entries

1. Open the JOURNAL ENTRY form.

2. Click Recurring Entries.

3. Use the drop-down list to select the group that contains the entries you wish to

post.

4. Click Edit.

5. Enter the POST DATE and change the REFERENCE, if necessary.

6. Click Save to save the changes, then Post to commit the entries to the General

Ledger.

If necessary, you can make changes to the entries, or enter additional transactions,

prior to posting the recurring group.

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Journal Entries Key Items to Remember

You will post journal entries only for activity that cannot be entered through

Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, or the ACCOUNT REGISTER.

You can create recurring entries to process transactions that you post

periodically, such as depreciation.

ACCOUNT INQUIRY

In the GL ACCOUNT INQUIRY screen you can:

View General Ledger activity by account, and

Compile posted transactions for financial reports.

Features:

Include or exclude subaccount information,

Include or exclude Department information, and

Show or Hide the detailed information.

To compile the posted transactions for a fiscal period, highlight the period and

right-click.

1. Select the fiscal year and account that you want to view.

2. If applicable, select the sub-account and/or department.

3. Select Go.

The initial grid shows account information by period:

Period

Date Range of period

Beginning Balance

Sum of the debits and credits for the period (Period Dr and Period Cr)

Ending Balance

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Unposted debits and credits (if any, Unposted Dr and Unposted Cr)

To show transaction detail, select Show/Hide Detail. The grid splits to include

detail for the highlighted period (as shown above).

To ensure that all General Ledger account balances are current (all transactions

have been posted), right click on the latest fiscal period and select Compute

Report Balances prior to running reports.

FINANCIAL REPORTS

Print financial reports from the REPORT GALLERY. The REPORT GALLERY

includes the standard financial reports and other reports that assist you in the

financial analysis of your company.

The standard reports are:

Balance Sheet -- allows you the option to include sub account information

Income Statement -- allows you to print for All Departments, Selected

Departments, or Multi-Department

Trial Balance -- allows you to include sub account, department, and account

detail

Other reports:

Chart of Accounts

Check Register

GL Transactions (detail GL)

Print financial reports from the REPORT GALLERY.

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CLOSING A FISCAL PERIOD

Closing a period prevents any further accounting transactions from being made

within the specified time frame.

You close a fiscal period from the PERIODS/YEAR tab of the GENERAL LEDGER

SETUP screen.

To close a fiscal period, right-click on the period and select Update Period

Status. Use the drop-down list to click Close.

In addition to closing a fiscal period, you can update the period’s status to re-open

or lock a period.

Your status options are:

Inactive -- the period is prior to the activation date,

Open -- the period is open for posting,

Locked -- the period is locked to prevent posting from other modules. You

can still make journal entries to the period, and

Closed -- the period is closed to prevent posting.

Period End Checklist

At the end of each fiscal period, you will want to check certain balances to ensure

the integrity of your financial reports. Prior to checking these balances and

printing financials, the following steps should be completed:

1. Jobs/Invoices -- make sure that all jobs that should be closed in the fiscal period

have been closed and that any related AR invoices have been posted. This

includes invoices that are entered to record paid work orders and invoices that are

entered as Receivables and have a balance due.

2. Accounts Receivable -- make sure that all payments and/or adjustments for the

month have been entered.

3. Accounts Payable -- make sure that all vendor invoices, payments and

adjustments for the fiscal period have been posted.

Other considerations:

Payroll

Account Register

Inventory

General Ledger

Items to Compare

Cash

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Comparing Deferred Revenue with the Agreement Reserve

What to do when balances do not match:

When Balances Do Not Match

Researching Deferred Revenue or Agreement Reserve Transactions

Payroll

If you are using the Payroll module of SuccessWare21 -- make sure that all

payroll periods in the fiscal year have been completed and reconciled.

If you are posting payroll as journal entries -- make sure that journal entries

have been made for all payroll periods in the fiscal period and that all

paychecks have been recorded in the account register.

