In the lesson on information flow, we described how Abio uses G/L transaction records to track how money gets posted to the appropriate general ledger accounts. To do this, navigate to [d] General Ledger, then [e] Trial Balance & Update.
This utility prompts you for a G/L period.
The utility will insist that you finish earlier period before you move on to later periods.
It formats the outstanding G/L transaction records into a trial balance.
Review this. Are there any postings missing? Are there duplicates? Perhaps you recognize that one of the subsystems hasn’t been transacted. You can run this utility as often as you want, without posting the G/L transaction records to their accounts. When you’re satisfied with the trial balance, run the utility again, but this time select ‘update G/L accounts’.
The report title now says ‘G/L Update’ rather than ‘Trial Balance’.
If you review the G/L account for the posting in the Trial Balance, you’ll see it includes the amount of that invoice.
Running Against Previous Years
If you’ve posted journal entries to previous years, Abio will first adjust the account opening balances for all the accounts involved in the journal entry. Next, it will update the retained earnings opening balance for the current year, if the journal entry included accounts from the income statement, i.e. revenues and expenses.
The retained earnings account defaults to the value set up in the control accounts for the general ledger.
Suppress Zero Activity
Select this if you just want to see active accounts in the general ledger. The report is concise and easy to read. Abio only shows accounts with non-zero closing balances.
Otherwise, it includes dormant accounts.
