Accolent ERP is built on a General Ledger (“GL”) which organizes all your financial reporting by GL Accounts. The GL Accounts are used to record all the transaction data that will appear in your financial reports. Each GL Account stores transaction data by Warehouse by Department by Month/Year and is reported on through the financial statements. The GL is completely GAAP-compliant.
GL Overview
- The GL Chart of Accounts is the GL Accounts system that is used to organize and store your transaction data.
- The transaction data stored in the GL Accounts is used to create the trial balance and financial statements.
- The GL system is based on double-entry bookkeeping, which means that each financial transaction affects at least two GL Accounts, and each entry has at least one debit and one credit transaction.
- Double-entry transactions will always have a debit side and credit side that must be balanced.
- So, for example, a simple Sale transaction will be posted with a debit to Accounts Receivable and credits to Revenue and Sales Tax.
- Separate financial statements can be created for each Warehouse in addition to consolidated financial statements for all Warehouses.
GL Posting
- Every transaction can be split into multiple parts that affect different GL Accounts.
- The GL records transactions by GL Account by Warehouse by Department by Month/Year.
- When a qualifying transaction is completed in Accolent ERP, the transaction is written to the GL through these Accounting Journals: Sales Journal, Payment Receipts Journal, PO Receipts and Inventory Adjustments Journal, Accounts Payable Journal, Cash Disbursements Journal, Voucher Adjustments Journal and the General Journal.
- The action of writing the transaction to the GL is referred to as the “GL Posting.”
- Each Accounting Journal follows a specific format for its GL Posting, and the default GL Accounts that are used are defined in the Warehouse GL Account Defaults.
- The GL Posting happens automatically without the user having to do anything and happens immediately upon saving and completing the transaction.
- To see the GL Posting of a particular transaction to a given GL Account, go to GL > Chart of Accounts > GL Transaction Details.
Updating GL Balances
- When a transaction is posted to the GL, the balances of each affected GL Account by Warehouse by Department by Month/Year are automatically updated to reflect the transaction.
- The action of updating the GL Account balance to reflect transactions is referred to as “Updating GL Balances.”
- Updating GL Balances is done automatically without the user having to do anything and happens immediately upon saving and completing the transaction.
- To see the GL Balances for a given GL Account, go to GL > Chart of Accounts > GL Account Balances.
Trial Balance and Financial Statements
- The Trial Balance and Financial Statements are generated from the updated GL Balances.
- Financial Statements can be run for each Warehouse or for all Warehouses on a consolidated basis.