Account Register

Undeposited receipts cash box -- make sure that any cash receipts that were

deposited during the fiscal period have been reconciled for deposit and cleared

from the cash box.

Petty Cash -- make sure that all payments that were made from petty cash

have been entered, all deposits to petty cash have been recorded and the

account has been reconciled.

Bank Accounts -- make sure that you have reconciled all bank accounts

according to the statement and that you have printed the outstanding items as

described in the document Printing Uncleared Items after reconciling a bank

account.

Inventory

Make sure that all receipts, adjustments, returns and requisitions have been posted

and that all tags have been reconciled (verify parts items on AR Invoice cost

entry.

General Ledger

Make sure that any journal entries for items such as depreciation have been

posted. Once all data entry is complete and all transactions that affect the fiscal

period have been posted, print the Balance Sheet for the fiscal period. When the

system prompts you to compile unposted transactions, be sure to answer Yes or

the report will not be accurate.

These instructions were created with the assumption that your starting balances

(and comparative detail) were entered in balance and that the prior fiscal period(s)

balanced, and that all entries have been posted for the current period.

General Ledger

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Items to Compare

Accounts Receivable

1. Open the REPORT GALLERY and select Accounts Receivable, then A/R

Aging, and then Run Report.

2. Use a date range of FROM DATE, blank to THRU DATE, the last date in the

fiscal period.

3. Select the RECEIVABLE option – Open

4. Select the DETAILoption – Total only

5. Print the report.

The final total in the BALANCEcolumn should match the Accounts

Receivable balance on the Balance Sheet.

Accounts Payable

1. Open the REPORT GALLERY and select Accounts Payable, thenA/P Aging,

and thenRun Report.

2. Use a date range of FROM DATE, blank to THRU DATE, the last date in the

fiscal period.

3. Select the PAYABLEoption – Open

4. Select the DETAILoption – Total only

5. Print the report.

The final total in the BALANCEcolumn should match the Accounts Payable

balance on the Balance Sheet.

Cash

Bank Accounts -- compare the reconciled balance to the Balance Sheet’s

balance for each account.

Cash Boxes -- print the Check Register report for each account, leaving FROM

DATE blank and THRU DATE the last date of the fiscal period. Select NOT

CLEARED transactions only. The uncleared items should match the account

balance on the Balance Sheet.

Comparing Deferred Revenue with the Agreement Reserve

If you are using DEFERRED REVENUE FOR MAINTENANCE agreements and/or

AGREEMENT RESERVE FOR SERVICE agreements, you will want to compare those

totals also.

Deferred Revenue

1. Select Agreements, then Agreement Deferral Analysis, and then Run Report from

the REPORT GALLERY.

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2. TRANSACTION DATE RANGE—leave the FROM DATE blank and enter the last date

of the fiscal period in THRU DATE.

3. Select the SUMMARY checkbox and run the report.

4. The DEFERRED BAL should match the Balance Sheet balance for the account.

Agreement Reserve

1. Select Agreements, then Agreement Reserve Analysis, and then Run Report from

the REPORT GALLERY.

2. TRANSACTION DATE RANGE—leave the FROM DATE blank and enter the last date

of the fiscal period in THRU DATE.

3. Select the SUMMARY checkbox and run the report.

4. The difference between RESERVE AMT and RESERVE CHRGS should match the

Balance Sheet balance for the account.

NOTE: Check with your Accountant for advice on any other accounts and detail

that you should be comparing.

When Balances do not Match

Accounts Receivable -- open the RECEIVABLES MANAGER and run the

Reconcile utility.

Accounts Payable -- open the PAYABLES MANAGER and run the Reconcile

utility.

Cash

1. Select Financial Reports, then GL Transactions, and then Run Report from the

REPORT GALLERY.

2. For the Posting Date range—enter the 1st date of the fiscal period in FROM DATE

and the last date of the fiscal period in TO DATE.

