Understanding Subledgers

In addition to the business unit.object.subsidiary method of account coding, you can use subledgers to code accounts. Subledgers provide the most detailed record of accounting activity for a business unit. You might use subledger accounting to track:

Revenues and expenses by account representative.
Receivables and payables by employee.
Intercompany settlements by detail entry.

With subledger accounting, you can:

Review detailed account totals for specific subledgers by grouping posted transactions with the same subledger and subledger type.
Review similar types of subledgers across accounts.
For example, you can review all accounting activity by an asset ID or work order number.

You use the Trial Balance by Subledger program (P09215) to review subledger information.

Both the subledger number and subledger type for a GL account provide detailed accounting activity. The subledger number becomes the audit trail for the posted subledger transactions.

Before you can use subledgers, you must decide which subledger types to use. The system verifies the subledger number for each type against a specific master table. This list describes the predefined, hard-coded subledger types:

Subledger Type	Master Table
A	Validates against the Address Book Master table (F0101). This type is the most commonly used subledger type. Use this type to track expenses that are associated with salespeople, employees, and so on. You also use it for the detail method of intercompany settlements.
C	Validates against the Business Unit Master table (F0006).
E	Validates against the Asset Master File table (F1201).
I	Validates against the Item Master table (F4101).
J	Validates against the Change Request Master Table (F5301).
L	Validates against the Tenant/Lease Master table (F1501).
O	Validates against the Sales Order Header File table (F4201).
S	Validates against the Chart of Accounts Format table (F0907). This is the structured subledger type.
W	Validates against the Work Order Master File table (F4801).