GENERAL LEDGER JOURNALS IN APTOS Presenter: Anne Shrubshall Date: FASIG 25 May 2007

PRESENTATION OVERVIEW What is a journal? Why do we need journals? Audit trail Issues for discussion Who should create journals? Authorisation Journal protocols

What is a journal (1) ? Vouchers All transactions in Aptos are held within vouchers Vouchers contain the double entries (debits and credits) that underpin all accounting systems Vouchers are generated as part of transactional processing sales ledger purchase ledger cash receipting

What is a journal (2) ? Vouchers can also be created manually These are then called journals A journal can be input against any ledger Purchase ledger journal Sales ledger journal Cash book journal General ledger journal

What is general ledger journal? A voucher which creates a transaction manually on a general ledger code Each journal must contain at least one: Debit entry Credit entry The total of debits must equal the total of credits Transaction type on reports - GLJ

Debits and credits Debits What is a debit (DR): Debit entries appear as positive (no brackets) on transaction reports Expenditure is shown as a debit A debit entry increases expenditure A debit entry reduces income

Debits and credits Credits What is a credit (CR): Credit entries appear as negative (with brackets) on transaction reports Income is shown as a credit A credit entry increases income A credit entry reduces expenditure

Why do we need journals? Correcting errors – one to one entries Making allocations – one to many entries Year end entries – across years Accruals Prepayments Accrued/deferred income

Audit trail A journal derives from outside Aptos How do I know it is a journal Transaction type GLJ Reference should begin J From transaction back to source documentation Who did it? When? Why?

How do we get a journal done? Input by Finance Services manually electronically Input it yourself DISCUSSION POINT

Risks of devolved input Incorrect journals can cause havoc! Distorts financial reports Creates further incorrect entries Have to be a detective to sort it out Can be a mechanism to hide fraud External auditors now take a download of all our journal entries

Minimising Risk - Authorisation Request to Finance Services Journal request form (needs revising) Spreadsheet Devolved input Only one person involved? Authorisation outside the system? Authorisation within Aptos?

Minimising Risk - Journal protocols General Approval to input journals Training Detail for journals Header record Reference system Narrative Source documentation Correction/reversal of previous journals

Where do we go from here? Gather information - questionnaire Test out system authorisation Draw up protocols Revise journal request form Design spreadsheet template for bulk journals Guidance on web

ANY QUESTIONS?