SUI Quarterly

March 2017 – Volume 21 Issue 1

Are you familiar with all the reports available in General Ledger? For instance, do you know the differences with all the Account Inquiry Reports and the Activity Fund Balance Reports? And are
you aware the Balance Sheet can be generated for Monthly or Annual, or that you can create custom Flexible Financial Reports?

Within the General Ledger module, there are numerous reports available which provide summations of your financial data posted in the School Accounting System. The information that is printed on the various General Ledger reports can range from showing detailed transactions to only summarized data. In addition to the many standard General Ledger reports, the Flexible Financial Report Setup option is also included in the General Ledger module and is a valuable tool that allows users to create customized financial reports.

Below are some helpful hints on a few of the most common reports accessible in General Ledger. To learn more about the most commonly used General Ledger reports, including the ones noted below, as well as the Check Register by Checking Account, Entry File Report, Revenue Summary Report, and Trial Balance Report, click here to request a recording of the new General Ledger Reports Webinar.

Account Inquiry Reports: The Account Inquiry report prints the transactions posted to each account number, along with the totals and budget balance if applicable. The Account Inquiry report is very useful if an employee or administrator wants to see what has been posted to an account this month or fiscal year, or what is left of the budget for a particular account or a mask of accounts (for example, all high school instructional accounts). The Account Inquiry reports are available with several different options: (1) Fiscal Year – prints the transactions for the entire fiscal year; (2) Date Range – prints the transactions for a specific date range; (3) Exclude Encumbrances – omits outstanding invoices or purchase orders; (4) Include Encumbrances – shows both outstanding invoices and purchase orders; (5) Include AP Only – shows only outstanding invoices; and (6) Include PO Only – shows only outstanding purchase orders. Keep in mind, school districts who operate their Accounts Payable on an accrual basis should utilize either the Include PO Only or the Exclude Encumbrances option, as their outstanding invoices are already reflected as an actual expense on the Account Inquiry reports.

Activity Fund Balance Reports: The Activity Fund Balance reports, which are typically generated for only activity funds, provide more options and flexibility with viewing the data for designated fund balance accounts. The Activity Fund Balance Reports have the same options for Exclude Encumbrances, Include Encumbrances, Include AP Only, and Include PO Only as noted above for Account Inquiry reports, but also have these additional three options: (1) Detail – prints every transaction for each account number tied to a fund balance account, along with the total balance; (2) Summary – prints only the totals, including the beginning balance, total revenues, total expenses, and ending balance, for the fund balance accounts; and (3) Account – prints only subtotals for each account number tied to a fund balance account, along with the total balance.

Balance Sheet: The Balance Sheet report offers two report selections when printing: (1) Monthly – prints the regular balance sheet including all the required (control) accounts; and (2) Annual – prints the balance sheet with the current balance of each fund balance account, which is calculated by closing out the control accounts to reflect the net change for the fiscal year. When generating the Balance Sheet for activity funds, always use the Annual option. There is also a Balance Sheet – Combined report available that prints the balance sheet information with each fund as a separate column, for up to a maximum of seven different funds.

Flexible Financial Reports: Financial reports in General Ledger can be modified and created with the Flexible Financial Report Setup option. With the Flexible Financial Report Setup option, the choices for what information to include and the sorting options on the reports are almost endless. Examples of reports that can be created with the Flexible Financial Report Setup option include budget worksheets; cash flow reports; comparison reports with prior fiscal years; expenditure reports sorted by functions, objects, and/or programs with detailed or summarized information; monthly expenditure reports showing monthly totals in the fiscal year; and revenue/expenditure summary reports with profit and loss. To learn how to create custom reports using the Flexible Financial Report Setup option in General Ledger, click here to request a recording of the Flexible Financial Report Setup Webinar.