Consolidating Balances
To consolidate average balances when you are using the balances consolidation method, you must use a "consolidation set of books." You specify whether a set of books can be used for consolidation purposes at the same time that you enable average balance processing for that set of books.
Consolidation sets of books, unlike other sets of books where average balance processing is enabled, do not enforce a link between standard and average balances. As a result, you can update standard and average balances independently. In sets of books which are not defined as consolidation sets of books, both standard and average balances are updated automatically whenever transactions are posted.
You can consolidate standard or average balances independently into a consolidation set of books. You can also consolidate standard and average balances in a single consolidation run.
When you run your consolidation, General Ledger will create two consolidation journal batches:
- Standard--updates standard balances without affecting average balances.
- Average--updates average balances without affecting standard balances.
The effective date of the journal entries in an average consolidation journal batch will always be the first day of an accounting period. When you post the batch, the journal amounts will be posted as average balances on the first day of the period, and will then roll forward through the remaining days. As a result, each day of the period will reflect average balances as of the end of the period in the subsidiary set of books.
Eliminations
You can use manual journal entries, recurring journals, and MassAllocations to create eliminating entries in a consolidation set of books. You can eliminate standard and/or average balances, but the respective eliminating entries will be independent of each other. For example, if you eliminate an account's standard balance, the related average balance is not eliminated. Likewise, if you eliminate an average balance, there is no effect on the related standard balance. The effective date of eliminating entries is always the first day of the period.
Consolidation Hierarchies
With General Ledger, you can run multilevel consolidations of standard and average balances, as long as each set of books into which you consolidate is defined as a consolidation set of books. Note that the consolidation process is the same as single-level consolidation. In both, General Ledger transfers subsidiary standard balances into parent standard balances, and subsidiary average balances into parent average balances.
See Also
Overview
Basic Business Needs
Average Balance Examples
Major Features
Effective Date Handling
Set Up and Maintenance
Multi-Currency Processing
On-line Inquiry
Reporting
