Possible causes of out-of-balance conditions in General Ledger
There are many reasons a General Ledger system may become out of balance. Identifying the cause of the balancing problem is the first step toward researching a process flaw. This ensures that the remedy fits the problem and helps prevent future occurrences. Use this checklist to determine the source of your out of balance condition. Perform these tasks in the order listed.
Verify that the balancing report was not run during business hours
If the GL Trial Balance Report is run during business hours while transaction updates are occurring, you run the risk of generating an inaccurate report. The reason is that the report is a point-in-time snapshot. If a transaction is partially completed when the report is run, the report shows an out of balance condition. After the transactions have completed, run the report again to be in balance.
Review suspense accounts
If this account contains a balance, there is a chance that the GL suspense account was updated with a posting that should have updated the GL control account. Use the GL Transaction Activity Report to review these accounts and GL Transaction Entry to reverse the entries to the correct accounts.
Check for open journals
To verify that there are no open journals, select SA Journal Setup-Assignment. Clear all selection criteria and select the Open option. Click to show a list of open journals. If you find an open journal for the period in question, print the journal and try to determine why that journal was not closed.
If you cannot resolve an open journal during the period in question, contact Infor Support.
Balance General Ledger accounts
Ensure the account you are balancing is in balance based on the GL Transaction Activity Report. Run the GL Transaction Activity Report for a period range and check for out-of-balance messages. If an account is out of balance, review the account on the GL Transaction Activity Reportin detail. You may have to manually adjust GL Account Setup after you locate the error.
Check for direct postings to the control account
When you post to a journal from a Distribution SX.e function, such as order entry, any General Ledger update made to a control account is automatically determined by the system. The offsetting entry varies depending on the posting being performed. You may be required to specify an account code when the GL Distribution view is displayed. Selecting a control account number causes an out-of-balance condition between the subsidiary ledger and the GL control account.
To determine whether this has happened, run a detailed GL Transaction Activity Report for the control account and posting date in question. This can be an extremely long report, depending on the control account being examined and the number of posting days being examined. Check for any unusual postings. For example, if you are reviewing the AR control account and find a Customer Cash Receipt Entry posting that is debiting the AR control account, examine the entry. Print the journal associated with this transaction to determine whether the AR control account was inappropriately used.
Check for more postings from other modules
Other modules may not post to another module’s control account for the same reason General Ledger transactions cannot be directly posted to a control account. For example, if an vendor is also a customer and owes a liability, you cannot reduce the liability by the receivable due from the vendor’s Accounts Receivable account. These are separate modules and should be treated as such. If the Manual Posting option in GL Account Setup is selected, posting is not possible. Run the GL Transaction Activity Report to review these accounts, and use the appropriate transaction entry function to reverse the entries to the correct accounts.
Run a current report
Run the balancing reports without an "as of" date to check for out-of-balance conditions. There may be a posting date or posting period conflict that caused a false out-of-balance condition. Posting journals with a post date that is outside the posting period range causes this condition.
Run the GL Administrator Year End Report correctly
When you run GL Administrator Year End Report, ensure all operators are logged out of the system. Log off and log back in to the system before you make any back postings. Otherwise, the previous year defaults into your operator variables. The back postings will not roll forward to the forward balance of the new year and will cause an out-of-balance situation. You must manually update the GL Account Setup balances forward for all affected accounts to correct this situation.