About Unit Code Reporting

These are the basic assumptions of unit code reporting throughout the system.

Account Structure

The account structure in the system is:

  • Account - Main account
  • Unit Code 1 is predefined as tied to the department code. Payroll and Shop Floor Control use this field when reporting hours. If Unit Code 1 is defined, it must be tied to a valid department number. To make this connection on the Departments form, fill in the Unit Code 1 value for each department you want.
  • Unit Code 2 represents the product code, and, if defined, must be tied to a valid product code. As inventory related transactions are produced, the transactions are automatically updated with the value that appears in Unit Code 2 on the Product Codes form for that item.
  • Unit Code 3 and Unit Code 4 are user-defined. They can carry any valid unit code that has been defined on the appropriate Unit Code form. For example, you could use them for work centers or for a cost center that is grouped differently than what is defined as Department in Unit Code 1. You could use these for reporting on different currency codes, vendor statistics or customer statistics.

Account is part of the account template, unit codes are not. Any unit code can be tied to a main account, provided the Chart of Accounts setup allows that chart record access to that unit code.

You can use the same unit code for more than one reporting unit, although the codes would not necessarily mean the same thing. For example, a unit code value of ABCD could be set up for both Unit Code 3 and Unit Code 4, because each unit code is a separate table.

Chart of Accounts

On the Chart of Accounts, you can set each unit code with one of these attributes:

  • Not Accessible: The reporting unit field is not accessible for this account in the application. If this option is selected, the unit code will not be posted. The corresponding Unit Code tab on the Chart of Accounts form is disabled.
  • Accessible: The reporting unit field is accessible for this account everywhere in the application If this option is selected, you can specify that unit code for the associated account, but it is not mandatory.
  • Required: The reporting unit field is required for this account everywhere in the system. If this option is selected, you are required to enter the unit code for the associated account. An error occurs if you leave the unit code blank when one is required. If no unit code is entered, posting will fail.

Areas of the system that provide default account numbers also allow the entry of reporting units to be used as defaults. In places where the default account numbers can be overwritten, so can the reporting units.

Inventory Transactions

For transactions involving inventory distribution accounts, the system pulls unit codes from Item Stockroom Locations.

Job Transactions

WIP transactions pull Acct, Unit Code 1, Unit Code 3, and Unit Code 4 from the Product Codes - WIP tab. Unit Code 2 comes from the Product Codes - General tab.

For example, a job is created for Item A. Item B is the material issued to that job. Unit Codes 1, 3 and 4 are defined on the Product Codes - WIP tab. For a job material issue, the following accounts and unit codes are used.

  Acct UC 1 UC 2 UC 3 UC 4
(Debits) from Job Header WIP Accounts (Cost Detail          
WIP Material XXXX XXX XXX XXX XXX
WIP Labor XXXX XXX XXX XXX XXX
WIP Fixed Overhead XXXX XXX XXX XXX XXX
WIP Variable Overhead XXXX XXX XXX XXX XXX
WIP Outside Services XXXX XXX XXX XXX XXX
Credits (from Item Stockroom Locations)          
Inventory Material XXXX   XXX    
Inventory Labor XXXX   XXX    
Inventory Fixed Overhead XXXX   XXX    
Inventory Variable Overhead XXXX   XXX    
Inventory Outside Services XXXX   XXX    

Labor Posting

  Acct UC1 UC2 UC3 UC4
(Debits) From Job Header WIP Accounts (Cost Detail)          
WIP Material XXXX XXX XXX XXX XXX
WIP Labor XXXX XXX XXX XXX XXX
WIP Fixed Overhead XXXX XXX XXX XXX XXX
WIP Variable Overhead XXXX XXX XXX XXX XXX
WIP Outside Services XXXX XXX XXX XXX XXX
(Credits) From Work Center of Operation (Dept. of WC) Departments record          
Direct Labor Expense XXXX XXX XXX XXX XXX
Fixed Labor Overhead Applied XXXX XXX XXX XXX XXX
Variable Labor Applied XXXX XXX XXX XXX XXX

In standard costing, variance transactions use Unit Code 2 from the Product Codes - General tab. For labor rate variance, it also uses Unit Code 1 from the Departments form. Other unit codes are pulled from the Product Codes - Variance tab.

CO Shipping Transactions

Customer order unit codes can be handled in one of two ways. On the Customers form there is an End User Type field. End User Type accounts can then be set up on the End User Types form. The accounts defined here are Sales, Sales Discount, Accounts Receivable, Cost of Goods Sold Material, Cost of Goods Sold Labor, Cost of Goods Sold Fixed Overhead, Cost of Goods Sold Variable Overhead, and Cost of Goods Sold Outside. If End User Type is defined on the Customers form, that type is pulled into the order and the default values for Acct, Unit Code 1, Unit Code 2, Unit Code 3, and Unit Code 4 are used from the End User Types form. If there is no Unit Code 2 on the End User Type form, it is pulled from the Product Codes - General tab.

If End User Type is not used, the system pulls the Acct, Unit Code 1, Unit Code 2, Unit Code 3, and Unit Code 4 from the Sales/COGS tab on the Distribution Accounts form for all accounts listed above except Accounts Receivable. If there is no Unit Code 2 on the Sales/COGS tab of the Distribution Accounts form, it is pulled from the Product Codes - General tab. Accounts Receivable is pulled from the Accounts Receivable Parameters form and uses all Acct, and all Unit Codes.

See Where Unit Codes Come From for more information.