(continued from Creditors Message History, Queues, Send General Message)

General Ledger

Overview

The General Ledger (G.L.) (also known as the 'Nominal Ledger') is where transactions from the two Subsidiary Ledgers (Accounts Receivable/Debtors and Accounts Payable/Creditors) are consolidated to provide accurate reporting and analysis.

Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet reports can be produced using the iSGeneralLedger Excel spread sheet template, and detailed G.L. Transaction and Account Analysis can be obtained using the iSFinancialAnalysis Excel spread sheet template.

Detailed bookings analysis is also available with the iSFinancialAnalysis Excel spread sheet template.

The Tourplan Accounting Module (see Accounts Training Guide 2) has detail of processing G.L. Journals (Standard & Accrual), Standing Journals and other G.L. processing functions.

Before any transactions can be entered in any of the ledgers (Debtors, Creditors or General Ledgers), the GL INI definitions must be set up. This should be done in consultation with the local Tourplan support office.

When any bookings based Subsidiary Ledger transaction is created, the system checks the GL INI settings to find the G.L. accounts to use in given sets of circumstances. This includes such detail as which are the Control Accounts, Bank Accounts, Revenue Accounts, Pre-payments Accounts, Deposits in Advance Accounts, Tax Accounts etc.

The structure of GL accounts is detailed under Tourplan Accounting Principles.

GL INI Settings

GL_ARUNALLOCATEDCASH:

Debtors Unallocated Cash

This account is used when a debtor’s receipt is posted to a client (Agent/Debtor) account without an invoice transaction to post the receipt to. When a debtor’s receipt is issued and posted against an invoice, the standard posting is:

In the absence of an invoice, the system does not know which (in the case of multiple debtors control accounts) control account to credit. Therefore the Unallocated Cash Account is used instead of the debtors control account. The postings when the receipt is issued therefore become:

When the unallocated cash is finally applied against an invoice, the following posting occurs:

Note that the actual Debtors position is the sum of Debtors Control plus Debtors Unallocated Cash.

GL_CRBANK:

Creditors Bank

This account is used as the default Creditors Bank Account when payments to creditors are made and there is no alternate account set up in the Creditors payment type. When a payment is made the posting is:

GL_CRCONTROL:

Creditors Control or “Creditors”

The Creditors Control Account(s) reflect the sum of indebtedness to Creditors (Suppliers). When an invoice from a Creditor is entered into Tourplan, the following posting takes place:

A Credit Note reverses the invoice entry—i.e.

When the payment transaction is made, the entry to the Creditors Control Account is reversed:

GL_CRFOREXREALISED

Creditors Foreign Exchange Variations—Realised

This account receives any creditor foreign exchange variations which may be generated by the Creditor’s Forex processing program when the Forex processing has been run for a closed creditor’s period. These variations can arise when the exchange rate applied to foreign currency creditor’s payments is different to the exchange rate which was applied at the time of creditors invoice entry. The posting is:

Note that the amounts being posted may be either a negative or positive amount. In other words, there may be a negative debit amount, and/or a positive credit amount.

Multiples of the Creditors Foreign Exchange Variations Account is not supported.

GL_CRFOREX

This account receives any creditor foreign exchange variations which may be generated by the Creditor’s Forex processing program when the Forex processing has been run for an open creditor’s period. These variations can arise when the exchange rate applied to foreign currency creditor’s payments is different to the exchange rate which was applied at the time of creditors invoice entry. The posting is:

Note that the amounts being posted may be either a negative or positive amount. In other words, there may be a negative debit amount, and/or a positive credit amount.

Multiples of the Creditors Foreign Exchange Variations Account is not supported.

If a Forex Realised Account does not exist, this account is used for both unrealised and realised amounts.

GL_CRFUTCASH

Creditors Future Cash

If the Age Period (AGP) of a Creditors payment is later than the Payment Posting Period (GLP), then the Creditors Future Cash account is used to hold the imbalance caused by the timing difference. The following postings are made:

In the transaction period of the payment:

In the Age Period of the payment:

GL_DRBANK

Debtors Bank

This account is used as the default Debtors Bank Account when receipts from debtors are made and there is no alternate account set up in the receipt type. When a receipt is issued, the posting is:

Note that the Debtors Bank Account and the Creditors Bank Account can be the same if separate GL accounts are not required for Debtors/Creditors bank.

