Summary

The Chart of Accounts Maintenance window is used to create and maintain general ledger accounts. This window will display journal entry history, balance amounts, budget amounts and purchase order history. Because Cirrus is a browser-based application, you can have multiple general ledger accounts open in different browser tabs. Each tab will display the fiscal year, account number, and account description for the account that is open in the tab.

General ledger accounts are created and maintained by fiscal year. When you move to the next fiscal year, the balance of each general ledger account will be transferred to a general ledger account in the new fiscal year. The GL account that the balance is transferred to is called a goto account. You can set up multiple goto accounts on a single GL account and the balance will be distributed to each goto account based on a percentage amount set up on the Chart of Accounts Maintenance window.

If you are creating a new GL account, the account headers must be set up before the account can be created. Account headers function as the description of a section on the chart of accounts. The account headers display on reports, including the GL Distribution Report generated in most batch processes in the application. If you have a uniform chart of accounts (GL> Utilities> Setup> General tab> Uniform chart of accounts toggle), the Section Maintenance window (GL> Maintenance> Section) is used to create account headers. If you do not have a uniform chart of accounts, account headers are created using the Account Header One, Two and Three windows (GL> Maintenance> Acct Header One, Two and Three).

The Chart of Accounts Maintenance window allows you to create one account at a time. If you want to create a new chart of accounts based on the chart of accounts in the previous fiscal year, use the Create New Fiscal Year window (GL> Utilities> Create a New Fiscal Year).

Step by Step

1     Open the Chart of Accounts Selection window (GL> Maintenance> Chart of Accounts).

• The Chart of Accounts Selection window will display all of the general ledger accounts that have been created in the application.
• Select the Fiscal Year of the chart of accounts you would like to maintain in the Fiscal Year field.
  • Chart of accounts are maintained by fiscal year. GL accounts created in this window will be created in the fiscal selected in the Fiscal Year field.
• The ALFRE drop-down menu is used to filter the general ledger accounts that display in the window by ALFRE (assets, liabilities, fund balance, revenue, and expense) designation.
  • General ledger accounts are given a specific ALFRE designation using accounts types. The ALFRE designation is attached to the account type and then the account type is attached to the general ledger account.
  • Account types are created and maintained on the Account Type Maintenance window (GL> Maintenance> Account Types).
• Enter a general ledger account number in the Account field to filter the accounts that display in the window. The window will display all GL account numbers that occur after the GL account entered in the field.
• Enter an Alias to filter the displayed accounts by the user-defined account alias. Account aliases are attached to accounts on the General tab of the Chart of Accounts Maintenance window.
• Select Active or Inactive from the Status drop-down menu to filter the displayed accounts by account status. Account status is determined by the Account is Active toggle on the General tab of the Chart of Accounts Maintenance window.
• The Keyword field is used to filter the accounts by a keyword from the account Description field.
• Click the Search button after information has been entered into the search criteria section to filter the general ledger accounts that display in the window.
• Click the Create GL Account button create a new general ledger account in the fiscal year selected in the Fiscal Year field.

