TimeSpans in the Consolidation and Equitization Processes

You can specify a TimeSpan on the Consolidation Set and the Equitization Group to indicate the type of balances to be posted for consolidation and equitization. If the TimeSpan is a year-to-date type of TimeSpan (for example, BAL), then a valid Journal Reversal Option should be selected; otherwise, there should be no reversal of the consolidation or equitization entries if they are intermediate periods. This is because distinct periods are consolidated that do not include prior periods in the current process. A warning message is issued by the system if the reversal option is selected with a TimeSpan option other than BAL.

Using intermediate TimeSpans (other than year-to-date types) is generally more efficient for processing consolidation and equitization; however, exercise caution when using non-year-to-date type TimeSpans. If changes have been made in ledgers for accounting periods that were previously processed for intermediate periods, it will be necessary to reprocess consolidation and equitization for those periods.

The following conditions must be met to have valid TimeSpans for Consolidation or Equitization:

• The TimeSpan calendar must be the same as the Calendar for the Business Unit and Ledger Group to be processed.

• The TimeSpan must be for the current year, that is, the Start Year and End Year must be 0, with Type defined as Relate to Current Year.

• If the Time Span is a year to date time span for the Consolidation Set and the Equtization Group, then the reversal option must be either the Beginning of Next Period or the End of Next Period. For any TimeSpan other than BAL or YTD, the reversal option must be Do Not Generate Reversal.

Note:

Incremental processing of consolidations occurs regardless of what TimeSpan is selected for processing. Incremental processing is not available for the equitization process.