General Ledger

From aeonscope

The general ledger is the core of your company’s financial records - every financial transaction flows through the general ledger. These records remain as a permanent track of the history of all financial transactions since day one of the life of your company.

Contents 1 General Ledger Icons 2 General Ledger Terminology 3 Cashbook 3.1 Cheques 3.1.1 Viewing Cheque Details 3.1.2 New Cheques 3.1.3 Editing a Cheque 3.2 Payments 3.2.1 Viewing Payments 3.2.2 Adding a New Payment 3.2.3 Editing Payments 3.3 Receipts 3.3.1 Viewing Receipts 3.3.2 Adding a New Receipt 3.3.3 Editing Receipts 4 Bank Statements 4.1 Opening a New Statement 4.2 Adding Transactions to the Statement 4.3 Balancing a Statement 5 Reconciliation Reports 5.1 Creditor Reconciliation 5.2 Debtor Reconciliation

General Ledger Icons

New (Alt + N)

View (Alt + V)

Edit (Alt + E)

Clear (Alt + C)

Save & Exit (Alt + X)

Cancel & Exit (Esc)

Search/Lookup (Alt + ↓)

Start/Go (alt + S)

Stop/Cancel Search

Cashbook Lookup

Calendar popup window

Cash Book Cheques

Cash Book Payments

Cash Book Reciepts

Allcocate Transactions to Bank Statement

De-Allocate Transactions to Bank Statement

Balance Statement button

General Ledger Terminology

• Statement - a list of all financial transactions over a specific time period.
• Closing date - the last day of a time period; often used when referring to Statements

Cashbook

The Cashbook is used to keep track of financial transactions not recorded through the Creditor or Debtor Payments windows. This includes transactions such as transfers between bank accounts, payments made by cheque or credit card for whch an invoice was not recieved, interest, credit card and fee payments.

From the aeonscope icon in the taskbar, select General Ledger → Cashbook

Note: The Cashbook does not automatically calculate GST. Transactions recorded using the Cashbook must have seperate allocation lines for GST.

Cheques

The Cheques window is used to record any payments made using a cheque.

Clicking on the button will open the Cash Book - Ledger Cheques window. Changing the bank from the Bank Accounts drop-down menu at the top of the window will allow you to see a list of transactions to that account.

Viewing Cheque Details

Doubleclicking on any of the entries in the Cash Book - Ledger Cheques window will open a View window containing details of the cheque payment.

New Cheques

In the Cash Book - Ledger Cheques window select the bank account issuing the cheque you will be using for payment from the Bank Accounts drop down menu near the top of the window. Click on the button. This will open the Ledger Cheque Entry window.

• The Bank Account and GL Account Code will be completed with the details of the Bank account you selected in the Cash Book - Ledger Cheques window.
• Enter the number written on the cheque in the Cheque No field.
• The Date field will automatically contain today's date. CHange the date to match the date written on the cheque if necessary. The Period field should match the Date field.
• In the Credit Amount field enter the amount of the cheque to be allocated into that account.
• In the Payee field enter the code for the Creditor, or use the Search /Lookup button to find the Creditors record in the Contacts database. The Name field will contain the name of the Creditor whose code you have entered in the Payee field.
• Enter a Description of the purpose of the cheque in the Description field.

This completes the Cheque description. Now we need to allocate the funds in the General Ledger. Note: The cashbook will not automatically calculate GST. You must entere a seperate allocation for the GST amount.' Click on the button next to Allocations towards the bottom of the window. This will open the Debit/Credit entry window:

• Enter the Account Code appropriate to the purpose for which the cheque was written. You can use the Search/Lookup button to search for a suitable account. The name of the account selected will appear in the Name field.
• Enter the amount of the cheque in the Debit field. Ignore the Credit field.
• The Description field will contain the same information entered in the Description field of the Ledger Cheque Entry window
• Click OK to return to the Ledger Cheque Entry window.
• Repeat adding allocations until you have allocated the entire amount of the cheque.