2     The General tab will display the account type, sub ledger account, and go to accounts of the selected GL account.

• At the top of Chart of Account Maintenance screen, a fiscal year field allows you to move from one fiscal year the another via the previous and next arrows without requiring you to return to the Selection screen. This field is accessible from any tab.
  • Each time you use the previous or next arrow to switch the fiscal year, the breadcrumbs at the top of the screen will display an additional level. Use the back arrow at the left of the breadcrumbs to return to the initial fiscal year.
• Hover over the Information button to display the Section name and value for all the Sections on the GL record. The Account Header One, Two, and Three values will display for agencies that do not use a uniform chart of accounts.
• Click the Attachment button to attach a document to the account.
• Enter the account number in the Account field.
  • The dashes between account sections will automatically fill as you type. The format of the GL account number is set up in GL> Utilities> Setup General Ledger.
  • If you are creating a new general ledger account, the fund or department header of the account must be created first.
    • General Ledger section headers are created using the Section Maintenance window (GL> Maintenance> Section).
• Enter a Sub Ledger account or click the field search button to select one from a list. Sub Ledger accounts are optional and not widely used by customers.
  • The format of sub ledger accounts is set up in the General Ledger Setup window (GL> Utilities> Setup> Default Formats> Sub Ledger 1 and Sub Ledger 2 fields).
  • The field below the Sub Ledger field displays the description of the sub ledger account.
• Enter an Account Type or click field search button to select one from a list.
  • Account Types are created and maintained on the Account Type Maintenance window (GL> Maintenance> Account Types).
  • The selected account type will determine the ALFRE designation of the general ledger account. ALFRE designations are attached to the account type using the Account Type Maintenance window (GL> Maintenance> Account Type).
  • The field below the Account Type field will display the description of the account type.
• Enter a Description for the account. The description can be up to 30 alpha numeric characters. This description will appear on all the reports and in the chart of accounts browse windows.
• The Reference field is a user defined field. This field is generally used to enter the previous GL account number of the GL account. This could be a GL account of a previous GL format.
  • The format of the reference number is created and maintained in the General Ledger Setup window (GL> Utilities> Setup> Default Formats tab> Reference Section 1 – 9 fields).
• The Alias field is used to add an alias to the GL account.
  • The account alias feature allows you to assign a GL account to a journal entry, invoice, or purchase order line item using an alias rather than the GL account number. For example, add the alias "EXP1" to a GL account. When you want to attach the GL account to a purchase order line item, enter EXP1 instead of the GL account number and the GL account will populate on the PO line item.
• The Deferred Revenue field is used to specify an active liability account in the current fiscal year as the deferred revenue account.
  • Deferred revenue is used when organizations prefer to handle regularly-collected revenue, such as utility or tax payments, as deferred revenue at the time of billing as those payments have not yet been collected. At the time of collection, the deferred revenue account specified here will be cleared and the revenue account will be credited.
  • This field will only be enabled if the current account is a revenue account and the Deferred Revenue toggle is checked on General tab of the GL Setup window (GL> Utilities> Setup).
• The Budget Group field is used to assign the account to a budget group that can be used in multi-year budgeting.
  • Budget Groups are created and maintained on the Budget Group Maintenance window (PR> Maintenance> Budget Group).
  • If a budget group is selected, and a Go to account is specified below, the budget group will also be added to the future year account.
• The Budget Notes field is used to enter notes on the budget amount. The notes entered in this field will display on the Budget Exceptions Report (GL> Reports> Budget Exceptions).
• Check the Account is Active toggle if the GL account should be active and available for use.
• Check the Account is project driven toggle to require Project Management module task codes to be attached to all transactions on the GL account.
• Check the Account is work order driven toggle to require Work Order module work orders to be attached to all transactions on the GL account.
• Check the Account is budgetable toggle if a budget should be created for the GL account.
• Add go to accounts to the general ledger accounts if you are creating a GL account for the current or previous fiscal year in the Go to Accounts section. The Go to Account specifies where the balance of the GL account will go in the next fiscal year. Generally, the go to account is the same GL account in the next fiscal year, but sometimes the balance of an account will be distributed to different account number.
  • If you are creating an account for the current or future fiscal year, you do not need to enter a go to account.
  • When creating an account for a past or current fiscal year and the account has already been created for a higher fiscal year, you must enter Go to Account information.
  • Click ADD to add a go to account. This will open a new line in the Go to Accounts section.
  • Enter an account number in the Account column or click the field search button   to select a general ledger account.
  • Enter the percentage of the account balance that will be distributed to the go to account in the Percent column.
    • Most of the time the distribution will be 100%, meaning the entire balance of the general ledger account will be transferred to the go to account. If the monies are distributed to two separate accounts, continue adding go to accounts until 100% is reached.

3     The Balance tab displays the balance information on the selected GL account, including the budget amount, beginning balance, YTD activity, and encumbrance amounts.

