Forcing The Freeze Date To Be Used As The Accounting Date

Every financial transaction references an accounting date. The accounting date controls the accounting period to which the financial transaction is booked as described below:

• Every financial transaction references an accounting date and a service agreement
• Every service agreement references a service agreement type
• Every service agreement type references a GL division
• Every GL division references an accounting calendar
• The accounting calendar contains the cross-reference between the accounting date specified on the financial transaction and the related accounting period in your general ledger

The accounting date is populated on financial transactions when they are initially generated. The following points describe the source of the accounting date:

• The user who creates or cancels a bill segment online defines the accounting date as part of the generation/cancel dialog (note, the current date defaults).
• Bill segments that are produced by the BILLING background process have their accounting date defined on the bill cycle schedule that caused the bill to be created.
• The user who creates or cancels an adjustment online defines the accounting date as part of the generation / cancel dialog (note, the current date defaults).
• Payments are unusual in that their financial transaction is only created when they are frozen (rather than when the payment is first distributed amongst the account's service agreements). At payment freeze time, the accounting date is set to the current date.

For payments, there is no issue because the accounting date is only populated on the financial transaction when a payment is frozen. However, for bill segments and adjustments, your business practice may dictate that the freeze date should be used as the accounting date rather than the original accounting date. Alternatively, your business practice may dictate that the accounting date that's originally stamped on bill segments / adjustments should be used (unless this associated period is closed at freeze time). It's really a question of the interpretation of the local accounting rules. After you've decided on your approach, populate the Accounting Date Freeze Option on Installation Options - Billing with one of the following values:

• Choose Always change if the accounting date on your financial transactions should be populated with the freeze date (i.e., the current date when the financial transaction is frozen).
• Choose Change if period is closed if the accounting date defined when the financial transaction is generated should be used (unless the associated accounting period is closed).

Please be aware of the following in respect of your choice:

• If you choose Always change:
  • When a user freezes a bill segment online, they will be prompted to supply an accounting date. The current date will default, but the user can override this value.
  • When a user freezes an adjustment online, they will be prompted to supply an accounting date. The current date will default, but the user can override this value.
  • The BILLING background process will use the current business date as the accounting date on bill segments that it freezes.
  • Also note, if you have chosen the Freeze At Bill Completion Bill Segment Freeze Option on the installation record, bill segments and certain types of adjustments are frozen when a bill is completed. This means that the accounting date on the related financial transactions will be set to the completion date (because the completion date is the freeze date with this setting). Refer to Preventing SA Balances And The GL From Being Impacted Until Completion for more information.
• If you choose Change if period is closed:
  • When a user freezes a bill segment online, they will only be prompted to supply an accounting date if the related accounting period is closed (because the accounting period closes after the bill segment is generated but before it's frozen). The current date will default, but the user can override this date.
  • When a user freezes an adjustment online, they will only be prompted to supply an accounting date if the related accounting period is closed (because the accounting period closes after the adjustment is generated but before it's frozen). The current date will default, but the user can override this date.
  • The BILLING background process will use the accounting date defined on the related bill cycle schedule as the accounting date on the bill segments that it creates and freezes.