Most publications have fiscal periods that end on the same date as a billing period (often the last day of the month). Because it is necessary to do an account billing run in order to update general ledger accounts, a fiscal period that does not end with a billing period creates a challenge.
In these cases, you should run the Accruals option to force a “premature” billing run, so that GL accounts can be updated for reporting purposes. However, it will also create reversal transactions on the following day. When the real billing run takes place, the transactions placed in the GL will be canceled out by the reversal transactions—except for the transactions that took place between the accrual billing run and the real billing run, and which were therefore not reversed.
For example, suppose the fiscal period ends on February 5, but the account billing period ends on January 31. On January 31, an account billing run would take place, and the GL accounts would be updated for reporting. Then, on February 5, accruals would be run, creating GL transactions for February 1-5. Reverse transactions (dated February 6) would also be created, so that when account billing is run on February 28, the entire month of February will be billed.
For more information about account billing runs, see Selection.
Performing an account accruals run involves the following steps:
Set up a date for the accruals billing run by selecting Setup | Accounting | Account Billing | Accrual Calendar (in the character interface). The date should be the date on which you run your accruals. Be sure the date is set for the correct bill source code (the one for which you are doing accruals). See Accrual Calendar in the Setup Manual for details about the Accrual Calendar. Note: This is the only step performed in the character interface. The remainder of the steps are performed in the Graphical Accounting module.
Open an accrual billing run by selecting Account Accruals | Selection in the Graphical Accounting module. You will be able to enter only those dates that are set up in the Accrual Calendar.
Process the billing in Account Accruals | Processing.
Optionally, run the Accrual Journal (Account Accruals | Accrual Journal) so that you can preview the information that will be sent to the General Ledger and Undo the accrual processing, if necessary.
Run Create Accruals (Account Accruals | Create Accruals) to create the GL entries and complete the accrual process.
If it is necessary to reverse the accruals (because mistakes were made), select Undo Accruals.
To open an account accruals run:
Choose Selection from the Account Accruals menu. The Account Accrual Selection window appears, showing all of the open runs, both accrual and billing.
Click Add and complete the following fields:
COMPANY
setup
Enter the company ID for the group of accounts being selected.
ALL ACCTS
display
All accounts will be selected.
BILL SOURCE
setup
Enter the bill source for the group of accounts being selected.
BILL DATE
date
Enter the billing date for the group of accounts being selected. This date must be specified as a billing date in the accrual calendar (see Accrual Calendar in the Setup Manual).
NEXT BILL DATE
date
The next billing date, based on the accrual calendar for the bill source entered, is displayed.
BILL PRD (period)
setup
ADV PRD (advanced bill period)
setup
Enter the advance billing period(s) if some of these accounts are set up to be billed in advance.
DESCRIPTION
open (30)
Enter a description of the group of accounts being selected for accrual billing.
STATUS
display
Click OK to finish the selection.
Click Accept and then Continue to exit the window.
To process an account accruals run:
Choose Processing from the Account Accruals menu. The Account Accrual Processing window appears, showing all of the account accrual selections that are ready to be processed.
To process a selection, select the Process checkbox next to the selection and click Continue.
To run the Accrual Journal:
Select Accrual Journal from the Account Accruals menu. The Account Accrual Journal window appears, showing the processed account accruals that can be selected.
Select the Process checkbox next to the accrual run for which you want to generate the journal.
Enter the following sort parameters:
SORT ORDER
predefined
Indicate whether the Accrual Journal should be sorted by account, account group, area, depot, district, name, region, route, truck, or zone. You can also sort by publication and then district, zone, region, or area.
TRUCK SEQUENCE
setup
If the sort order is by truck, enter the truck sequence in which you want the journal to print. The truck sequence is the pattern that describes which routes are dropped from which trucks on a given day. Examples are “daily” and “Sunday”.
TRUCK DEPARTURE
setup
Enter the truck departure sequence in which you want the journal to print when the sort order is “Truck.” The departure sequence is the departure pattern trucks follow on a given day, for example “City” or “Monday”.
Click Continue to produce the journal.
Use this option when you need to reverse the accrual processing for any reason.
Select Undo Processing from the Account Accruals menu. The Undo Account Accrual Processing window appears, showing the processed account accruals that can be selected.
Select the Process checkbox next to the accrual process you want to undo.
Click Continue to undo the accrual process.
Use this option to create the GL entries and complete the accrual process.
Select Create Accruals from the Account Accruals menu. The Account Accruals window appears.
Select the Process checkbox next to the accrual process for which you want to create accruals.
Click Continue to create the accruals.
Use this option to undo the Create Accruals process.
Select Undo Accruals from the Account Accruals menu. The Account Accruals window appears.
Select the Process checkbox next to the accruals you want to undo.
Click Continue to undo the accruals.
Enter the billing period to include in this selection. The bill period determines what charges are included in the accrual billing. Enter “*” for a multi-select window. See for more information about bill periods.
This field displays the status of the billing run. See for an explanation of the various statuses.