3. Enter the account number for the cash account that doesn't balance, or use the

drop-down menu to select the Account #.

4. Use the mouse or spacebar to mark the following origins:

Journal Entry

Inventory Control

Warranty Reserve (installations)

Reserve (agreement)

Warranty Reserve (service)

Deferred Revenue (agreement)

5. Select the icon next to GROUP BY to open the grouping options.

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6. Double-click on Origin to move that to the group chosen side of the form.

7. Run the report.

This report should include any transactions that posted to that account from an

origin that should not affect your cash accounts. (Probably Journal Entries.)

After identifying the origin of the incorrect entry, you will correct the entry from

the source in order to put the account in balance. (For instance, if a journal entry

was made to the account, determine why the entry was made, reverse it with

journal entries. Then enter the transaction correctly – i.e. Miscellaneous Cash

Receipt, Misc Payment, etc.)

If running the report using these options does not find any transactions, it is likely

that transactions were posted in error from a valid source (receivables, payables,

or account register.) The most common error is adjustments (credit or debit

memos, or adjustments in the account register) that were entered using an

adjustment code that affects cash.

Researching Deferred Revenue or Agreement Reserve Transactions

Select Financial Reports, then GL Transactions, and then Run Report from

the REPORT GALLERY.

Posting Date range—enter the 1st date of the fiscal period in FROM DATE and

the last date of the fiscal period in TO DATE.

Enter the account number for the account that doesn't balance, or use the drop-

down menu to select the Account #.

Use the mouse or spacebar to mark the following origins:

- Deferred Revenue -- all except Accounts Receivable and Deferred

Revenue (Agreements).

- Agreement Reserve -- all except Reserve (Agreement).

1. Select the Icon next to GROUP BY to open the grouping options.

2. Double-click on Origin to move that to the group chosen side of the form.

3. Run the report.

This report should include any transactions that posted to that account from an

origin that should not affect the account. After identifying the origin of the

incorrect entry, you will correct the entry from the source in order to put the

account in balance. For instance, if a journal entry was made to the account,

determine why the entry was made, reverse it with journal entries, then enter the

transaction correctly (i.e., reverse invoice and post it correctly, terminate and re-

enter agreement, etc.)

If running the report using these options does not find any transactions, it is likely

that transactions were posted in error from a valid source (receivables or

agreement manager). The most common error is adjustments—credit or debit

memos—that were entered using an adjustment code that affects that account.

General Ledger


Closing a Fiscal Period Key Items to Remember

Close fiscal periods from the PERIODS/YEAR tab of the GENERAL

LEDGER SETUP screen.

GENERAL LEDGER BUDGET

The BUDGET SETUP screen is primarily a grid that contains line items for each

period, account, and department for a selected year or period. When developing a

new budget, the prior year’s budget figures, and if desired the actual figures, are

also displayed.

NOTE: Before setting up your budget, check your Chart of Accounts and

deactivate any accounts and/or departments that you do not use. The budgeting

process will progress smoothly if you can eliminate any unnecessary items from

your budget setup view.

Budget Setup

To enter a new budget, or modify an existing budget, you will need to open the

BUDGET SETUP screen.

1. To open the BUDGET SETUP screen select the icon, click the Accounting

button, and another button labeled G/L Budget will appear. Click that button as

well.

2. Select the fiscal year you wish to create a budget for from the drop-down menu at

the top left corner of the BUDGET SETUP screen.

3. Click Load Budget located at the bottom of the screen.

If a budget loaded, skip to step 5. Otherwise, proceed to step 4.

4. You will get a message stating that there is no current budget for the selected

year, if this is the first time you’ve tried to create a budget for that fiscal year.

Click OK.

5. Right-click and select Create/refresh budget items from the menu. This will

create budget line items based on your particular setup of periods, accounts, and

departments. Be patient; this can take some time.