• The Show drop-down menu is used to filter the transactions included in the calculated fields on the tab.
  • Select All if you would like to include committed journal entries and uncommitted journal entries in the GL module Journal Entries process (GL> Journal Entries). Selecting All will not include uncommitted journal entries from other module. For example, uncommitted journal entries in the AP Invoices process (AP> Invoices) will not be included in the Activity field if you select All. Selecting All will only include the journal entries in open GL module Journal Entries batches (GL> Journal Entries).
  • Select Committed Only to display only the amounts of committed transactions on the tab. Uncommitted transactions (transactions in open GL Journal Entry batches) will not be included in any of the calculated fields on the tab.
• The Beginning Balance field displays the balance of the GL account at the beginning of the year. If this is a revenue or expense account, the beginning balance should be zero. If this is a fund balance, asset or liability account, the account will have a beginning balance if it had activity in the previous fiscal year.
• The Activity field will display the activity on the selected account between the Beginning Balance and the YTD balance.
• The Budget field will display the current budget amount. This is the same amount that displays in the Budget field on the Budget tab. The current budget amount is the adopted budget that has been rolled to the current budget plus any budget adjustments made using the Budget Adjustments process (GL> Budget Adjustments).
• The YTD field displays the year to date activity on the account. This value will include the transactions selected in the Show drop-down menu.
• The Available field displays the budget amount less the year to date activity (Budget - YTD = Available).
• The Available % field displays the Available amount divided by the budget amount (Available / Budget).
• The Invoices without PO's field displays the total amount of invoice line items that are attached to the GL account but have not been committed. This field will always include uncommitted transactions, even if Committed Only is selected in the Show drop-down menu.
• The Pre-Encumbrance field displays the amount of approved requisitions. When the approved requisition becomes a purchase order, the pre-encumbrance will become an encumbered amount.
• The Encumbered field will display the total amount of purchase order line items attached to the GL account.
  • The Encumbered amount will only include committed purchase orders. Purchase orders that are in open Purchase Order batches will not affect the encumbered amount. If a purchase order is being modified using the Change Orders process (PO> Change Orders), the modified purchase order line items will not affect the encumbered amount until they are committed.
  • Purchase orders are created in the Purchase Order modules (PO> Purchase Orders).
  • Purchase orders are modified using the Change Orders process (PO> Change Orders).
• The YTD with Encumbrances field displays the year to date activity plus the encumbered amount. Uncommitted purchase orders and uncommitted modifications to purchase orders (PO> Change Orders) will not be included in this field.
• The Available with Encumbrance fields display the budget amount less the encumbrances. The first field displays the total dollar amount available and the second displays the percentage available. Uncommitted purchase orders in the Purchase Orders and Change Orders process will not be included in these amounts. For example, if a purchase order line item is being modified in the Change Orders process, the modified encumbered amount will not affect the values in the Available with Encumbrance fields until the Change Orders batch is committed.
• Click CSV EXPORT or EXCEL EXPORT in the data grid header below if you would like to generate a comma-separated value or MS Excel spreadsheet of the information in the grid.

4     The Budget tab is used to view the budget amounts on the selected GL account.

• The Budget field will display the budgeted amount of the general ledger account. The Adopted budgeted amount will become the Budget amount after the Fiscal Year End Reset process (GL> Utilities> Fiscal Year End Reset) has been run.
  • Use the Copy Budget Information window (GL> New Budget Info> Copy Budget Information) to copy the budgeted amounts from one budget to another (requested, proposed, approved, adopted).
  • Budget adjustments (GL>Budget Adjustments) will modify the amount in the Budget field and will display as a line item in the Budget Adjustments section.
• The Original Budget field displays the current budget that was originally created during the Fiscal Year End Reset (GL> Utilities> Fiscal Year End Reset). This figure does not included any budget adjustments posted to the GL account or any budget adjustments that resulted from rolling over purchase orders (PO> Roll Over PO).
• The Requested, Proposed, Approved, and Adopted fields display the relevant budget amounts.
• The Estimated Actuals field displays the estimated actual amount set up on the GL account using the Edit Estimated Actuals window (GL> New budget Info> Edit Estimated Actual Balances).
• The FTE field will display the full time equivalency amount.
  • Full time equivalencies can be modified using the New Year Budget Maintenance window (GL> New Budget Info> Edit New Year Budgets).
• The Period 1 – Period 12 fields display the period budget of the GL account.
  • Budgeted amounts are distributed to fiscal periods using the Period Budgeting process. (Period budgeting has not been implemented yet.)
• The Budget Adjustments field will display the budget adjustments created using the Budget Adjustment process (GL> Budget Adjustments).

5     The History tab will display the journal entry line items posted to the selected GL account.

• The System drop-down menu is used to filter the transactions in the window by the module used to create the transaction.
• The Status drop-down menu is used to filter the journal entry line items that display on the tab by the commit status.
  • Select All to include all journal entry line items on the tab.
  • Select Committed if only committed journal entry line items should display on the tab.
  • Select Uncommitted if uncommitted journal entry line items in the Journal Entries process (GL> Journal Entries) should display on the tab.
    • The History tab will not display uncommitted journal entry line items that are being created in other modules. For example, if the GL account is attached to an invoice line item, the journal entry line item to record the expense will not display on the Chart of Accounts Maintenance window until the invoice has been committed (AP> Invoices> Commit).
• The Total field will display the net amount of the journal line items that display on the tab.
• Click CSV EXPORT or EXCEL EXPORT in the data grid header to create a comma-separated value or an MS Excel spreadsheet of the journal entry line items on the tab.

