About general ledger batches

Transactions posted to General ledger, whether manually entered or system-generated, are organised in batches.
Because of the potential for errors, we recommend that manual entries to the General ledger be kept to a minimum.

This topic focuses on the use of manually entered general ledger batches.

All transactions in one general ledger batch must use the same currency (but not necessarily the base currency).
They also must be posted to the same ledger and the same period.

A General ledger batch must include at least two transactions.
For each transaction, you should specify all of the following by using the Journal transactions (GL301000) window:

  • Account
  • Subaccount (if subaccounts are enabled in your system)
  • Debit or credit amount

The total credit and debit amounts of transactions in a batch must be equal; otherwise, the batch cannot be processed further.

CAUTION:
No transactions can be entered for the Year-to-date net income account.

When you first save a batch, its batch number is automatically generated in accordance with the numbering sequence assigned to General ledger batches in the General ledger preferences (GL102000) window.

The batch status reflects its current state and defines what processing can be applied to it. See below for a description of the batch statuses.

Status Description
On hold

A batch with On hold status cannot be released or posted.
You can give a batch this status by selecting the Hold check box in the Journal transactions (GL301000) window.
The On hold status is usually assigned to a newly created batch if further editing is planned.

Also, if after being edited, a batch becomes out of balance, it can be saved as On hold. If a batch that's on hold has total debits equal to total credits, you can change its status to Balanced once you clear the Hold check box.

To have the On hold status assigned by default to all batches on their entry, select the Hold batches on entry check box in the General ledger preferences (GL102000) window.
Balanced

The Balanced status indicates that the batch's debit total equals its credit total and the batch can be released or posted.
You can modify or delete a balanced batch, but you can save changes only if the batch's credit and debit totals remain equal.

To have the Balanced status assigned by default to all entered batches, clear the Hold batches on entry check box in the General ledger preferences (GL102000) window.
Scheduled

The Scheduled status indicates that the batch was attached to a schedule.
A scheduled batch is used as a template for generating similar general ledger preferences batches with dates calculated according to the schedule settings. The batch can be scheduled if its status is Balanced.
A batch with a Scheduled status can be modified, but it can be saved only if its debit and credit totals are equal.

The status of a batch will change to Void if the batch is deleted from the schedule.
A scheduled batch can be fully deleted only if the schedule was never executed and no ordinary general ledger preferences batches were generated in accordance with it.
Unposted

A batch with the Unposted status is a balanced batch that was released but not yet posted (used to update general ledger preferences account balances).
You cannot edit or delete such a batch.

Posted The Posted status indicates that the transactions of the batch were posted or were used for updating appropriate general ledger preferences account balances.
A posted batch cannot be modified or deleted; it is available only for viewing.
Void The Void status indicates that this batch was cancelled, for example, because it was removed from the schedule before the schedule was completed. However, the voided batch cannot be deleted because it is needed for auditing.

In Visma Net, each batch has a control total, which is specified in the Journal transactions (GL301000) window.
For a balanced batch, the control total is equal to both its credit total and its debit total. If these totals differ, the batch cannot be released and posted.

You use the Validate batch control totals on entry check box in the General ledger preferences (GL102000) window to enforce validation of batch control totals as follows:

  • If this check box is selected, each time you add a transaction (by using the Journal transactions (GL301000) window) during initial entry of the batch or later editing, the system updates the Total credits and Total debits and highlights in red the Control total. To save the batch with the Balanced status, in the Control total field, you must enter the control total amount, which is equal to both total credits and total debits. If you cannot make the batch balanced, change its status to On hold by selecting the Hold check box and clicking Save. An On hold batch doesn't need to have valid control totals.
  • If the Validate batch control totals on entry check box is cleared, the Control total field isn't shown in the Journal transactions (GL301000) window.
    The system checks the batch totals only when you click Save, and if the totals are not equal, an error message appears.
    Unbalanced batches may be saved as drafts with the On hold status.

Once the batch status changes to Balanced, the batch may be processed further.

You can apply the Release action in the Journal transactions (GL301000) window after you have finished editing the batch, or you can use the Release transactions (GL501000) window. After you release the batch, it gets the Unposted status and cannot be modified.

You can instead configure the system to immediately post batches on their release.
To do this, use the Automatically post on release option, located in the General ledger preferences (GL102000) window.

You can post released batches (those with the Unposted status) only by using the Post transactions (GL502000) window.
You can post all the batches listed or only those you select. The system initiates the posting process in the background so that you can continue with data entry or other tasks. When the system has finished posting the batches to general ledger, it automatically updates the status of the batches to Posted.

To facilitate batch tracking, you can attach scanned images of supporting documents to a batch and to each line of the batch.

Once transactions are posted to the database, you cannot delete them because they're needed for auditing purposes.
The only way to correct errors while keeping a full audit trail is to create another batch that contains reversing or adjusting journal entries for the original batch.