Configuring GL Overrides

Summary of GL Override behavior Configuration Process Assigning a GL Override Using Facility Overrides Using Customer Overrides Using Vendor Overrides Using Work Center Overrides Using Sales Representative Overrides Understanding the GL Override Hierarchy FAQs & Diagnostic Tips

In DEACOM, GL Overrides is the behavior where transactions (like shipping or invoicing Sales Orders, and receiving or invoicing Purchase Orders) can override the GL code affected, based on the Facility where the transaction took place, the Customer/Vendor on the transaction, etc. The primary location in DEACOM to drive automatic GL Overrides is at the Facility level, however overrides can also be added at the Customer, Vendor, Work Center, and Sales Rep levels. GL overrides should never be competing for the same segment in the Chart of Accounts. In the event that they are, rules of which override takes precedence are provided in the "Understanding the GL Override Hierarchy" section of this page.

Important: the Chart of Accounts, maintained via Accounting > Maintenance > Chart Of Accounts, must have an account with the overridden values in the proper positions in order for a GL Override to work correctly.

Summary of GL Override behavior

The Base Account, in the first position, is always driven by the Item Master, Customer, Vendor, or System Option involved in the transaction; GL Overrides do not apply. Examples are:

• Sales - Revenue account - Revenue account on Item Master being sold.
• Sales - COGS account - COGS account defined on the revenue account.
• Sales - AR account - AR account on the Bill-to Customer indicated on the Sales Order.
• Purchasing - Inventory account (material purchase) - Purchase to account on Item Master being purchased.
• Purchasing - Expense account (direct GL expense) - Default expense account on vendor.
• Purchasing - AP account - AP account on the Vendor indicated on the Purchase Order.
• Purchasing - Purchase Cost Variance - Purchase Cost Variance on item being purchased.
• Purchasing - AP Adjustment - AP Adjustment account in Accounting Options.
• Purchasing - AP Suspense - AP Suspense account in Accounting Options.

Additional account positions, past the first position, can be driven by the GL overrides of the Facility or the Customer, or not overridden and driven entirely as discussed above. Ideally, each position should be controlled from a single source, so that conflicts do not occur. Combining base accounts and GL overrides, and not conflicting for control of an account position, the following is possible:

• Position 1 - XXXX - base account
• Position 2 - XX - company - driven by Facility GL override
• Position 3 - XX - division - driven by Facility GL override
• Position 4 - XXX - customer type - driven by Customer GL override

One reason that some companies attempt to create extremely detailed GL accounts is a desire to analyze sales, by Facility or Customer, with no other way to accomplish the analysis in their legacy system. DEACOM’s Sales > Order Reporting and Purchasing > Order Reporting pre-filters allow for the detailed analysis of sales or purchasing by many different classifications of Customers, Vendors, and items, more than could ever be represented in the structure of the General Ledger. In the design of the GL accounts, it might be decided to represent a single major classification in the account structure, leaving the remainder of sales analysis to Sales > Order Reporting.

Another reason that some account positions get created is the desire to have the GL accounts correspond to special projects, individuals, or pieces of equipment or vehicles. While this is possible, it is generally considered undesirable to have the General Ledger accounts contain codes which refer to short-term situations. A six-month project might be given expense codes ending in -101 as versions of Telephone expense, Electrical expense, and Outside Consulting expense, and a financial report could be written which would easily report on project expenses. However, once the project ended, the -101 codes would remain in the system, and could not be used for any other purpose. An alternative method that does not create short-term account codes would be to assign such expenses to an administrative job, in Production > Job Reporting.

Configuration

Existing Facility, Customer, Vendor, Work Center, and Sales Rep records should already be in place as a result of the initial Implementation process. In addition, the Chart of Accounts should already be established.

Process

Assigning a GL Override

1. Open the desired record in modify mode and navigate to the GL Overrides tab.
2. Click "Add" to open the Edit GL Override form.
3. Select an Account Position from the pick list.
   • Note: the Base Account, in the first position, is always driven by the Item Master, Customer, Vendor, or System Option involved in the transaction; GL Overrides do not apply.
4. Type in the desired override in the "GL Override" field. Be sure to enter the correct number of digits, according to the account's mask. For example, if the Chart of Accounts mask looks like XXXX-XX-XX-XXX and an override is being entered for Position 2, the value in the "GL Override" field must contain two digits, such as 20 or 50. This will trigger the transaction to hit the XXXX-20-XX-XXX or XXXX-50-XX-XXX accounts, assuming the accounts exist.
5. Save the record to commit the changes.
6. Repeat this process for each Position that should be overridden and each record that should contain an Override.