At this point, you have two options. You can either:

Have SuccessWare21 generate a budget for the entire year, or

Have SuccessWare21 create a budget for the initial period of a new fiscal

year.

General Ledger


Automatically Generated Budget for the Entire Year

1. Ensure that the FISCAL PERIOD field at the top of the form is displaying All

periods. If it is not, select All periods from the drop-down menu.

2. Select a fiscal year that you would like to base your budget on from the COPY

FROM FISCAL YEAR drop-down menu. This is typically the prior fiscal year.

NOTE: Do not use this method if you want your initial budget to reflect the

month-to-month changes in your actual income statement.

3. Click Load budget.

4. Click on the ACTUALS radio button found in the COPY FROM section if you want to

base your budget on previous profit and loss figures.

Click on the BUDGET radio button, found in the COPY FROM section, if you want to

base your budget on previous budget figures, provided they exist. If this is your

first budget, there will be no previous budget figures to base a new budget on.

NOTE: If you so desire, SuccessWare21will automatically modify the imported

budget information by a percentage that you determine.

Enter a percentage in the WITH ADJUSTMENT OF field.

Depending on whether you want to adjust the imported data up or down, click

either the INCREASE or DECREASE radio button found immediately below the

WITH ADJUSTMENT OF field.

Click Reset selected budget.

5. Edit the figures in the BUDGET AMOUNT column to represent the budget

requirements for the new fiscal year.

6. Click Save, and then click Yes when the CONFIRM message displays.

Automatically Generated Budget based on Fiscal Periods

1. Select the initial period (typically period 1) that you want to create a budget for.

2. Select a fiscal period that you would like to base your budget on from the COPY

FROM FISCAL PERIOD drop-down menu.

3. Click LOAD BUDGET.

4. Click on the ACTUALS radio button found in the COPY FROM section if you want to

base your budget on previous profit and loss figures.

Click on the Budget radio button, found in the COPY FROM section, if you want to

base your budget on previous budget figures, provided they exist. If this is your

first budget, there will be no previous budget figures to base a new budget on.

NOTE: If you so desire, SuccessWare21will automatically modify the imported

budget information by a percentage that you determine.

General Ledger


Enter a percentage in the WITH ADJUSTMENT OF field

Depending on whether you want to adjust the imported data up or down, click

either the INCREASE or DECREASE radio button found immediately below the

WITH ADJUSTMENT OF field.

Click Reset selected budget.

5. Edit the figures in the BUDGET AMOUNT column to represent the budget

requirements for the new fiscal period.

6. Save the changes when you are satisfied with the numbers entered.

7. Select All periods from the FISCAL PERIOD drop-down menu.

8. Copy the budget to the remaining fiscal periods. The process is as follows:

Selecting the current budget,

Select the period for which the budget was previously created,

Click on the BUDGET radio button,

Enter “0.0” in the WITH ADJUSTMENT OF field,

Click the Reset selected budget button.

NOTE: You can also use the period, department, and/or account filters to limit

the view so you can work on a particular period, department, or account at a time.

9. Edit the figures in the BUDGET AMOUNT column to represent the new budget

requirements.


Modifying an Existing Budget

1. Select a fiscal year that you would like to work on from the COPY FROM FISCAL

PERIOD drop-down menu.

2. Click Load budget.

NOTE: You can also use the period, department, and/or account filters to narrow

down the view so you can work on a particular period, department, or account at a

time.

3. Edit the figures in the BUDGET AMOUNT column, as appropriate.


NOTE: It is advisable to save your work periodically by repeating step 4 on a

routine basis.

General Ledger


Create/Refresh Budget Items

If you have added, deactivated, or deleted accounts and or departments, or if you

have modified your fiscal period setup, right-click and select Create/refresh

budget items from the Popup menu. This will remove obsolete budget items and

create new ones based on your setup.

Any changes that you make in the BUDGET SETUP will not be reflected in your

budget until you have accomplished this.