Review the Cheque details. When you are satisfied that the entry is complete and that the allocations add up to the total amount of the Cheque click OK. This will save the Cheque details into the aeonscope database and assign the amounts to the various accounts in the General Ledger.

Editing a Cheque

To edit the details of a cheque, highlight the cheque in the Ledger Cheques list and click the Edit button.

Please refer to the section on Reversing Financial Transactions

Payments

Payments records non-Creditor payments as well as Bank fees and Charges. This could include Employee reimbursements or funds to Petty Cash.

Clicking on the button will open the Cash Book - Sundry Payments window.

Viewing Payments

Doubleclicking on any of the entries in the Cash Book - Sundry Payments window will open a View window containing details of the payment.

Adding a New Payment

In the Cash Book - Sundry Payments window select the bank account you will be using for payment from the Bank Accounts drop down menu near the top of the window. Click on the button. This will open the Sundry Payments Entry window.

• The Bank Account and GL Account Code will be completed with the details of the Bank account you selected in the Cash Book - Sundry Payments window.
• The Source Ref field should contain a unique identifying number for this transaction. You may wish to use a date or some other fomula you can use to identify the payment.
• The Date field will automatically contain today's date. Change the date to reflect the payment date if necessary. The Period field should match the Date field.
• In the Credit Amount field enter the amount of the payment to be made.
• In the Payee field enter the code for the Contact you are making a payment to, or use the Search /Lookup button to find the Contact record in the Contacts database. The Name field will contain the name of the Contact (this may be an individual or a business) whose code you have entered in the Payee field.
• Enter a Description of the purpose of the payment in the Description field.

This completes the SUndry Payment description. Now we need to allocate the funds in the General Ledger. Note: The cashbook will not automatically calculate GST. You must entere a seperate allocation for the GST amount.' Click on the button next to Allocations towards the bottom of the window. This will open the Debit/Credit entry window:

• Enter the Account Code appropriate to the purpose for the payment. You can use the Search/Lookup button to search for a suitable account. The name of the account selected will appear in the Name field.
• Enter the amount to be allocated to that account in the Debit field. Ignore the Credit field.
• The Description field will contain the same information entered in the Description field of the Sundry Payment Entry window
• Click OK to return to the Sundry Payment Entry window.
• Repeat adding allocations until you have allocated the entire amount of the payment.

Review the Payment details. When you are satisfied that the entry is complete and that the allocations add up to the total amount of the Payment click OK. This will save the Payment details into the aeonscope database and assign the amounts to the various accounts in the General Ledger.

Editing Payments

To edit the details of a payment, highlight the payment in the Sundry Payments list and click the Edit button.

Please refer to the section on Reversing Financial Transactions

Receipts

The Reciepts windows allow you to record payments make to your company by companies or individulals that are not Debtors. This may include interest earned, credits from payments made by cheque, and transferring money between your company's accounts. Clicking on the button will open the Cash Book - Sundry Receipts window. Changing the bank from the Bank Accounts drop-down menu at the top of the window will allow you to see a list of transactions to that account.

Viewing Receipts

Doubleclicking on any of the entries in the Cash Book - Sundry Receipts window will open a View window containing details of the payment.

Adding a New Receipt

In the Cash Book - Sundry Receipt window select the bank account you will be using for payment from the Bank Accounts drop down menu near the top of the window. Click on the button. This will open the Sundry Payments Entry window.

• The Bank Account and GL Account Code will be completed with the details of the Bank account you selected in the Cash Book - Sundry Receipts window.
• The Source Ref field should contain a unique identifying number for this transaction. You may wish to use a date or some other fomula you can use to identify the payment.
• The Date field will automatically contain today's date. Change the date to reflect the payment date if necessary. The Period field should match the Date field.
• In the Debit Amount field enter the amount of the payment made.
• In the Payee field enter the code for the Contact making a payment, or use the Search /Lookup button to find the Contact record in the Contacts database. The Name field will contain the name of the Contact (this may be an individual or a business) whose code you have entered in the Payee field.
• Enter a Description of the purpose of the payment in the Description field.