GL_DRCOMMISSION

Debtors Commission

When commission is paid to an agent (Debtor) as part of a bookings invoice, then the system can automatically post the commission value to this separate GL account. This is dependent on the setting of the System INI INVOICENOCOMM. If this is set to Y, then commission postings are ignored. When this flag is set to N or is blank, the following postings take place (assume an invoice of 1000.00 with 10% commission = 100.00):

When INVOICENOCOMM is set to Y, the only posting is:

GL_DRCONTROL

Debtors Control or “Debtors”

The Debtors Control Account(s) reflect the sum of what debtors (Agents) owe. When an invoice to an agent is entered into Tourplan, the following posting takes place:

When the payment is received and the receipt entered, the entry to the Debtors Control Account is reversed:

GL_DRFOREXREALISED

Debtors Foreign Exchange Variations—Realised

This account receives any debtor foreign exchange variations which may be generated by the Debtor’s Forex processing program when the Forex processing has been run for a closed debtor’s period. These variations can arise when the exchange rate applied to foreign currency debtor’s receipts is different to the exchange rate which was applied at the time of debtors invoice entry. The posting is:

Note that the amounts being posted may be either a negative or positive amount. In other words, there may be a negative debit amount, and/or a positive credit amount.

Multiples of the Debtors Foreign Exchange Variations Account is not supported.

GL_DRFOREX

Debtors Foreign Exchange Variations—Unrealised

This account receives any debtor foreign exchange variations which may be generated by the Debtor’s Forex processing program when the Forex processing has been run for an open debtor’s period. These variations can arise when the exchange rate applied to foreign currency debtor’s receipts is different to the exchange rate which was applied at the time of debtors invoice entry. The posting is:

Note that the amounts being posted may be either a negative or positive amount. In other words, there may be a negative debit amount, and/or a positive credit amount.

Multiples of the Debtors Foreign Exchange Variations Account is not supported.

If a Forex ‘Realised’ Account does not exist, this account is used for both unrealised and realised amounts.

GL_DRFUTCASH

Debtors Future Cash

If the Age Period of a Debtors receipt is later than the Receipt Posting Period (GLP), then the Debtors Future Cash Account is used to hold the imbalance caused by the timing difference. The following postings are made:

In the transaction period of the receipt:

In the Age Period of the receipt:

GL_DRPREPAYMENT

Debtors Prepayment

This setting is used to determine a specific Pre-Payment Account which is used in conjunction with Tourplan Airline BSP Import process. Not used in normal Tourplan operations.

GL_DRTAXONCOMMISSION

Tax on Commission

If there is a tax liability on an agent’s commission, this account will hold the tax component of a commission amount. The postings are:

GL_EDIT_RECONCILED_JOURNAL

Allow already reconciled journals to be altered (Y)es/(N)o

GL_EXPENSE

Bookings Expense (or Cost of Sale)

This account (or accounts if multiples used) hold the value of the expenses for bookings. The postings are created when the creditors (suppliers) invoice is entered into the system. The posting is:

GL_FUTCOMM

Future Commission

If agent commission is being paid, this account will hold the commission component of a Future Revenue transaction. The postings are:

In the Transaction Period of the invoice:

In the Posting Period of the invoice:

GL_FUTEXPTAX

Future Expenses Input Tax

In some (but not all) tax regimes, input taxes are claimed in the period the supplier invoice is entered, not necessarily in the period when the expense becomes current. Tourplan handles this possibility via an INI setting in the GL INI table GL_POST_TAX_CURRENT. (Note that this flag applies to both Input and Output (Debtors) tax. It cannot be set one way for input tax and another way for output tax). If this setting is blank or N, then the tax portion of non-current period aging transactions will be posted to the Future Input Tax account. If the flag is set to Y then the tax value will be posted to the standard input tax account (GL_TAXIN) in the transaction period.