As an example, revenue GL codes are indicated on the Item Master, and a particular part might have a revenue GL code of 4000-00. If the Philadelphia Facility is defined to override the second account position with -10, and the Denver Facility is defined to override the second account position with -20, then when a Sales Order containing the part is invoiced out of the Denver Facility, account 4000-20 is credited, if it exists. If the 4000-20 account does not exist, then the 4000-00 account indicated on the Item Master is credited instead. The behavior of the Facility Override, when the overridden account does not exist, allows one side of a transaction to affect different revenue GL codes, driven by Facility, while the other side affects a common Accounts Receivable (AR) GL account, which is independent of Facility. In the example above, 4000-20 is credited because the sale was made from Denver and 4000-20 exists. But the AR account is 1600-00, and -10 or -20 versions do not exist. So, whether the sale is made from Philadelphia or Denver, the common 1600-00 AR account is debited, while either the 4000-10 or 4000-20 is credited based on which Facility made the sale.

Using Facility Overrides

GL Overrides can be used at the Facility level if, for example, the Facility is a separate warehouse in a different city. In an Account Structure where there are three positions, indicating the base account, company, and division, the Philadelphia Facility might be associated with one company and override the second and third positions to -10-20. The Denver Facility could be associated with the same company, with a different third position override, such as -10-30, or be associated with another company and override the second and third positions to -20-30.

• Note: When making a Sales Order without pre-payment, at the time of the Sales Order Shipment, the facility GL overrides will be applied first.

Using Customer Overrides

GL Overrides can be used to allow different groups of customers, or even every individual customer, to use different GL codes for Revenue, COGS, and AR, if desired. A retail customer group might want to use different GL codes than a wholesale customer group, for example. In an Account Structure where there are three positions, indicating the base account, customer type, and customer size, for example, a large retail customer could override the second and third positions to -10-10. A medium-sized retail customer could use a different third position override, such as -10-20, while a large wholesale customer would override the second and third positions to -20-10.

Using Vendor Overrides

Companies can set GL Overrides on Vendor master records, which allows different groups of Vendors, or even every individual Vendor, to use different GL codes for revenue, COGS, and AR, if desired. Additional information regarding Vendor master records is available via Purchasing > Vendors.

• Note: Vendor GL Overrides take precedence over Facility Overrides.

Using Work Center Overrides

Companies can set GL Overrides on Work Centers for the purpose of relieving materials from a Job. This option is particularly useful for Maintenance Jobs where the business case would be to have the expenses involved with maintaining the Work Center apply to the GL Override on the Work Center, therefore overriding the material expense code on the item relieved. Additional information on Work Centers is available via Production > Maintenance > Work Centers.

Using Sales Representative Overrides

Companies can set GL Overrides by Sales Representative, which allows different groups of Sales Representatives, or even every individual Sales Representatives, to use different GL codes for revenue, COGS, and A/R, if desired. Additional information on Sales Reps is available via Sales > Maintenance > Sales Reps.

Understanding the GL Override Hierarchy

GL overrides should never be competing for the same segment in the Chart of Accounts. In the event that they are, rules of which override takes precedence are provided below.

• Note: If there are multiple Sales Reps with different overrides, none can be set as ‘Primary’ and all must be set at 100%.

GL Override Rules	Source
GL Overrides	Inventory	COGS	Sales	AR	AP	Material Expense
Bill to and Sales Rep		Sales Rep	Sales Rep	Bill to
Ship to and Sales Rep		Sales Rep	Sales Rep	Ship to
Bill to and Ship to		Ship to	Ship to	Ship to
Bill to only		Bill to	Bill to	Bill to
Facility and Vendor	Facility				Facility
Facility and Bill to only	Facility	Facility	Facility	Facility
Facility and Sales Rep only	Facility	Sales Rep	Sales Rep	Facility
Facility and Ship to only	Facility	Facility	Facility	Facility
Facility and Work Center						Facility
Facility only	Facility	Facility	Facility	Facility
Facility, Bill to, Sales Rep	Facility	Sales Rep	Sales Rep	Facility
Facility, Ship to, Sales Rep	Facility	Sales Rep	Sales Rep	Facility
Facility, Bill to, Ship to	Facility	Facility	Facility	Facility
Facility, Bill to, Ship to, Sales Rep	Facility	Sales Rep	Sales Rep	Facility
Sales Rep only		Sales Rep	Sales Rep	Sales Rep
Ship to only		Ship to	Ship to	Ship to
Vendor only					Vendor
Work Center only						Work Center

FAQs & Diagnostic Tips

Tip: Beginning in version 15.3, intermediary accounts are not required for GL Overrides to work correctly. Overrides from multiple sources (facility, ship-to, bill-to, salesman, etc.) are now all applied at once.

Example:

4000-0-0     Sales Revenue

4000-1-0     Sales Revenue – Philadelphia Facility

4000-1-3     Sales Revenue – Customer ABC in Philadelphia Facility

In the example above account 4000-1-0 is not required.