6     The Purchase Orders tab is used to display purchase order line items attached to the selected GL account.

• Check the Include closed PO’s toggle to include closed purchase orders on the tab. A purchase order is closed when all of the purchase order line items on the purchase order have been invoiced. Individual purchase order line items are closed as they are invoiced.
  • If there are multiple line items on the purchase order and some of those line items are attached to other general ledger accounts, the purchase order will still display on the GL account until all of the purchase order line items are closed. This means the purchase order line items attached to the general ledger can be closed, but the purchase order will still display on the tab as open until the purchase order line items attached to the other GL accounts are invoiced.
  • Once a purchase order line item is closed, the value in the Outstanding column will be set to $0.00.
• Click the purchase order number in the PO Number column to open the purchase order of the selected purchase order line item.
• Click CSV EXPORT or EXCEL EXPORT in the data grid header to create a comma-separated value or an MS Excel spreadsheet of the purchase orders that display on the tab.

7     The Visual Reporting tab displays the existing Visual Reporting Groups that include the selected GL account.

• The Visual Reporting tool (GL> Reporting Tools> Visual Reporting) is designed to assist in the creation of GASB 34 reports. Once a report is created, it can be accessed and printed from the VRI window (GL> Reports> VRI).
• VRI Reporting is not yet fully functional in Cirrus. However, you can still work with VRI reports created and maintained in Enterprise V7 within Cirrus> GL> Maintenance> Chart of Accounts> Visual Reporting tab.
• The Visual Reporting tool uses Groups and Sets to determine which accounts are included in a report.
  • Groups are user-defined collections of GL accounts. Groups are created and maintained on the Group Maintenance window (GL> Maintenance> Group).
  • Sets are user-defined collections of Groups. Sets are created and maintained on the Set Maintenance window (GL> Maintenance> Set).
• Click ADD to add the currently selected GL account to another Group.
  • This will open the VRI Group Selection screen. Select the Group that the account should be added to and click the Select button  . The selected Group will now appear on the Visual Reporting tab.
• Click COPY to add the currently selected GL account to all Groups associated with another GL account.
  • This will open the Chart of Accounts Selection screen. Use the filters to search for the desired account and click the Select button  . All the VRI Groups associated with selected account will now appear on the Visual Reporting tab.
• Click DELETE to remove the currently selected GL account from a Group.
• Click the Save button to save any changes.

8     The Extended Budgeting tab displays the extended budgeting activity on the selected GL account.

• The Extended Budgeting module is used to create requested, proposed, approved and adopted budgets.
• This tab allows you to track all extended budgeting activity associated with the selected account. All revisions associated with an EB budget will display in the data grid.

9     The Tag tab is used to attach tags to the account.

• Tags are used to create user-defined categories for Cirrus entities.
  • For example, an organization may want to limit the accounts that a user can access to only those accounts related to their department or job function. That organization can tag a set of accounts with a tag such as "Police", and then assign all police-related users or user groups to that tag. Users that do not have permission to view the "Police" tagged accounts will not see those accounts when they open the Account Selection window. Also, if a user that does not have permission to use an account attempts to manually enter the account number, they will receive an error and will be prevented from doing so.
• Select a tag and click DELETE to delete the tag from the account.
• Click ADD to add a new tag to the account. This will open the Tag Selection window.
  • The Tag Selection window will display all the available tags. Filter the displayed tags by entering the desired data and clicking the Search button  .
  • Select a tag and click the Select button to attach the selected tag to the account.
    • Attaching a restrictive tag to the account will limit which Cirrus users will be able to access the account.
• Click the Save button when complete.

10     The Miscellaneous tab displays the miscellaneous fields set up on the GL account.

• The labels of the miscellaneous fields are set up in the Miscellaneous Field Labels window (SS> Utilities> Miscellaneous Field Labels).
• These user-defined fields will be included in a new fiscal year account when using the Create New Fiscal Year tool.
• Click the Save button when complete.