Options to Maintain Accounting Periods and Project Accounting Periods

Accounting periods are used to assign periods and dates to project transactions. Accounting periods are maintained by ledger and use the same calendar as the general ledger periods. Project accounting periods are used for project planning, costing, billing, budgeting, forecasting, and performance reporting.

Project accounting periods are maintained by business unit and typically don't use the same calendar as the accounting and general ledger periods.

Use the Configure Project Accounting Business Function task to specify whether to maintain the same accounting and project accounting periods, or define project accounting periods that have a different frequency than the accounting periods.

Maintain Same Accounting and Project Accounting Periods

When you maintain same accounting and project accounting periods, calendar periods aren't copied to Project Financial Management applications and period information is maintained in one physical location. Use Oracle General Ledger to maintain accounting period statuses and run the processes to open and close accounting periods.

Define Project Accounting Periods Different from Accounting Periods

If you want to report project information more frequently than the accounting periods allow, you can define project accounting periods that are different from the accounting periods. Use Project Financial Management applications to maintain project accounting period statuses and run the processes to open and close project accounting periods.

Example

Let's take a look at an example using the following image.

This graphic explains how you can define weekly project accounting periods and monthly accounting periods.

Here's the table that defines accounting period. Each month is a period with a specific number. For example, January is a period with period number one and December has a period number 12. This numbering pattern repeats every year.

Accounting Period

Period Number

Oct-11

10

Sep-11

9

Aug-11

8

Jul-11

7

Jun-11

6

May-11

5

Apr-11

4

Mar-11

3

Feb-11

2

Jan-11

1

Dec-10

12

Nov-10

11

Oct-10

10

Here's the table that defines project accounting period. Each week is a period with a specific number. For example, Jan-W1 is a period with period number one and Aug-W4 has a period number 34 as its the 34th week in the calendar. This numbering pattern repeats every year. Using this project accounting periods you can report for project information on a weekly basis.

Project Accounting Period

Period Number

Oct-W4-11

42

Oct-W3-11

41

Oct-W2-11

40

Oct-W1-11

39

Sept-W4-11

38

Sept-W3-11

37

Sept-W2-11

36

Sept-W1-11

35

Aug-W4-11

34

Aug-W3-11

33

Augt-W2-11

32

Aug-W1-11

31