When GL_POST_TAX_CURRENT flag is set to N or blank, the postings are as follows: Assume a transaction of 100.00 including 10.00 tax:

In Age Period of Invoice:

In Expense Posting Period (GLP) of Invoice:

When GL_POST_TAX_CURRENT flag is set to Y, the postings are as follows: Assume a transaction of 100.00 including 10.00 tax:

In Age Period of Invoice:

In Expense Posting Period (GLP) of Invoice:

In Transaction Period of Invoice:

GL_FUTEXP

Creditors Future Expenses

This account holds transactions which have been processed in advance of the Expense (GLP) Period—essentially the invoice transactions supporting payments/deposits made to suppliers for services in advance of the travel date of the booking. The following postings are made:

In Age Period of Invoice:

In Expense Posting Period (GLP) of Invoice:

GL_FUTREVTAX

Future Revenue Output Tax

In some (but not all) tax regimes, output taxes are due in the period the agent/debtor invoice is entered—not necessarily in the period when the revenue becomes current. Tourplan handles this possibility via an INI setting in the GL INI table GL_POST_TAX_CURRENT. (Note that this flag applies to both Input (Creditors) and Output tax. It cannot be set one way for input tax and another way for output tax). If this setting is blank or N, then the tax portion of non-current period aging transactions will be posted to the Future Output Tax Account. If the flag is set to Y then the tax value will be posted to the standard output tax account (GL_TAXOUT) in the transaction period.

When GL_POST_TAX_CURRENT flag is set to N or blank, the postings are as follows: Assume a transaction of 100.00 including 10.00 taxes:

In Age Period of Invoice:

In Expense Posting Period (GLP) of Invoice:

When GL_POST_TAX_CURRENT flag is set to Y, the postings are as follows: Assume a transaction of 100.00 including 10.00 taxes:

In Age Period of Invoice:

In Expense Posting Period (GLP) of Invoice:

In Transaction Period of Invoice:

GL_FUTREV

Debtors Future Revenue

This account holds transactions which have been processed in advance of the Revenue (GLP) Period—essentially the invoice transactions supporting requests for deposits or pre-payments from Agents in advance of the travel date of the booking. The following postings are made:

In Age Period of Invoice:

In Revenue Posting Period (GLP) of Invoice:

GL_NEXT_JOURNAL

Next GL Journal Reference Number

This setting is used to automatically allocate reference numbers to GL Journals. A starting reference number can be entered in this field and the value will automatically increment as each journal is entered.

GL_NEXT_JOURNAL_PREFIX (or SUFFIX)

Next GL Journal Reference Number Prefix/Suffix

These two fields can be used to either prepend or append a prefix or suffix to the Journal Reference applied in GL_NEXT_JOURNAL. It is not uncommon for a user’s initials to be set as the INI value and the value applied only to that user’s name. This means the reference will be automatically appended or prepended with the user’s initials when a journal is created.

GL_POST_TAX_CURRENT

Post Debtor/Creditor Tax into Transaction Period.

Used in conjunction with GL_FUTEXPTAX/GLFUTREVTAX to determine whether tax is posted to the revenue/expense period, or to the current period.

GL_REVENUE

Bookings Revenue (or Sales)

This account (or accounts if multiples used) hold the value of the revenue for bookings. The postings are created when the debtors (Agents) invoice is entered into the system. The posting is:

GL_SUSPENSE

System Suspense Account

This account is used by the system to post any transaction to, for which it cannot locate a valid account in the chart. For example, it is decided to create a new branch for the business, but the necessary revenue/expense accounts are not set up, then any transactions supposed to be posted to those revenue and expense accounts would be posted to the system suspense account.

Note: Multiples of the System Suspense Account is not supported.

GL_TAXIN

Input (Creditors) Tax Account

This account (or accounts if multiples used) hold the value of separated out tax. The postings are created when the creditors (suppliers) invoice is entered into the system. The posting is:

This is the basic posting. When Future Expenses are involved, the postings are as per GL_FUTEXPTAX.

GL_TAXOUT

Output (Debtors) Tax Account

This account (or accounts if multiples used) hold the value of separated out tax. The postings are created when the debtors (agents) invoice is entered into the system. The posting is:

This is the basic posting. When Future Revenue is involved, the postings are as per GL_FUTREVTAX.

(continued in Creating, Amending, Finding a General Ledger Account)