Ledger Groups

You combine ledger templates and detail ledgers in an appropriate ledger group. A ledger group can have one primary ledger and zero to nine secondary ledgers. Each ledger within the ledger group shares a common physical structure based on the ledger template, and also has unique characteristics, such as its own base currency. General Ledger posts to the ledgers within the group according to the rules that you establish. The application can also manage multibook transactions that post to all ledgers within a group simultaneously.

The ledger group name can be descriptive of the purpose or ledgers it contains (such as, ACTUALS or BUDGETS). The name is unique across all ledger groups defined for a business unit and forms a unique key on the ledger table. Typically, the names of the individual ledgers within the group describe the type of currency or use of the ledger within the group, such as local, functional, and reporting. The name of the ledger group can also be the name of the primary ledger. For example, if you are not using the multibook feature, you might name your ledger ACTUALS and also name the ledger group ACTUALS.

Non commitment control ledger group types include Average Daily Balance, Standard, Budget, and Translation. Commitment control only uses the ledger group types Commitment Control Expense and Commitment Control Revenue.

Average Daily Balance, Budget, and Translation ledger groups have only one primary ledger and no secondary ledgers, while Standard ledger groups have one primary ledger and from zero to nine secondary ledgers.

The Commitment Control Expense ledger group type typically contains a budget, pre-encumbrance, encumbrance, and expense ledger. The Commitment Control Revenue ledger group type typically contains a budget, recognized revenue, and collected revenue ledger.

The Keep Ledgers in Sync check box in combination with the AutoGenerate Lines option determines how the system posts transactions. If you select the Keep Ledgers in Sync option or the Auto-Generate Lines option, the system posts transactions to every ledger in the group. When you select either option, the Journal Edit process generates additional journal lines for the other ledgers within the ledger group. For example, when you enter a two line journal entry for a ledger group that contains three ledgers, the system creates four additional lines, two lines for each additional ledger. If you do not select the Keep Ledgers in Sync or the Auto-Generate Lines options, the system posts transactions only to those ledgers with transaction entries, and does not generate secondary lines for other ledgers in the ledger group.

The Inherit Base Currency of Business Unit option determines if the ledgers in the group use the base currency of the business unit for conversions. This feature adds the flexibility for sharing ledger groups across business units with different base currencies. For example, a multinational organization based in Canada has five subsidiaries located in different countries around the world. If the subsidiaries select theInherit Base Currency of Business Unit, option, they can each have a ledger group with a secondary ledger that has a currency code of CAD (Canadian dollars) for the Reporting ledger. The primary ledger shares the base currency of the business unit and represents the functional currency of each country where the business unit is located. If the organization does not select the Inherit Base Currency of Business Unit option, it must define five different ledger groups, each with a primary ledger that has a base currency that matches the base currency of the business unit.

You can define a secondary ledger as a translation ledger by selecting the Translation check box for ledger groups. This option is applicable only when you select the Keep Ledgers in Sync option (KLS) for the ledger group. You cannot define a primary ledger as a Translation ledger. You often use Translation ledgers for multibook ledgers.