Journal entry

A Multi-Book Ledger journal entryis an adjusting journal entry made against an existing General Ledger company, accounting unit, and account and stored in a separate ledger. The journal entry does not change the account balance in General Ledger. Instead, it creates a different balance for the account in a separate ledger so that you can generate multiple books for the same company. Those journal entries are later transcribed, or posted, to the appropriate accounts in your ledger. Journal entries can be:

  • Created directly in Multi-Book Ledger

  • Created in a non-Lawson application and interfaced to Multi-Book Ledger

Each journal entry is assigned a type; the types are based on options used to create them. This table describes the four types of journal entries:

Journal Entry Type Defined By Description
Normal (N) User A normal journal entry is any entry you create within one company.
Intercompany (I)

From side: User

To side: System

An intercompany journal entry crosses more than one ledger company. A transaction that resulted in the transfer of equipment from one company to another would require an intercompany journal entry.
Note: In an intercompany transaction, all companies involved must be associated with the ledger for which the transaction is defined.
Note: Lawson does not recommend using both interzone and intercompany process for the same company.
Auto Reverse (A) System The period closing process creates auto reverse journal entries for journal entries that are flagged to auto reverse. These entries reverse the associated transactions in the next period or in another period you select. For example, you might auto reverse accrued travel expense entries.
Intercompany Auto Reverse (R) System The period closing process also creates auto reverse entries for all intercompany journal entries flagged to auto reverse. These entries reverse the associated transactions in the next period or in another period you select.

Example

River Bend restaurant needs to account for depreciation in two ways. For standard financial statements, it can depreciate its building over 30 years. For tax purposes, it must depreciate the building over 18 years. The depreciable amount for the building is $360,000. Using straight line depreciation, the monthly depreciation amount for a 30-year depreciation is $1000.00. For the 18-year depreciation, the monthly depreciation amount is $1667.00. The River Bend accountant resolves this situation by tracking the standard depreciation on the General Ledger, and the tax-specific depreciation on a separate tax ledger defined in the Multi-Book Ledger application.

The General Ledger depreciation entries each month are:

Account Name Debit Credit
Depreciation expense - bldg 1000.00
Accumulated depreciation - bldg 1000.00

The adjusting depreciation entries in the Multi-Book Ledger tax ledger are:

Account Name Debit Credit
Depreciation expense - bldg 667.00
Accumulated depreciation - bldg 667.00

Multi-Book Ledger reports on the tax ledger combine the General Ledger and Multi-Book Ledger entries to specify a total depreciation amount for the period of $1667.00.