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Balance the General Ledger

There is a variance in the GL and it doesn't balance to the Costing Report and is missing a component or cost account

Updated over 3 months ago

If the General Ledger batch shows a variance in either the debits or credits, this usually is the result of a change in Payroll. For example:

  • a new Addition or Deduction

  • a new cost account

  • a new Employer Superannuation Contribution

When new items are created, they must be included in the General Ledger batch to capture the costs incurred.

To Run the General Ledger Batch:

  1. Go to General Ledger Integration, Transactions, Batch Process.

  2. Select the Payroll Company and Pay Frequency or leave as <All>.

  3. Choose the Batch you want to run.

  4. Enter the Period From and Period To dates.

  5. Batch Reference is optional, enter if required.

  6. Tick Clear Previous Unposted Batch to ensure the batch only contains data for the selected parameters.

  7. Tick Process Accruals if you need to include them.

  8. Select the File Format.

  9. Click Process to generate the Batch. Click Yes when prompted to clear the last batch and save.

The General Ledger is balanced:

  • If the Variance line does not have an amount in either the Debit or Credit columns (or the Variance line doesn't appear).

  • Or if the General Ledger Batch includes an account in the Post Contra To fields, then the General Ledger is in balance when the same value appears in both the Debit and Credit columns for the Variance line.

The General Ledger is not balanced:

  • If the Variance line has an amount in the Debit or Credit column.

  • Or if using Post Contra, then the values in the Debit and Credit columns are different.

The Variance line will be nominated in:

  • Payroll Clearing Account on the Integration tab of General Parameters (Payroll, Maintenance, General).

  • Or Default Post Contra on the Batch File tab of the Batch (General Ledger Integration, Maintenance, Batches). The same account may also be included in the detail lines of the batch.

Reconciling The General Ledger

General Ledger uses cost details as its source, not Locations or Pay Points. This means you should reconcile to the Costing Report.

  1. To print the Costing Report, go to Payroll, Reports, End of Pay, Costing Report.

    1. Ensure you select the same Period Dates as you used when processing the GL.

    2. Select Report Totals and any other Totals you want to see.

    3. Tick Include Superannuation and Include Addition/Deduction Breakdown.

    4. Preview or Print the report. You will need a copy of the Report for the next step.

  2. Run the General Ledger Batch - refer to the section above, 'How to Run the General Ledger Batch'.

  3. In General Ledger Integration Batch, drag the Transaction column to be a group header. This will group the batch and total the Debits and Credits for each Pay Component.

  4. Using the Reports Totals on the Costing Report, check that the value of each pay component matches between the GL and the Costing Report.

Reasons the General Ledger doesn't balance and how to resolve

Review the below. Once you know the reason, search the Help Center for steps on how to resolve.

  • If the Pay Component is not included in the General Ledger batch but is on the Costing Report, then it needs to be added to the Batch.

  • If the Pay Component is in the General Ledger batch but the value doesn't match, there are several possibilities:

    • If the General Ledger is double the Costing Report, the Pay Component has been included twice, remove the duplication.

    • If the General Ledger is higher than the Costing Report, one or more Cost Accounts have been included twice, remove the duplication.

    • If the General Ledger is lower than the Costing Report, one or more Cost Accounts are missing, add the missing cost account.

  • To find the missing or duplicated Cost Account, expand the pay component in the Batch and check each Cost Account on the Costing Report has the same value on the General Ledger Batch, until you identify the incorrect or missing value(s).

  • Use IQGL-BDM - GL Batch Details Maintenance to verify which Detail line a Pay Component is attached to. You can also use this report to identify which Cost Accounts are linked. To run the report:

    1. Go to Common, IQ and double click on IQGL-BDM - GL Batch Details Maintenance.

    2. Enter the Batch Code or other parameters. % is a wildcard and will include all.

    3. Click OK.

    4. In the Grid, filter the required field, e.g. Pay Component Code or Pay Component.

Things to note when balancing:

  • RDOPay and RDODeduct will appear as two separate components in the General Ledger, but one on the Costing Report. You will need to minus the RDODeduct from the RDOPay to balance.

  • If you reverse a transaction, you may have values in both the debit and credit columns. You will need to take one away from the other to balance.

  • The total value in the Debit and Credit columns in the General Ledger may not equal the Total Cost of your Costing Report due to the above points. For more information, refer to the article General Ledger batch totals are not the same as the total cost on the Costing or Payroll Reports.

  • Termination components can be mapped in the General Ledger Batch using either the Total ETP Components or the Detailed ETP Components. If you include both, your General Ledger will be overstated and won't balance. For a list of Termination Components, refer to the article Termination Component Codes

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