Reset Options

The RESET OPTIONS section of the BUDGET SETUP screen allows you to replace

budget figures for a particular fiscal year or period based on either actual or

budget figures from another year or period. Typically, you would use the features

found in this section as a starting point when creating a budget for a new fiscal

year. Budget values can be initially created based on either the prior year’s

budget or the prior year’s actual figures.

Comparative Income Statement

One or both columns in the Comparative Income Statement can be configured to

show budget values. The process to run Comparative Income Statements is as

follows:

1. To open the INCOME STATEMENT form select the icon, click the

Management button and another button labeled Report Gallery will appear.

Click that button as well.

2. Select Financial Reports from the GROUPS column. A FINANCIAL REPORTS

column will appear on your right. Double-click on Income Statement found in

that column.

3. Place a check in the COMPARATIVE REPORT checkbox.

4. Select the same YEAR, or period ranges (FROM PERIOD and THRU PERIOD) for

both sets of FIGURE 1 and FIGURE 2 fields at the top of the form.

5. Select ACTUAL from the FIGURE 1 radio buttons (just below the YEAR fields), and

select BUDGET from the FIGURE 2 radio buttons.

NOTE: By placing a percentage in the MAXIMUM PCT VARIATION field,

SuccessWare21 will flag any items on the income statement where the Percent of

Net Sales for column 1 varies from the Percent of Net Sales in column 2 by a

figure of more than the percent entered.

6. Select the REPORT TYPE, SALES/RETURNS, and TAXES radio buttons to display that

information you wish to see. This does not apply to the MULTI-DEPARTMENT

(SEPARATE) reports. They will be covered in the next section.

7. Preview or print the report as desired by clicking on the appropriate icon.

General Ledger


Multi-departmental Income Statements

Multi-Departmental Income Statements can be printed using budget values

instead of actual values. The process to run a Multi-Departmental Income

Statement is as follows:

1. To open the INCOME STATEMENT form select the icon, click the

Management button and another button labeled Report Gallery will appear.

Click that button as well.

2. Select Financial Reports from the GROUPS column. A FINANCIAL REPORTS

column will appear on your right. Double-click on Income Statement found in

that column.

3. Select the MULTI-DEPARTMENT (SEPARATE) radio button from the REPORT TYPE

section of the INCOME STATEMENT.

4. Select the FIGURE 1 YEAR and period ranges (FROM PERIOD and THRU PERIOD)

from their respective drop-down menus.

5. Select BUDGET from the FIGURE 1 radio buttons.

6. Select which departments you wish to include in the report. You do this by

placing your cursor over the DEPARTMENTS field and clicking the left mouse

button. A SELECT ONE OF MORE DEPARTMENTS box will pop up. Scroll through

the list and place a checkmark in front of those departments you wish to include

in the report.

7. When finished selecting departments click OK.

8. Select the REPORT TYPE, SALES/RETURNS, and TAXES radio buttons to display that

information you wish to see. This does not apply to the ALL DEPARTMENTS and

SELECTED DEPARTMENTS (COMBINED) reports.

9. Preview or print the report as desired by clicking on the appropriate icon.

General Ledger Budget Key Items to Remember

You can develop a budget based on the previous fiscal year’s budget or actual

figures.

Before setting up your budget, check your Chart of Accounts and deactivate

any accounts and/or departments that you do not use.

The budgeting process will progress smoothly if you can eliminate any

unnecessary items from the BUDGET SETUP screen.

SuccessWare21 can either create a budget for an entire fiscal year or create a

budget for the first period within a fiscal year.

If you so desire, SuccessWare21will automatically modify imported budget

information by a percentage that you determine.

General Ledger


You can also use the period, department, and/or account filters to limit the

view so you can work on a particular period, department, or account at a time.

As you develop your budget, it is advisable to save your work periodically.

Any changes that you make in the BUDGET SETUP will not be reflected in

your budget until you Create/refresh budget items from the popup menu.

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