Skip to main content

GL Accounts

Updated over a month ago

Elements

Each General Ledger account code is made up of a maximum of four elements, to reflect the structure of your general ledger.

For example, an account could consist of one 6-digit element: 019954, or of three elements such as Division, Department and Account: 01.SALES.3324.

Elements can be made up either of digits only, or of alphanumeric characters. An individual element can be up to 16 characters long, and the entire account code can have a maximum of 19 characters. The elements are separated by full stops. Different types of account can have a different number of elements (for example, Balance Sheet accounts can be simpler than Profit & Loss accounts).

Different companies can have different account structures, but this is not recommended if you require cross-company consolidation. Note that once you have defined the structure for a given company, you cannot change it without technical assistance.

Use GL Elements to set up the valid codes for each element.

Fixed elements

If your account structure has fixed elements, you must specify the combinations of elements that are valid for your accounts. Coins ERP+ will not create accounts that do not match the list of valid fixed elements.

For example, if your account structure is fixed at element 2, you must specify the valid combinations of elements 1 and 2.

Use Fixed Elements to set up fixed elements.

Generating accounts

General Ledger accounts are generated in one of two ways:

  • If a transaction is posted to an account which has not been used before (provided the account elements within the code used in the transaction are valid and provided the parameter AUTOGEN is set to Y), Coins ERP+ creates the account record automatically. In this case, you may need to use Account Maintenance to update the account record to include any information which is not generated automatically.

  • Using Account Maintenance to generate accounts manually.

Short codes

Your system can have short codes set up for some General Ledger accounts. Short codes are "aliases" for accounts. If you enter a short code, Coins ERP+ automatically replaces the short code with the account code. You can use short codes to speed up input of data.

When entering a General Ledger account number on a transaction the following logic applies:

  1. Does the account already exist?

  2. Can it be assembled from the elements?

  3. Is it in the Short Code list, in which case the actual code will be substituted for the short code you entered.

  4. If none of the above, the code is invalid.

Use Short Codes to set up GL short codes.

Did this answer your question?