Creating a New General Ledger Account

This procedure is used to add a new account to the general ledger chart of accounts and prepare it for posting.  The two main steps in this procedure are creating the account description record for the new account, and then creating account period records for the divisions, departments, years and periods to which entries can be posted to the account.

1.  Select the Account Setup view from the General Ledger Pull down Menu.

2.  Review the existing account description records on your system.  You may view a list of the accounts that have been created on your system by pressing the Prompt key or button in the Acct field to display the Account Selection list.  The Account Selection list displays all existing accounts in the account description file and it can be sorted by account number, sub account number, description, or autopost.  You may also obtain a listing of the existing account description records on your system by printing a Chart of Accounts Worksheet or an Account Description report from the General Ledger Reports menu.

3.  Determine the account number, sub-account number and description that will be used for the new account.  The account number and sub account number combination for each account description record must be unique.  The account, sub account and description that you use will also determine how the account is displayed in all divisions and departments in the system. 

4.  Press the CLEAR key to clear the fields in the Account Setup view.

5.  Enter the Account Number and Sub-Account Number to be used for the new account.  Generally, the Account Number and Sub Account number should be set up based on your existing chart of accounts so that the new accounts appear in the correct location and in the correct number range for the account being created.  Please note that each main account should have a record with a sub-account 0.  The sub account 0 record is used by the system for consolidations (subtotaling) when there are multiple sub-accounts for a single account number.  Sub-account numbers greater than 0 are optional, but each account must have one record with a sub-account of 0 to ensure proper operation of the system.

6.  Enter the account Type.  The Type field is used to identify which section of the financial statements the account should be included in and the appropriate type must be entered for the account being set up.  A list of the valid account types can be displayed in the Account Setup view by pressing the Prompt key when the cursor is positioned in the Type field or by pressing the button to the right of the field.

7.  Accept or change the account status.  The Account Setup view will default the status of a new account to Active or status A.  You can also create an account with an Inactive status I.  Only accounts with an active status can be posted to.  Normally an account is set inactive if it is a header or a footer account (used only for financial statement formatting).  An account may also be set inactive when there are multiple sub-accounts for a single main account number and the sub-account 0 account is set to Inactive to force operators to post to the detailed or appropriate sub-accounts and prevent them from posting to the summary account.

8.  Enter the description for the account.  The description for each account is used in all divisions, departments, years and periods in which the account is posted to or maintained.

9.  Enter the autopost number for the account (if necessary).  The system uses autopost numbers to link various programs to the general ledger accounts that they update automatically.  Autopost numbers allow you to set up your chart of accounts using any numbering scheme you desire.  The system uses the autopost numbers attached to each account to identify the account to be used during processing.  Please see the section on Autopost numbers in this document for more information about autopost numbers including a current list of the autopost accounts required by the system

10. Enter the Sort sequence to be used for the account.  The Sort field is used to format many of the Financial Statements that are produced by the system.  The sort field is used to determine the order in which account is printed within the financial statements and it can also be used to create headers and footers for groups of accounts.  In general, you should set the sort sequence value for an account to the same value that is entered in the Type field. This will result in the system printing the accounts in account number order within each account type.

11. Enter the appropriate currency for the account.  You may view and select from a list of the valid currency codes which have been set up on your system by pressing the PROMPT key when the cursor is positioned in the Currency field.

12. Verify or correct the information shown in the Account Setup View and press the Save key or button to save the new record.

13. Create account period records for the current year in the divisions and departments where the account can be posted to.  As each new account description record is saved, the system prompts the operator to create account period records for the account in the current year, division and department that the operator is working in.  The number of periods created for each account is based on a system parameter that defines the standard number of periods maintained for each account.  The operator can accept the default information or change it as required to create the account periods in the correct divisions, departments and year and periods in which the account should be posted to.  The program will prompt the operator repeatedly to create account period records until the CANCEL button is pressed.  This allows the operator to create accpers for the new account in multiple divisions and departments as required during the account creation process.  If additional account period records are required, they can be created using one of the procedures or utilities programs described in the next section.  Please note:  You may not post to an account unless the account period records for the account exist in the year, period, division and department to which you are posting.

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Creating Account Period records