A/P Trial Balance and A/P in General Ledger Don't Balance

First off, we recommend following the procedures each day for the A/P Daily Balancing. Also every month follow our procedures for balancing A/P at month-end. As an example, this would include physically adding up the voucher postings and verifying that they equal the A/P to G/L Interface, (or using an A/P balancing spreadsheet). See the 4 following documents titled:

If these procedures are followed, usually any problem that occurs can found and corrected immediately, before any posting is done in the G/L causing an imbalance between the G/L and the A/P ATB.

In the A/P module nothing should be added, changed or deleted directly from the Voucher History (Task 19) or the A/P Open Items (Task 21). Doing so may cause an imbalance. Contact us for assistance on setting Sub-task passwords to help prevent this.

STEP 1:

Verify the prior month G/L A/P balanced with the A/P Aged Trial Balance. If it didn’t, then you will need to go back to prior months to find when they did balance (once again, following the procedures we recommend).

As an example, for this document the A/P Trade G/L account # is 305-00-01and we will be balancing February 2010.

View to screen the prior month A/P Aged Trial Balance using the prior month ending date, (i.e. if you are trying to balance February, run the report with a cut-off date of January 31st). Verify the total on the viewed report is the same as the AP Aged Trial Balance report actually printed the previous month.

If not, check vendor-by-vendor to see which vendor has changed, be sure to check the dates on the vouchers also.
Determine ‘why’ it has changed. For example it could be because of a date difference or a check was voided (a voucher was paid in the previous month; the aging report printed; in the month being balanced the check was voided and the voucher is now ‘open’…therefore the aging reports would not be the same). NOTE: When voiding a check, be sure to follow the instructions in our document titled: Task 05 - Void a Check. The document will explain how to handle checks voided in a month other than when it was written.

Note: In the A/P module, System Management Functions (Task 32), Clear Paid Vouchers from Open (Sub-task 7) may be done once per year with a prior year cutoff date. So at the end of 12/31/10, this would be done with a cutoff date of12/31/09. If this function was done with a current date, (for example, a date of 02/28/10), then an A/P ATB (APTBAL) can’t be printed for a prior month’s date of 01/31/10.

STEP 2 - A/P to G/L Interface:

Take note of any messages appearing at the top of the A/P to G/L Interface, for example: Voucher#:000913, doc date:0409xx, WARNING - VOUCHER HAS NOT BEEN INTERFACED TO G/L This message indicates that the voucher(s) listed have not been interfaced, therefore never accounted for in the G/L, however the voucher(s) would be listed on the A/P Aged Trial Balance. If this is the case, run an Interface for the month(s) in question and answer NO to the prompt: Include previously interfaced vouchers? N. However, be aware that if these vouchers are then obtained and posted for a previous period in the GL, it will change some G/L totals (thereby the financial statements) in the month(s) the vouchers were obtained in.

For example, if balancing February 2010 A/P, the A/P to G/L Interface has the following messages:

Voucher#:000913, doc date:120109, WARNING - VOUCHER HAS NOT BEEN INTERFACED TO G/L

Voucher#:001013, doc date:010410, WARNING - VOUCHER HAS NOT BEEN INTERFACED TO G/L

Print an A/P to G/L Interface for the beginning date 12/01/09 & ending date 01/04/10 and answer NO to the prompt: Include previously interfaced vouchers? N.
- The A/P to G/L Interface will have the debits and credits for only these two vouchers.
- Go into G/L (Module 4), Obtain Interface Transactions (Task 2), answer Yes to obtain ONLY the A/P interface (#3).
  - Post the obtained interface to G/L period February (Field 5), since in the example, you are working on February. This way there will be no changes to the previous G/L totals and financial statements.
  - In this example, the last date of February 02/28/10 would be assigned as a posting date (Field 6).
  - If the G/L period January & a posting date of 01/31/10 were used, the G/L totals and financial statements for January 2010 would change and need to be printed again.
    - In this case the A/P G/L total would change as of 01/31/10, so the balance of this account would need to be checked again as of 01/31/10.

