Setting Up Your General Ledger

When you set up the general ledger, you do this:

Create a list of general ledger (G/L) accounts in the chart of accounts (CoA). See "Creating a Chart of Accounts".
Create G/L IDs. See "Creating G/L IDs".
Specify the G/L IDs to use for recording financial transactions when a charge or an accounts receivable (A/R) action occurs, such as a write-off. To do so, assign G/L IDs to the following:
- A/R actions, such as payments and refunds. See "Assigning G/L IDs to A/R Actions".
- Prerated events. See "Assigning G/L IDs to Prerated Events".
- Early termination fees, which customers can be charged when they cancel their contract early. See "Creating Subscription Terms" in PDC Creating Product Offerings.
- Tax codes. See "Creating Tax Codes" in BRM Calculating Taxes.
- Charges. See "Configuring Charge Offers" in PDC Creating Product Offerings.
- Discounts. See "Creating Discount Offers" in PDC Creating Product Offerings.
- Deliverables, if you are using deliverable-based revenue recognition. See "Configuring Deliverables" in PDC Creating Product Offerings.
(For event-based revenue recognition only) Create segments for reporting revenue for groups of customers, such as customers in a geographic region. See "Reporting Revenue for Groups of Customers".
Configure various options that specify how G/L data is reported. For example, how G/L reporting recognizes billing dates. See "General Ledger Configuration Options".
Configure how G/L amounts are rounded. See "Rounding General Ledger Data".

Creating a Chart of Accounts

The chart of accounts (CoA) is a list of general ledger accounts that your company uses. In BRM, you create a CoA that lists the general ledger accounts that are in your company's general ledger on your external financial system.

If you use multiple G/L segments, you can load multiple CoAs and assign a different CoA to each segment. See "Reporting Revenue for Groups of Customers".

To create your general ledger accounts in BRM:

Go to the BRM_home/sys/data/pricing/example directory.
Open the pin_glchartaccts file in text editor. The pin_glchartaccts file includes instructions and examples.
Add the following information to the file:
- coa_id: The identification number for the CoA. You use this ID when configuring G/L IDs.
- coa_name: A description of the CoA.
For each general ledger account, add a gl_coa_acct line that includes the following information, separated by tabs:
- The general ledger account code or number used in your external financial system.
- A description of the general ledger account.
- The type of account: asset, equity, expense, liability, or revenue.
- The status of the account: active or inactive. Inactive accounts cannot be associated with a G/L ID.
For example:
```
gl_coa_acct    40500     prepaid.A/R     asset      active
```
Run the following command to load the CoA into a /config/glid object in the database:
```
load_pin_glchartaccts pin_glchartaccts_file
```
See "load_pin_glchartaccts".

Sample pin_glchartaccts Entries

The following shows sample entries in a pin_glchartaccts file for one CoA with thirteen general ledger accounts.

To create multiple CoAs, use multiple sets of the coa_id, coa_name, and gl_coa_accts fields.

gl_chartaccts (
    coa_id         1000
    coa_name       Primary COA
    gl_coa_acct    0         undefined       revenue    active
    gl_coa_acct    1         undefined       asset      active
    gl_coa_acct    49400     prepaid.off     revenue    active
    gl_coa_acct    49300     monthly.A/R     asset      active
    gl_coa_acct    49200     uncollect.A/R   asset      active
    gl_coa_acct    40800     uncollect.off   revenue    active
    gl_coa_acct    40700     cancel.A/R      asset      active
    gl_coa_acct    40500     prepaid.A/R     asset      active
    gl_coa_acct    40000     purchase.off    revenue    active
    gl_coa_acct    20160     monthly.off     revenue    active
    gl_coa_acct    20150     cancel.off      revenue    active
    gl_coa_acct    11000     purchase.A/R    asset      active
    gl_coa_acct    10600     daily.A/R       asset      active
)

Creating G/L IDs

To create G/L IDs, you define each G/L ID in the BRM_home/sys/data/pricing/example/pin_glid file and then use the load_pin_glid utility to load the G/L IDs into the BRM database.

Note:

In a production system, do not remove or modify any existing G/L IDs. Doing so could generate inaccurate G/L reports.

To create G/L IDs:

Go to the BRM_home/sys/data/pricing/example directory.
Open the pin_glid file in a text editor. The pin_glid file includes instructions and examples.
(Optional) Enter the CoA to use for this pin_glid file. The default is to not use a CoA.
(Optional) To create a separate set of G/L IDs for a segment, enter a G/L segment to use for this pin_glid file by using the following syntax:
```
gl_segment  root segment.child_segment  [no_rollup] 
```
where child_segment is a nested segment and [no_rollup] includes the segment in your reports.

Note:

Segment names are case sensitive and cannot have spaces.
For each G/L ID, add the following information:
- id: The identification number for the group of G/L IDs.
- taxcode: (Optional) The tax code used by your tax calculation software.
- descr: A description, such as Monthly fees.
- type: The type of G/L ID: standard (0), A/R (1), Revenue (2), or Contract (3). See "About G/L IDs" for more information.
For each supported revenue type in a G/L ID, add a gl_acct line that includes the following information, separated by tabs:
- The revenue type such as billed, unbilled, and unearned.
- What the amount represents:
  - gross: Reports the total revenue.
  - disc: Reports the balance impacts of discounted revenue.
  - net: Reports the amount of revenue that remains after applying discounts.
  - tax: Reports the amount of taxes calculated. This data is used for collecting G/L data based on tax codes.
  For example, if you provide a $5 discount on a $30 cycle forward fee: the gross amount is $30, the discounted amount is $5, and the net amount is $25.
- The G/L accounts to use for tracking debits and credits.
For example:
```
gl_acct       billed         gross       purchase.debit        purchase.credit
```
Save the pin_glid file.
Run the following command to load the G/L IDs into the BRM database:
```
load_pin_glid pin_glid_file
```
See "load_pin_glid" for more information.

Sample pin_glid Entries

The following shows sample entries in a pin_glid file for defining the G/L ID for a purchase fee:

#=================================================================================
# G/L ID for purchase fee 
#=================================================================================
glid 
id            10123222
taxcode       PURCHASE_TAXCODE
descr         Purchase Fees
type          2
gl_acct       billed         gross       purchase.debit        purchase.credit
gl_acct       billed         net         purchase.debit        purchase.credit
gl_acct       billed         disc        purchase.credit       purchase.debit
gl_acct       unbilled       gross       purchase.debit        purchase.credit
gl_acct       unbilled       net         purchase.debit        purchase.credit
gl_acct       unbilled       disc        purchase.credit       purchase.debit

Assigning G/L IDs to A/R Actions

Some balance impacts are generated by A/R actions, such as payments and refunds, rather than by charges. To have these actions recorded in your general ledger, map each A/R action to a G/L ID.

To map A/R actions to G/L IDs:

Go to the BRM_home/sys/msgs/reasoncodes directory.
Open the reasons.en_US sample file in a text editor.
Add your G/L IDs, making sure that they match the G/L IDs in the pin_glid file.

Tip:

You can change the existing G/L IDs, such as 109 (payment), to a custom G/L ID.
Save the reasons.en_US file.
Run the following command, which loads this change into the /config/map_glid object:
```
load_localized_strings reasons.locale
```

Assigning G/L IDs to Prerated Events

To assign G/L IDs to prerated events or partially rated events, use the PCM_OP_ACT_POL_SPEC_GLID policy opcode. See "Assigning G/L IDs to Prerated Events" in BRM Opcode Guide.