RSMUS.comMany times, I have been asked about creating reversal general journal entries in Business Central. A lot of people think that the Reverse Transactions action in the General Ledger Entries will create the reversing general journal for entries such as accruals. This feature only allows you to reverse the transaction exactly how it was processed. You do not have the option of changing the posting date. So, this type of action is not what you would normally use for accruals. You want to be able to reverse the transaction in the next month, not the month the original entry was processed. These would only be used if you wanted to undo the transaction, as if it were made in error.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central now has a feature to be able to copy transactions and also reverse the sign. This will make it a lot easier to create those accrual entries that you need to reverse in the next month. You will have the option of indicating which batches you want to include in the copy process.
You will start with the General Journal template. Simply use the Tell Me (search), enter General Journal Templates and select the related link to locate the list of Journal templates. You will notice that there are a number of templates. Each one is a dedicated page for the particular function that it represents. It includes fields that are required to support the functions of the specific journal. You will want to concentrate on the template that has a type equal to “General”. In particular the one that you use for the general journals. On the far-right side, you will have a check box for “Copy to Posted Jnl. Lines”. You will want to indicate that you want to use this feature. When you select the box, you will receive a message asking you if you want to enable copying of journal lines to posted general journal. You would select “Yes” if you want to be able to use this feature. Below is an example of what you would see on the General Journal Templates page.
Once you have indicated that the General Journal Template allows you to “Copy to Posted Jnl. Lines”, you can then begin looking at your General Journal Batches. If you are using a Role Center that contains navigation areas for Finance or Journals, you will be able to select General Journals and display the batches. If you use the Tell Me (search) to select the General Journals, you will need to use the ellipsis button (…) on the Batch Name field to display all the General Journal Batches. No matter how you get to them, you will now see that there is a “Copy to Posted Jnl. Lines” check box to the far right of the list. This will automatically be checked for all batches in the General Journal batch list. You will want to uncheck this box for any batch that you would potentially not want to copy. It’s great to be able to indicate which entries/batches would be allowed to be copied. This is especially true if you have a match designated for your accruals. You will need to use the Edit List action to be able to uncheck the box.
Now when you post the entries in the batch, in addition to writing to the General Ledger Entries List (20) page and table (17), they will be written to the Posted General Journal worksheet (182) and table (181).
The copy and reversing process is now quite easy. Simply use the Tell Me (search) to located Posted General Journal and select the related link. You can also bookmark this page, so you won’t have to search for it going forward. It will be on your Role Center for easy access.
Once on the Posted General Journal page, you will note that the entries that you have posted since enabling this feature are now listed. You can use the Template Name and Batch Name to narrow down the list.
You will note that you have two actions to choose from on this page. Copy Selected Lines to Journal or Copy G/L Register to Journal.
So, what’s the difference? Well, the Copy Selected Lines to Journal will copy only the lines that you select. The Copy G/L Register to Journal will copy all lines that belong to the same G/L register.
With either action, you will be able to create a copy of the general journal line or batch and specify the journal to use for copying the lines, whether you want to use the opposite signs (reversing the journal), the posting date, and the document number. You have complete control over what is copied and how the new entry will look. When doing a reversal, you might even use a document number similar to the original but using R or REV in the document number to indicate the reversal. In this manner, you can use the document number in your filtering of the General Ledger Entries.
The process copies the entries into the specified journal batch where you can then review it, edit it, and post it like any entry that you did manually. This will save you a tremendous amount of time if you have a lot of accruals. Plus, it gives you the ability to copy any entry, making processing of recurring type entries easier as well.
This blog was originally posted on dynamics-discussion.com
