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Journals, Currency and Intercompany

Most journals post themselves from documents, receipts and bank lines. The Journals tab of Ledger & Finance is for the rest: accruals, reclassifications, opening balances and intercompany recharges. Every line stores three amounts, worked out once when it posts, so a closed period gives the same figures next year as on the day it closed.

Where to find it

Admin Panel → Finance:

  • Ledger & Finance — the Journals tab (post, find, reverse) and the Set-up tab (exchange rates and intercompany rules)

Architect Panel → ERP - Finance:

  • Ledger & Finance — the same console for architects
  • Journals — posted journals as a datastore, for investigation only
  • Exchange Rates — the rates as a datastore
  • Intercompany Rules — the intercompany rules as a datastore

Posting a journal

  1. Choose the company at the top, open Journals and press New journal.
  2. Set the Date. The line under the form says which period it posts into, or warns that no open period covers the date.
  3. Choose the Book (the company's own by default), the Type (GJ General journal, AJ Accrual or adjustment, OB Opening balances, RC Reclassification) and the Currency.
  4. For an accrual or prepayment, set Reverses on: the reversal is posted with it.
  5. Enter a Narrative. It is how the journal is found again.
  6. Add lines: Account, Debit or Credit, optional Tax code, Cost centre and Line narrative. Receivable and payable lines need a counterparty, under More, which also holds the due date and further analysis codes.
  7. Watch the debit and credit totals. Balance the last line puts any difference on the last line. Press Post journal.

Finding and reversing

Filter the list by Search (number or narrative), Status (Posted or Reversed), Type, Source (Manual journals), dates and Book, and Export it as CSV. Open a journal to see its lines (with functional amounts in brackets for a foreign-currency journal) and any allocations.

A posted journal is never edited. Press Reverse…, give a Reverse on date in an open period and a Reason, and press Post the reversal. Tick Then put a corrected copy on the journal form to fix a wrong account, counterparty or amount and post the copy.

Three amounts on every line

  • Transaction: in the currency the journal was entered in.
  • Functional: in the company's own currency (Books kept in).
  • Reporting: in the currency the company reports to the group in.

The conversion uses the spot rate on or before the journal date. A missing rate stops the posting rather than guessing. Maintain rates on the Set-up tab under Exchange rates: Add a rate for one, or Paste rates… with one line per rate (date, from, to, rate, type, source). Rates are shared by every company. A rate entered by mistake can be withdrawn; journals already posted keep the rate they were posted at.

Intercompany recharges

  1. On Set-up, under Intercompany rules, press Add an intercompany rule. Choose the Company that charges and the Company that is charged, the accounts Owed to the charging company, Owed by the company charged and Recharge account, and the Transfer price (At cost, Cost plus a mark-up with its Mark-up %, or Market price). You need write access to both companies.
  2. On Journals, press Intercompany recharge, choose From (charges) and To (is charged), the amount (the cost: the rule's transfer price is applied to it), date and narrative, and press Post recharge. Both halves post in one transaction, in the same currency, and each company stores its own functional amount; you need post access to both companies. Give Your reference (optional) when two genuine recharges of the same amount fall on the same day, or the second is refused as a repeat.

Once a recharge has posted under a rule, its companies and accounts are fixed so consolidation can eliminate them; the transfer price can still change.

Worked example

At month end the controller accrues an unbilled audit fee: type AJ, dated 30 September, Reverses on 1 October, debit audit fees and credit accruals. The reversal posts with it, so the October bill lands against a zero balance. The same day they post a management recharge from the UK parent to the Dutch subsidiary at cost plus 5% with Intercompany recharge; both halves are in sterling, and the subsidiary's half is also stored in euros at the day's spot rate.

Recommendations

  • Use Reverses on for every accrual rather than remembering to reverse next month.
  • Load month-end rates with Paste rates… from your bank's or the central bank's file.
  • Use the corrected-copy option to fix a posted journal; it keeps the audit trail clean.
  • Set up intercompany rules before the first recharge: consolidation eliminates only what the rules describe.