GL FAQs

ORACLE GENERAL LEDGER - RELEASE 11i
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
CONTENTS-------- I. Global Intercompany System (GIS) II. Intercompany BalancingIII. Miscellaneous QUESTIONS & ANSWERS I. Global Intercompany System (GIS)------------------------------------ 1. Question: How does GIS work across instances? Answer: You will have a single instance of GIS through which all subsidiaries trade your intercompany transactions. Once trading partners have a balanced, agreed-upon transaction in the GIS system, each will have to transfer it to their respective sets of books, whether those sets of books exist on the same instance or not. If the set of books is on the same instance, it is easy. You simply run the transfer program from GIS which will identify the trading partner's set of books on the instance and populate its journal import table automatically. Then that set of books will take over and run the journal import program to create the journal. If the set of books is on a different instance, there is a bit more set up and procedural steps. In the subsidiary setup form, you can specify whether the subsidiary is "remote", i.e. on a different instance. If it is, you enter the subsidiary's set of books ID in that form. When you are ready to transfer your transactions, the transfer program will populate a journal import table using that set of books ID, but will not trigger a journal import. Then you can copy that table to your remote instance and upload the transactions to the correct set of books. GIS also works across instances in that your GL systems can be different versions, since the journal import table has not changed much over time. This helps you if you don't want to upgrade your entire environment just to get the benefits of GIS. You can get the great benefits of GIS in the short term. 2. Question: What are appropriate control procedures I should implement? What GIS or GL features help with control procedures? Answer: You should implement control procedures to ensure that approvedintercompany transactions are posted to both the sender and receiver’s sets of books. This can be done by checking online or via reports that all subsidiaries have transferred their transactions out of GIS for a given period. You should also use the freeze journal source feature for those journals with Intercompany as the source to prevent users from deleting or modifying the journal once it is imported. In extreme cases, you can reconcile their GIS transactions against the journals posted. 3. Question: Describe the different implementations / setups for GIS (i.e. standard chart of accounts vs. non-standard chart of accounts). Answer: If all of your subsidiaries use a uniform or standard chart of accounts for reporting and consolidating financial data, you can apply the same standard chart of accounts to GIS for intercompany transaction processing. A set of books using the standard chart of accounts is created in GIS and all subsidiaries access this set of books to exchange intercompany transactions. Approved transactions are transferred and posted to both the sender and receiver subsidiaries’ general ledger sets of books. If a subsidiary also maintains financial data in a local set of books using a non–standard chart of accounts,it can map GIS intercompany account balances to its local set of books. Implementing GIS using a corporate standard set of books allows a subsidiary to transfer intercompany transaction details to its general ledger system if it is remote from the GIS system. A subsidiary can also maintain its own local chart of accounts without affecting the GIS system. If all your subsidiaries do not use a standard chart of accounts, they can still exchange intercompany transactions in GIS. For each subsidiary with a unique chart of accounts, you define a corresponding set of books in GIS. Your subsidiaries exchange intercompany transactions with each other among the GIS sets of books. Approved transactions are transferred and posted to both the sender and receiver subsidiaries’ general ledger sets of books. If you implement GIS without a corporate standard chart of accounts, a subsidiary can transfer intercompany transaction details to its general ledger system if it is remote from the GIS system. This implementation requires dual maintenance of charts of accounts: changes to the subsidiary chart of accounts in the local system must also be made to the subsidiary chart of accounts in GIS. 4. Question: My company processes a large volume of intercompany transactions every period. Can GIS handle this? Answer: GIS enables you to process high volumes of intercompany transactions and integrate external transaction sources by providing an open interface for these transactions. The open interface enables users to simultaneously upload multiple intercompany transactions into the system. Transactions which enter GIS through this interface can also leverage the automatic transaction generation feature, which uses account generation rules defined by you to automatically generate transaction lines and eliminates repetitive and error-prone manual data entry. The combination of these functions optimize the intercompany transaction automation benefits provided by GIS. 5. Question: How can I get the patch to upgrade my R11 CENTRA instances? Answer: There is a patch that will upgrade your Release 11 installation with all of the new GIS (formerly CENTRA) enhancements available in Release 11i. To obtain this patch, please first complete the Global Intercompany System R11 Registration available on MetaLink. By completing and sending the registration form to General Ledger Development [via email to lswong@us.oracle.com, or via fax at [650-506-7860] attention Linda Wong, you will receive complete documentation on the new features included in the patch. 6. Question: Is GIS integrated with other Oracle modules or subledgers? Answer: GIS is integrated with Oracle General Ledger, which allows approved intercompany transactions in GIS to be transferred and imported directly to Oracle General Ledger. GIS is currently not integrated with any other Oracle modules or subledgers. You can make use of the GIS import interface to import transactions into GIS as long as you massage the data from your source system into a format that the GIS import interface can understand. 7. Question: What is the difference between enhanced intercompany balancing andthe Global Intercompany System? Answer: Enhanced intercompany balancing pertains to intercompany transactions across different balancing segment values within a SINGLE set of books. The Global Intercompany System (GIS) pertains to intercompany transactions across multiple sets of books and even across multiple instances. 8. Question: What happens if I check the "Auto-select" box when defining a Recurring Intercompany Transaction? Answer: When using the Generate Recurring Transactions Form, all batches which have the Auto-Select box checked will automatically be highlighted and the button at the bottom should show how many batches are to be generated. Batches can be added or removed from the process by checking or unchecking the boxes. II. Intercompany Balancing--------------------------- 1. Question: Are the Intercompany Balancing enhancements in R11i backported to R11? Answer: No. 2. Question: What is the difference between enhanced intercompany balancing and the Global Intercompany System? Answer: Enhanced intercompany balancing pertains to intercompany transactions across different balancing segment values within a SINGLE set of books. The Global Intercompany System (GIS) pertains to intercompany transactions across multiple sets of books and even across multiple instances. 3. Question: How do I enable intercompany balancing and what is the minimal intercompany account definition that is required?Answer: Intercompany balancing must be enabled upon defining a set of books, and intercompany accounts must at least be specified for journal source and journal category of "Other" and company of "All Other." 4. Question: At what different levels / criteria combinations can you set up unique intercompany accounts? Answer: Intercompany accounts can be specified at set of books, journal source,journal category, and balancing segment value levels. The set of books level is in essence the default/minimal setup required. In this case, intercompany due to and due from accounts must be specified for a journal source and journal category value of "Other" and a balancing segment value of "All Other". You can further specify the due to and due from accounts for specific journal source-journal category-balancing segment values as needed. A clearing companyvalue may be specified for these combinations and the intercompany transactions may be posted in detail or summary. III. Miscellaneous------------------ 1. Question: What happens at the year end if I do not run Income Statement or Balance Sheet Close Programs? Answer: The closing process remains unchanged from previous versions. However, if the Income Statement and/or Balance Sheet Close Programs have already been run and journals generated the balances have already
been moved across and there are no balances for the Year End (Open first period on new year)program to work on.