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Course Title:                    MAS 90 General Ledger Fundamentals

 

Type of Presentation:       Instructor led presentation and hands-on lab. 

 

Course Description:         Hands-on overview of the MAS 90 General Ledger module

 

Course Outline:                This class is all about setting up a financial reporting system.  Learn how to set up a chart of accounts, how to record journal entries, the relationships between other modules and the GL system, how to close the books and more.  This course is designed for new MAS 90 users who are comfortable using a Windows-based computer and have basic accounting knowledge. 

 

1.                  General Ledger module overview

a)                  General Ledger features

i)                    Posting to future periods allows posting to next year while current year is still open

ii)                   Can reopen any fiscal year by changing GL date, posting adjustments and reclosing year

a)                  For as long as detailed history kept for prior periods (set in GL Options)

iii)                 Each journal entry can contain 9999 distribution lines

b)                  GL as a stand-alone module or integrated with other modules

 

2.                  Setting up a General Ledger

a)                  Registering the GL module

b)                  General Ledger Options

i)                    Account number structure

a)                  9 digits in max. 3 segments

(1)               first segment always defines the primary account

(2)               2nd and 3rd segments (optional) can be used to identify subaccounts, divisions, locations etc.

ii)                   Budget Options - can define 3 budgets, Current, Revised and User Defined

a)                  Specify default budget to use on standard financial statements

b)                  Define Auto budget to use to establish next year’s budget at year end

iii)                 Current fiscal year and period

a)                  Start point for new GL

b)                  Incremented automatically via Period End processing

iv)                 How long to retain Transactional and Summary history

c)                  Fiscal periods and ending dates

i)                    Assumes 12 month calendar year

ii)                   Change fiscal year by changing ending date of first period and calculating

d)                  Setting up source journals

i)                    Set up source journal codes to attach to each GL entry

ii)                   Register numbers are unique to each source journal

iii)                 Some reports can be run by source journal

e)                  Designing a Chart of Accounts

i)                    Account numbers and account number breaks

a)                  Breaks define account type based on number range

b)                  13 predefined account break types

(1)               Use Account Break Type Maintenance - define titles to be used in financial statements for each break type

(2)               Account Break Maintenance - Define each break and add new breaks

ii)                   Departments and locations

a)                  Define subdivisions (locations, departments etc.) for segments created in GL Options

 

3.                  GL Account maintenance

a)                  Setting up accounts

i)                    Account Type - depending on where account falls in account break structure, further defines account for purposes of calculating ratios etc.

ii)                   Cash Flows Code - defines where changes to account are reflected in Statement of Cash Flows

b)                  Copying accounts - allows main account to be copied to multiple departments or locations

c)                  Account History - allows viewing of monthly changes to account balance

d)                  Entering and viewing budget information (if Maintain Budgets from Account Maintenance selected in GL Options)

i)                    Can copy any of 3 budgets to another budget or to another year

ii)                   View variance for TY actual vs. any budget, or prior year’s activity

e)                  Viewing Transactions posted to each GL account - for as long as transaction history kept in GL Options

i)                    Zoom to transactional detail

ii)                   Zoom to posting journal entry                                                               

4.                  GL Account Inquiry - read only view of Account Maintenance

a)                  Can set permissions for users/groups only allowing access to Inquiry

 

5.                  Entering a General Journal Entry

a)                  Used to post misc. postings and adjustments to GL, other modules create their own GL entries

b)                  Posting Date - determines which period transaction posts to

c)                  Reversing Date - automatically reverses entry in period specified

i)                    for entering accruals and prepaids that reverse in subsequent periods

d)                  “Allocate” button - to post manual allocations created in Allocation Entry Maintenance

e)                  “Save” button - allows saving journal entry as Standard Journal for reuse

i)                    Each Source journal can have one Standard Journal attached to it

ii)                   If saved, when Source Journal opened to create new entry, you are asked if you want to use the Standard Journal.  If yes, the saved entry is entered and can be modified to create a new GJ Entry

iii)                 To delete a previously saved Standard Journal, open Source Journal in General Journal Entry, select “Save” and then Delete

f)                    Using a GJE to enter beginning account balances

i)                    Using separate GJEs for each month if midyear

 

6.                  Running General Journal Report and updating the General Ledger

a)                  All Journal Entries must balance before GL can be updated

b)                  Posts all general journals to GL Detail Transaction file

c)                  Account master files are updated

d)                  GJE files are cleared

 