STEP 3 - Finding the discrepancy:

With the above example, using the month of February, 2010 as the month being balanced to the A/P ATB to the G/L A/P account:

In the G/L Module (4), print a G/L Trial Balance - GLTBAL (Task 9), for the A/P General Ledger account, for the month of February 2010 - with detail.
- Look at the SOURCE column everything should be from A/P.
In the A/P Module (3), print an A/P to G/L Interface for February 2010, System Management Functions (Task 32), Generate A/P to G/L Interface (Sub-task 3) - APTOGL.
- Highlight all the debits and credits for the A/P G/L account (per the example: 305-00-01). The sum of these debits and credits should equal the “NET-CHANGE” on the G/L trial balance report.
  - If it doesn’t check each debit and credit off on both reports to find the discrepancy.

STEP 4 - Verify the Change from manual journal entries or no-=A/R Interface entries.

Confirm the G/L account for A/P Trade wasn’t used in Voucher Entry & Editing or the A/R Module Sales or Cash Entry & Editing: One of the reasons the AP G/L account doesn’t match the AP Aged Trial Balance is because someone used the A/P Trade G/L account while in A/P Voucher Entry & Editing (Task 1). Another reason is because someone used the A/P Trade G/L account in the A/R Module, Sales Entry and Editing (Task 1) or Cash Receipts Entry & Editing (Task 2).

In A/P (Module 3)
- A/P Expense Distribution (Task 11)
  - Print this for the month of balancing. For this example February 2010, all vendors, using the A/P G/L account (i.e.305-00-01), ALL to everything else. This report should be zero. If there is something on the report it will list the voucher/vendor the A/P account was used on. If this is the case, make a manual journal entry to take the amount out of the A/P Trade account into the correct/appropriate G/L account

In A/R (Module 2)
- Sales Distribution (Task 11)
  - Sales Distribution by Account Number, by Invoice Date (SDBADI).
    - Print this report for the month of balancing for the A/P account #. For this example February 2010 for the A/P G/L account (per the example: 305-00-01). This report should be zero. If not, make a manual journal entry to remove the amount from the AP Trade account into the correct/appropriate G/L account.

In A/R (Module 2)
- Cash/Receipts History (Task 20)
  - Print this report for A/P G/L account # and the month balancing. Per this example: 305-00-01 for February 2010. This report should be zero. If not, make a manual journal entry to remove the amount from the AP Trade account into the correct/appropriate G/L account.

The Manual Journal entries should have a balance of zero. If there are manual entries it means someone made an adjustment in the General Ledger, but these changes were NOT accounted for in the A/P module, therefore the A/P Aged Trial Balance was not affected. Go into G/L (Module 4)
- YTD Master (Task 20)
  - Print for transaction types, M-manual and R-recurring. This report should be zero.

§ Please enter – starting Division #: ALL

§ Please enter – starting transactions #: ALL

§ Please enter – starting batch number: ALL

§ Please enter transaction sources: ALL

§ Please enter transaction types: M,R

§ Please enter – starting amount: ALL

§ Print report by: 2) G/L Account Number / TRX Date

§ Please enter – starting G/L Account Number: 3050001 (per this example)

§ Please enter – ending G/L Account Number: 3050001 (per this example)

§ Please enter – starting TRX Date: 020110 (per this example)

§ Please enter – ending TRX Date: 022810 (per this example)

§ Suppress detail records? NO

STEP 5 - FINISHING

After following these procedures, if manual journal entries were needed to correct mistakes, print a new G/L Trial balance for the A/P account in the G/L Module (4), G/L Trial Balance - GLTBAL (Task 9), for the A/P account with detail. Make sure it is in balance. Save this report and the A/P ATB for auditing purposes.