The Ledger : posting

Journal References Are Supposed to Mean Something?

Jennifer Maroney — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:11:00 GMT

Do you ever wonder what the transaction Reference column on the General Ledger Report or Post Report means? If you do, then this post is for you! The Reference, also known as journal reference, is created when you post from subsidiary ledgers (AP, AR, FA, CR, SB, and PY) or in detail from The Raiser's Edge. The journal reference defaults are defined in Configuration, can be customized for your organization's needs, and can even be defined for each transaction type.

Journal references are displayed on:

The transaction detail on an account record
The post report
The Journal Entry batch
All General Ledger reports where Reference is an available field

There are a few things to keep in mind when you set up your journal references. First, the total number of characters in a journal reference cannot exceed 50 characters. Secondly, changes to journal references are not retroactive, so the changes will only affect items that are not yet posted. Finally, when you create the references, make sure you include necessary details for an effective audit trail.

So let's get to the process...

For FE subsidiary ledgers, go to Configuration and click Posting Information. Then highlight the transaction type and select the appropriate field names and field lengths. Remember to define the journal reference for both the debit and credit side of transactions by marking the Debit or Credit option in the dark gray bar.

To define the journal reference in RE, go to Configuration, click General Ledger, and select the field names and lengths; you will see a sample of the journal reference at the bottom of the screen.

Don't see what you want? You can add custom fields to FE or RE by clicking Fields and entering the new name. Not sure how or why you would need a custom field? Try using them to emphasize specific transaction types such as INT- for Interfund entries and APPL- for Application entries.

For more information on customizing journal references or step-by-step instructions, take a look at the Posting Information section of the RE or subledger Configuration Guides.

What a Waste of Paper!

Lisa Lookadoo — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:03:00 GMT

"Oh man, I didn’t mean to print that !" Have you ever said that when you validate or post and the report prints? Would you rather see it on your screen instead of wasting paper? Well, you can and it’s easy!

Simply select Tools, Options from the GL menu bar and select the Records tab. Highlight Post Options, change Print Post Report on to Preview Post Report, and click Apply and then OK. That's it, you're done! If you decide you want a printed copy once you view it on the screen, just click the print icon.

Let’s save some trees!

Is it Okay to Cancel Out of Posting, Copying, or Reversing a Batch?

Jennifer Maroney — Mon, 18 May 2009 11:42:00 GMT

Do you ever notice your workstation task manager shows The Financial Edge is not responding? Just because it shows not responding on your workstation doesn't mean that FE has stopped working. Many times the process is still running on the server. If you cancel the process at the wrong point it could result in data corruption and who wants that?

Pardon the interruption, but this is a great example of why you should regularly back up your database. Check out the Backup and Recovery series on Inside the Edge for more details about the importance of backing up your database and testing it on a regular basis. Now back to you regularly scheduled program.

Here are some helpful tips:

Before initiating the process, disable any applications running unnecessarily, including those running in the background that may be using up system resources.
Post regularly, and assign a specific time of day to complete your posting.
Large batches with complex distributions, attributes, transaction codes, and projects will take longer to process because more information must be validated for each element of the transaction. If you have large distributions, post in smaller batches.
Allow sufficient time for the process to finish.
If you think you have performance issues, check out Knowledgebase solution BB8626 for performance considerations.

So remember, the next time you're posting, copying, or reversing a batch and your workstation's task manager indicates that the software is not responding, wait before you cancel the process.

Talk to you soon!

Posting Errors? Check Your Post Dates

Jennifer Maroney — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 12:28:00 GMT

If your fiscal year or period has ended, you may suddenly start receiving errors such as Period Closed or Period Not Found when posting to General Ledger. These errors happen when transactions post to a hard-closed, soft-closed, or an undefined fiscal year. To resolve the error:

Review the Batch Validation or Pre-post Report to find the transactions that failed validation. You can find the exceptions in bold under the problem transaction. If you are posting a journal entry batch, the cursor stops in the date field of the transaction causing the error message.
If the post date is incorrect, change the post date of the transaction to a valid, open fiscal year. In Accounts Payable, if the Post date field is grayed out on a paid invoice, refer to How to edit the post date on a paid but unposted invoice.
If the post date is correct:
1. Verify the fiscal year was created. If it hasn't been created, add the new fiscal year.
2. If the fiscal year exists and is soft closed, reopen the period.
3. If the fiscal year is hard closed, restore to a backup created before the fiscal year was closed or post to an open fiscal period.
  Note: If you restore to a backup, any data entered after the backup was created will be lost.

Happy posting. Talk to you soon!

The Accountability Summary

Daniel Dalnekoff — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 17:12:00 GMT

I know some time has passed since my last post, but I am going to get back into posting and wanted to make my triumphant return with a piece of functionality linking The Raiser's Edge and The Financial Edge together. The Accountability Summary goes beyond the posting of gifts to General Ledger, and gives us some information that is instantly available in The Raiser's Edge.

The Accountability Summary tool allows you to quickly gather and report to a constituent in The Raiser's Edge what exactly their donations are going to. The way we do this is through account attributes and projects in The Financial Edge. To summarize:

Accounts are assigned an account attribute in General Ledger that is used for tracking this (the attribute type needs to be a table value)

In The Raiser's Edge, the account attribute is defined to be used for the Accountability Summary in Configuration.

On the Fund record in The Raiser's Edge, the project is defined, and when gifts are posted into General Ledger this project must be present when the General Ledger batch is posted.

Invoices in Accounts Payable that are using funding from a gift/donor we are tracking are expensed to an account using that same project and Accountability Summary attribute entry.

Once all of this activity has been posted in General Ledger, users in The Raiser's Edge can easily open an individual gift record and view the accountability summary to see where this money went. There are some different output and formatting options as well. So, what does this mean for the Business Office? I think it means we may have some setup to do! Seriously though, this could serve as a great tool that Development Office staff can use rather than asking you to produce several different reports and do a bit of research in The Financial Edge to determine how a gift was spent.

If anyone is interested in more detail, or with assistance using this feel free to review the Knowledgebase solution BB148089 or contact me. If anyone has any comments on this, or if you are already using this functionality, would love to hear feedback on how your organization uses it.