R12 General Ledger: Alternate Account Functionality
Oracle introduced new functionality in R12 called ‘Alternate Account’. This functionality is very useful when you have a need to disable and/or end date an account combination within your chart of accounts or you have a significant requirement to change mass chart of account values. There are two key uses of this functionality. Firstly, you may wish to make specific account combination(s) obsolete and replace it with new account combination(s). You may also wish to change a range of combinations that contain a specific value within a single segment (e.g. natural account XXXX) disabling all associated combinations and then add ’Alternate Accounts’ that have been changed. Alternate accounts can therefore be very useful if you have a significant account combination change requirements within your chart of accounts. The screen shot below shows the definition of an alternate account on single combination.
Secondly, the functionality is particularly helpful when you have open transactions created against the end dated/disabled account combinations. This is the interesting element to defining alternate accounts. For example, where you have a number of sub ledger transactions that have already been accounted against the end dated or disabled combinations and are transactions that are still in process, e.g. an invoice on hold, you do not need to change the accounting created on these existing transactions. When these transactions are subsequently imported into General Ledger (GL), the old combinations are automatically replaced with the alternate account combination(s) during the journal import and create accounting process. This adds value and efficiency to transaction processing and prevents the need for mass changes to ‘In Process’ transactions. It also prevents import errors and reduces the amount of manual intervention from a user.
There are some considerations that require thought when using this functionality:
- Alternate Accounts do not currently work with encumbrance accounting
- When reconciling GL and AP/AR code combinations balances at period end you will need to include the alternate account related transactions since the sub ledger balance will be based on the disabled accounts, however, the GL balance will include alternative account based balances.
I hope you find this useful.
What is the use of Reconcile checkbox present in the form.
Hi Aman
The use of the reconciliation check box relates to General Ledger accounts that should balance to zero, such as a VAT control account. By checking this box, GL entry reconciliation lets you reconcile transactions against the accounts or combinations you have defined as reconcilable. This setting can be made against values within the natural account segment or against specific account combinations. Journal reconciliation is available for journals of the balance type of Actual and journal type of Standard.
You also have the ability to cross reference transactions with each other in GL by entering reconciliation reference information at journal line level. When the balance for a group of transactions is zero, you can mark the transactions as reconciled. Within GL, you have the chance to perform account reconciliation either automatically by running the Automatic Reconciliation concurrent request, or manually in the Reconciliation Lines window.
Regards
Ian Boyling
Hi Ian,
Thanks for your reply.Also,when the check box is set to reconcile does it reconcile when we provide the alternative account as well?
Regards,
Yaser
Yaser
Assuming all configuration is correct, the balance is stored in GL aganist the alternate account combination and should therefore be included in the reconciliation functionality. As mentioned in the blog, you will still need to consider sub ledger balances.
Regards
Ian Boyling