This completes the Sundry Receipt description. Now we need to allocate the funds in the General Ledger. Note: The cashbook will not automatically calculate GST. You must entere a seperate allocation for the GST amount.' Click on the button next to Allocations towards the bottom of the window. This will open the Debit/Credit entry window:

• Enter the Account Code appropriate to the purpose for the payment. You can use the Search/Lookup button to search for a suitable account. The name of the account selected will appear in the Name field.
• Enter the amount to be allocated to that account in the Credit field. Ignore the Debt field.
• The Description field will contain the same information entered in the Description field of the Sundry Receipt Entry window
• Click OK to return to the Sundry Receipt Entry window.
• Repeat adding allocations until you have allocated the entire amount of the payment.

Review the Receipt details. When you are satisfied that the entry is complete and that the allocations add up to the total amount of the Receipt click OK. This will save the Receipt details into the aeonscope database and assign the amounts to the various accounts in the General Ledger.

Editing Receipts

To edit the details of a receipt, highlight the receipt in the Sundry Receipts list and click the Edit button.

Please refer to the section on Reversing Financial Transactions

Bank Statements

The Bank Statements windows in aeonscope allow you to reconcile Cashbook entries and Creditor and Debitor payments against your financial institutions statements.

To open Bank Statements from the aeonscope icon in the taskbar, select General Ledger → Bank Statements. This will launch the Bank Statement Allocation window.

Select the Bank account you wish to reconcile from the drop down list in the Bank Accounts field. If a current Statement page is open the details will automatically be completed in the rest of the fields in this window. If no statement has been created the fields will remain blank.

Opening a New Statement

With the Bank account selected in the Bank Accounts field, click on the New button.

This will open the Bank Statement Entry window.

• Enter the page number for the new Statement to start on. If this in a new Bank Account start with Page 1, if this is a new statement for an exisiting account enter the next chronological page number for that account.
• Ideally the Bank Statement periods in aeonscope should match the periods bank statements are issued by your financial institution. The Closing Date should be the same as the closing date on the statement issued to you from your financial institution.
• The Opening Balance should match the closing balance from the previous statement. If this is a new account the balance may be $0.00
• Click OK, this will save the new Statement and return you to the Bank Statements window

Adding Transactions to the Statement

Click on the Edit button in the Bank Statements window. This will open the Bank Statement entry window. Click on the button to see a list of any transactions entered into the aeonscope system that have to be reconciled against a statement.

Put a check mark against the transactions that appear on the statement issued by your financial institution. Click the OK button. This will return you to the Bank Statement entry window, with the transactions you just allocated added to the list of transactions in that window.

Balancing a Statement

When all the entries for the current statement period have been entered, and the Current Balance matches that on the statement from your financial institution, you may wish to flag the statement as balanced. This is an optional task, but my be useful if several people from within your company are responsible for this area of Accounts.

To flag the statement as Balanced click on the button at the top left of the statement window.

Reconciliation Reports

These reports can identify where problem accounts are preventing you from closing General Ledger Periods.

Creditor Reconciliation

The Creditor Reconciliation Report can be acessed from the aeonscope icon in the taskbar, select General Ledger → Reports → Creditor Reconciliation. This will open the Creditor Reconciliation window.

• Enter the Account Period code in the Code field, or use the search/lookup button to locate the account record.
• Click the preview button to generate the report. The report will open in a new window.
  

The report lists all financial transactions that are dated in the month you have specified to report on, but whose financial transactions have been posted to a different months GL period.

Debtor Reconciliation

The Debtor Reconciliation Report can be acessed from the aeonscope icon in the taskbar, select General Ledger → Reports → Debtor Reconciliation. This will open the Debtor Reconciliation window.

• Enter the Account Period code in the Code field, or use the search/lookup button to locate the account record.
• Click the preview button to generate the report. The report will open in a new window.
  

The report lists all financial transactions that are dated in the month you have specified to report on, but whose financial transactions have been posted to a different GL period.