7.                  Working with Budgets

a)                  Entering initial and modifying existing budget numbers (either in Budget Maintenance or in Account Maintenance if activated GL Options)

i)                    Allows entry directly into budget

ii)                   copy a first period’s budget amount to successive periods by selecting a field and selecting “Change Budget” button

a)                  can copy amount or change successive periods by a $ amount or percentage

b)                  Budget Report - prints budget entries by account/by period      

c)                  Budget Revision Entry and the Budget Revision Register

i)                    Allows modification of entire budget or range of accounts based on a calculated amount of another budget or actual amount

ii)                   Creates a revision entry that is subsequently posted to the budget by running and updating the Budget Revision Register

iii)                 Allows preliminary budget adjustments without affecting permanent files

d)                  Allocating annual budgets to months

e)                  Automatic Budget Copy - revise any current or future budget by a calculated amount based on another budget or actual amounts

i)                    Directly changes budget without an audit trail

 

8.                  Using Allocation Maintenance to set up automatic allocation entries

a)                  Automatically posts a single source account to multiple destination accounts

i)                    Can distribute balance of source account or set $ amount

b)                  Allocation type - destination amounts based on percent of total allocated or quantity entered for each

c)                  Allocation Cycle - determines when allocation entry is posted

i)                    Period, Quarterly or Annually - allocation made automatically in Period End processing

ii)                   Manual - Available by selecting “Allocation” button in General Journal Entry     

           

9.                  Recurring Journal Entries - entries that do not automatically change from one period to the next

a)                  Unlike Standard Journals, dollar amounts also save with the journal entry and can select a group of recurring journal entries to post at one time

b)                  Select Cycle - User defined code allows selecting a group of entries for posting

c)                  Stop Date - can specify a date after which the journal entry is no longer selected

d)                  Selecting, printing and updating the Recurring Journal

i)                    Can run by Source Journal, Selection Cycle and/or reference number range

ii)                   Posts recurring journals to GL Detail Transaction File

 

10.              Using Transaction Journal Entries to enter cash receipts and disbursements

a)                  Allows posting of detail to build the offsetting cash entry

b)                  Changing format of journal to automate detail entries

i)                    format stored with associated journal

c)                  Printing and updating the transaction journal

i)                    posts transaction journal entries to the General Ledger Detail Transaction File

 

11.              Running and updating the Daily Transaction Register

a)                  Posts entries from all other modules to the GL Detail Transaction File

 

12.              Running GL reports

a)                  Chart of Accounts

b)                  General Ledger Worksheet - used to manually construct adjusting entries

i)                    Can print at any current or future accounting date

c)                  General Ledger Analysis - prints a summary income statement and balance sheet  plus 13 financial ratios

d)                  Budget and History Report - can print comparison for up to 5 budget and actual amounts for 13 periods

e)                  Trial Balance

f)                    Standard Financial Statements - income statement and trial balance

i)                    Can be run for any current or future accounting period

ii)                   Can run by GL segment, or combined

iii)                 Can print period-to-date and/or year-to-date data and balance sheet comparisons

iv)                 Can add user-defined footnotes to each page

 

13.              Custom Financial Statements

a)                  Custom Report Generation - wizard automatically generates a set of financial statements (Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Statement of Cash Flows)

i)                    Reports run in ascending order.  Income statement must have a lower number to automatically update the balance sheet and statement of changes

a)                  Prompt if update needed

b)                  Custom Report Maintenance - allows modification of reports created by Custom Report Generation and creating of new reports

i)                    Linkage defines what is included in each report line

ii)                   Can link to reports for other companies to produce consolidated reports

a)                  Does not automatically create consolidation entries, but can be accommodated by linking and calculations

c)                  Custom Report Group Maintenance - allows grouping of custom reports to be run as a group

d)                  Custom Report Printing - allows printing a range of report numbers and groups

 

14.              Period End Processing (year-end if last period in fiscal year)

a)                  Running Allocation Selection - runs period, quarterly and year-end cycles as defined in Allocation Maintenance

i)                    Printing and Updating the Allocation Journal - posts allocation entries to the GL

b)                  Period End and Year End processing

i)                    Full Period End Processing - Closes the accounting period and cycles accounting period forward

a)                  Option to Run Allocations if not already done for period

b)                  Option to print standard period-end reports

ii)                   Consolidate GL Detail Records - purges period summary history into a consolidated balance (based on number of years history retained as specified in GL Options)

a)                  Can be used at any time

iii)                 Purge Transaction Detail History - purges transactional information

a)                  Can be used at any time to free up disk space

iv)                 Purge Period End History - Clears the Period Summary Detail file

a)                  Can be used at any time to free up disk space

 

15.              Using the Xchange Menu

a)                  Can import and export GL account and transaction data to ASCII text, Delimited, DIF, Lotus or Dbase III file

i)                    On import, data is validated and records failing validation are not imported.  The import log provides an audit trail

ii)                   On export to Lotus, unwanted insignificant digits must be handled in Lotus via. @ROUND function

b)                  Can use to import information from existing accounting system on conversion

i)                    Data fields (Lotus column headers) must match MAS90 data format

a)                  Unused numeric fields should contain a 0

b)                  Unused text fields should be empty

c)                  Using Xchange to import budget information

i)                    If the account number already exists in the GL, an Xchange only inputs the budget information

 

 

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