How does the General Ledger application affect Human Resources?

Chart of accounts

A chart of accounts is a list of accounts you use to organize accounting records. It is made up of balance sheet accounts (assets, liabilities, and equity) and income statement accounts (income and expenses). The balance sheet and income statement accounts are made up of summary and detail accounts.

How is a chart of accounts used?

The chart of accounts is used for journal entries and to summarize general ledger information for reports and inquiries. The account numbers and descriptions you define are reflected in your balance sheets, income statements, and other reports and inquiries. Detail accounts roll up into summary accounts to provide totals.

For more information, see the General Ledger User Guide.

General Ledger company

A company is the highest organizational element in the General Ledger application. It can represent any business or legal entity of an organization, such as a corporation, holding company, division, or region.

You assign a chart of accounts, base operating currency, fiscal calendar, and optional security safeguards to a company.

You structure your company to match your business needs. Your first decision is whether you will need multiple companies or a single company. You can define up to 9,999 separate companies in General Ledger that you can consolidate for reporting and inquiry.

For more information, see the General Ledger User Guide.

Accounting unit

An accounting unit represents a location or business center in a general ledger company, such as a division, department, region, or store. Each accounting unit must have a unique name, up to 15 characters long.

You cannot change an accounting unit name after you define it.

Your company can include up to five levels of accounting units. A level represents a layer in a company structure's hierarchy. For example, a company structure might include three levels: region, division, and department. Each level is part of or reports to the level above it.

Intercompany relationships

If you want to create intercompany transactions in General Ledger, or in other Lawson applications, you must define intercompany relationships. An intercompany relationship identifies the payable and receivable accounts used to post company balancing transactions. You can define these accounts by system. You must define relationships for each company that originates intercompany transactions.

For more information, see the General Ledger User Guide.

Distribution company

If you have decided to have one Human Resource company reporting to multiple General Ledger companies, the additional General Ledger companies are referred to as Distribution companies.

Distribution companies allow you to post wage expenses, deduction expenses, cash, accruals, error suspense, clearing account, and non-cash transactions to different General Ledger companies.

Planning your General Ledger setup for Human Resources

The Lawson General Ledger application is the source for all your organization's financial and reporting information, and is a required product for all Human Resources customers.

This checklist provides an overview for setting up General Ledger. For more information, see the General Ledger User Guide.