General Ledger Chart of Accounts
The key building block of the Dynamics GP system is the General Ledger account. Prior to installing Dynamics GP, you will need to determine your Account framework and Account format.
Account framework
The account framework sets the maximums and sorting options that will be available for all your Dynamics GP companies.
Dynamics GP allows the following maximums for the account framework:
- Up to 10 account segments.
- Up to 66 characters, not including separators between segments.
- Maximum of 82 bytes. Bytes are calculated as the length of each segment plus 1 for each segment with an odd number of characters, or plus 2 for each segment with an even number of characters. For example, an account framework with 7 segments of 6 characters and 3 segments of 8 characters will have 86 bytes: ((6+2) * 7) + ((8+2) * 3) and thus will not be allowed.
In the past, there may have been space considerations that would justify limiting the account framework chosen when installing Dynamics GP. This is usually not the case anymore and even if a 10 segment General Ledger account will never be needed, a typical account framework is the following: maximum of 66 characters and 10 segments of six characters each.
Note
Even though this only adds up to 60 characters, this is fine, as 66 is simply the maximum. Having a standard account framework simplifies setting up development environments and moving installations in the future.
The main reason to think about the account framework at this stage is if you foresee needing account segments longer than six characters. You will need to make sure that the account framework selected when you install Dynamics GP encompasses the maximum General Ledger account length you will need. Changing the account framework after the Dynamics GP installation is possible, but not trivial and would require an additional tool or service to be purchased.
Account format
The General Ledger account format can be different for each Dynamics GP company, as long as it is within the account framework defined during the Dynamics GP installation.
General Ledger accounts can be alphanumeric and Dynamics GP will add a separator character of your choosing in-between the segments. While the separator can be different for each company, the most commonly used separator is a dash (-).
Even though Dynamics GP will allow for a very long GL account number and it may be tempting to track many details in the General Ledger, this is not recommended. Most Dynamics GP windows will only display approximately 25 characters without having to scroll to see the entire account. Best practice is to keep the account number to three or four segments and a total of not more than 15 or 20 characters, including the separators.
Here are examples of some common account formats:
At this stage of your implementation planning, you should decide on the account format for each Dynamics GP company planned and start putting together your General Ledger Chart of Accounts. If you are planning on multiple Dynamics GP companies and will need consolidated financial reports or other multi-company reports based on GL account numbers, it is highly recommended that all the companies have the same account format and that the Chart of Accounts be as similar as possible.
Additional notes for General Ledger Chart of Accounts in Dynamics GP:
- You do not need to create roll-up accounts in Dynamics GP. You can accomplish any roll-ups needed when you set up the financial statements. With the Account Rollup functionality in Dynamics GP you can create roll-ups for inquiries without having to define separate accounts for them. For example, if there are four individual accounts for travel expenses (Airline, Lodging, Car, and Other Travel), there is no need to create a fifth account called Travel.
- All General Ledger accounts should be predefined ahead of time. It is not enough to create a list of all natural accounts and a list of all possible values for each of your other segments. Although you can create accounts on the fly, this is not recommended because most users are typically not given the security to create GL accounts and there is a high potential for errors and inconsistencies when this is done.
- It is not recommended to have spaces in your GL account numbers. Spaces will make using the account numbers difficult for users and may also cause reporting issues, as reporting tools may interpret spaces differently. Instead of spaces, use zeros.
- The General Ledger account name can have a maximum length of up to 50 characters and you can change it at any time.
When creating the Chart of Accounts, keep in mind the reporting requirements you have identified during your business requirements planning. Try to keep accounts that will be in the same groupings on the Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss Statements together, leaving enough room for inserting accounts in the future.
The following table lists the minimum data required for General Ledger account setup:
