GENERAL LEDGER

SCREENSHOTS

Introduction

Welcome to Microsoft Dynamics™ GP General Ledger, an integral component of the financial management system. Microsoft Dynamics GP offers a streamlined solution to the total business needs of a company by providing financial information quickly, efficiently, and accurately. General Ledger provides the fiscal insight needed to make better and timelier business decisions. This chapter focuses on the windows that are used to set up General Ledger. The system setup checklist can be used to assign users to specific tasks and to track which tasks they have completed. This checklist is available in the application and can be used to track all setup windows in Microsoft Dynamics GP. The setup windows can be located using the paths provided in the paragraph below the heading for each window. Steps covered include setting up the chart of accounts, categories, account segments and budgets.

Features and Benefits

General Ledger helps you:

• Create and maintain a chart of accounts.
• Enter budget information for created accounts.
• Enter and edit transactions.
• Produce financial statements automatically.

Customized financial statements can also be created using Advanced Financial Analysis to meet the specialized needs of the business. General Ledger also provides a variety of flexible features users are encouraged to become familiar with to take advantage of the software's fullest capabilities.
General Ledger is used to:

• Record transactions
• Verify accuracy
• Post transactions
• Maintain history
• Maintain budgets
• Create quick financial reports

Record Transactions

Transactions can be entered as single-use, clearing, reversing, or recurring in
General Ledger. You can also perform the following when recording
transactions:

• Void saved transactions
• Copy posted transactions
• Back out and correct posted transactions (if necessary)

NOTE: You can also determine how often recurring transactions are posted:
weekly, monthly, or a specified number of days.

Transactions can also be entered in an unlimited number of user-defined quickjournals that parallel traditional accounting journals, such as the cash receipts
journal or cash disbursements journal.

Verify Accuracy

Before posting, an edit list can be printed to verify the accuracy of the
transactions entered. Because Microsoft Dynamics GP adheres to the principles
of double entry accounting, transactions can be saved but cannot be posted until
debit and credit amounts are equal. Only valid transactions in a batch are posted,
while invalid, unbalanced transactions remain in the batch un-posted when
posting is complete. This ensures the integrity of the accounting data.
Post Transactions
Microsoft Dynamics GP offers several methods of posting transactions:

• Individually, using transaction-level posting
• In a batch using batch posting
• In a batch using series posting
• In a batch using master posting

Transactions are usually posted to the current fiscal year in General Ledger. They
can also be posted to a prior year or to future periods of the next fiscal year, if
necessary. Microsoft Dynamics GP uses background processing, which allows
work to be continued while the system posts.

Maintain History

Unlimited years of historical information can be maintained within General
Ledger. History is updated during the year-end closing process when open year
balances become previous year balances. Multiple years of historical information
also can be included on a single financial statement.

Maintain Budgets

Unlimited budgets can be maintained with General Ledger. Budgets can be set up
for individual accounts or for a range of accounts. Several budget variations may
be created to use as financial forecasting tools for planning and controlling
resources. Microsoft® Excel can be used as the budgeting tool and the Excel
Budgeting link can be used to seamlessly import budget information into
Microsoft Dynamics GP from Microsoft Excel.

Quick Financial Reports

The Quick Financial Setup feature is used to create financial statements that are
straightforward and easy to read. Trial balance, cash flow, and earnings reports
can be sorted and printed in a variety of ways, providing up-to-date analysis of
the financial activity. Many different reports and lists can be printed in General
Ledger to create a permanent audit trail of the financial transactions. Customized
financial statement reports can also be designed in Microsoft Dynamics GP using
Advanced Financial Analysis or FRx.

Integration

Integration is defined as the process of linking two or more modules to form a
comprehensive business management system. When Microsoft Dynamics GP is
installed, features and functionality are integrated automatically. Information is
shared between functional areas, making data entry faster, easier, and more
accurate. More importantly, more detailed reports can be printed than is possible
in a manual accounting system, because sales and purchasing information can be
combined and analyzed in General Ledger.

Transactions flow between modules so they do not have to be entered multiple
times in the application. For example, a purchase order entered in Purchase Order
Processing updates the vendor account in Payables Management and ledger
accounts are updated in General Ledger when the transaction is posted.

General Ledger is the final destination for accounting information and is most
strongly tied to all other modules in the Microsoft Dynamics GP accounting
system. However, it is important to note that entries recorded directly in General
Ledger do not affect other modules.