How do I know what G/L account to use?
Selecting the best or most appropriate General Ledger (G/L) account is not always obvious.
To help in your selection, we have provided a list below of things to consider when making your decision.
- Identify whether the transaction is a revenue or expense. This process will narrow your search to 7 or 8 series g/l accounts. There are circumstances where there is more than one g/l with a similar name. For example, conference fees can represent either a revenue (750200) or an expense (837800).
- The G/L account list with Additional Text Report provides a list of all G/L accounts along with a short text description and the commitment item associated with them.
- It is important to consider whether the type of expense was included in the original operating budget. If so, then the g/l account used for planning should also be used for recording in FIS. This will allow for plan vs. actuals reporting.
- If an exact G/L account does not exist, then select the most appropriate one available. For example, there is not a g/l account specifically for the purchase of chairs, but one does exist for furniture purchase.
- To be consistent for reporting purposes, review appropriate historical transactions when choosing a g/l.
Picked the wrong g/l account? If so, this can easily be corrected by processing a journal entry.
For assistance, please contact your FAST Team representative.
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Last Updated: July 19, 2023