Recurring Journals

When and How to Add a Recurring Journal

Recurring Journal Entries are those which will not vary across time. They can be automated and consistently applied for each period within your process.

You Recurring Journals when you need to repeat the same entry every accounting period.

For example, if you have an annual expense (such as rent) you can accrue the expense in twelve equal payments every month with a Recurring Journal Entry. You can accrue rent for the current period, which will be paid the following period.

• Rent Expense: $100,000

• Rent Payable: $100,000

In this case, a debit and credit to the appropriate segment intersections will be created every month.

Another example is a trucking organization that depreciates the value of their trucks every period by 10 percent. Or, accruals for utilities, telephone, property taxes, interest, or commissions.

In Practice: How to Add a Recurring Journal:

1. In the Consolidation Control Panel, click the Recurring Journals Process.

2. In the center pane, click Add to launch the Add Journal page.

3. Enter a code of your choice.

4. Enter a name.

5. Select the month/year period for the journal entry.

6. For the Posting Type, YTD (year to date) is displayed.

   Note:

   MTD evaluates entries based on the month’s activity where as YTD evaluates the entries based on the cumulative balance for the line items.

7. Select common currency or local currency for reporting purposes (Adjustments CC or Adjustments LC ).

   Note:

   A local currency is often used by a company's subsidiaries and then converted to a common currency for consolidated reporting purposes.

8. Click Add to add a line item.

   Note:

   Segment columns displayed are based on application configuration and user's security. The Total field displays the Total Debit/Total Credit amount for the entire column as well as running variance column. Validations exist to ensure that your entry is balanced before saving.

If you have several rows of journals and want to move them, drag and drop each row to the correct place on the grid.

• Duplicate Row - duplicate a current line, including; the description, segment selections, and debit/credit values. When a line is duplicated the new line is placed, in edit mode, directly below the line selected for duplication.

• Copy/paste line items from an Excel spreadsheet into the Journal Entry grid. You can copy/paste all values including; description, segments, and debit/credit. Use shortcut keys (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V).

• Segments - Columns displayed are based on application configuration and user's security.

• Total - Displays the Total Debit/Total Credit amount for the entire column as well as running variance column. Validations exist to ensure that your entry is balanced before saving.

9. Click Save.

How to Upload Recurring Journals

Upload Recurring Journals in xlsx format directly to the Consolidation module. Use the sample template (that you can download) for ease of use when performing the upload.

In Practice: Uploading Recurring Journals

1. Access the Consolidation module.

2. Click the Recurring Journals process. Recurring Journals appear in the center pane.

3. If no Recurring Journals were created or uploaded then this pane will be blank. You can opt to upload or enter journals or do a medley of both. Click the new Upload icon shown below.

   

4. When you click the Upload icon, the Recurring Journals Upload dialog appears. It is a best practice to use the sample Excel template as it shows you exactly how you need to organize your journal data to load it successfully. Click Download sample Excel template.

5. The template is downloaded to your computer. Open the template.

6. The template displays and indicates the required fields. It also provides information to ensure the correct data is entered where needed. Copy and paste the template into a new file.

   

7. Enter a journal code, the period for which you want to load the journals, and the posting type.

8. Enter Adjustments (CC) or Adjustments (LC) for reporting and enter notes as needed.

9. Now, you’re ready to copy and paste journals to the spreadsheet. Prior to copying and pasting data to the Excel file, make sure you delete all the tips.

10. Save the xlsx file to your computer.

11. Back in the Consolidation Control Panel, click Choose File.

12. Select the file you just saved to your computer and click Submit. Once processing is complete, the uploaded Recurring Journal will appear in the center pane.

13. If the file fails to upload, download the failed file to view the cause(s) of the failure, fix the file, and upload again.

How to Copy a Recurring Journal within the Same Scenario

1. In the Consolidation Control Panel, under Processes, click Recurring Journals. The Recurring Journals grid appears.

2. Select the Recurring Journal you want to copy.

3. Click Copy and select Single Copy. The Copy Recurring Journal dialog appears.

4. Complete all the fields.

5. Click Save.

How to Copy a Recurring Journal from One Scenario to Another

1. Access the Consolidation Control Panel.

2. Select the scenario you want to copy the journals from.

3. Select the Recurring Journal process.

4. Click the checkbox next to the entry you want to copy.

5. Click the Copy icon. Select Copy Multiple. The Copy page appears.

6. Enter a Code and Name and select period dates.

7. Select the Target Scenario.

8. Complete all selections based on process being copied.

9. Click Save.

If you select multiple entries to copy, the Copy Single option will not be available.

Best Practices

It is a best practice to limit the number of journals and journal lines you copy to a combined total of 30,000 (journals + lines). For example, 1000 journals with no more than 30 lines. Or, 60 journals; each of which have no more than 500 lines.

How to Edit a Recurring Journal

1. In the Consolidation Control Panel, under Processes, click Recurring Journals. The Recurring Journals grid appears.

2. Select the journal.

3. Click Edit. The Edit Recurring Journal dialog appears.

4. Edit as needed.

5. Click Save to save the changes and to exit the Edit Recurring Journal dialog.

How to Delete a Recurring Journal

1. In the Consolidation Control Panel, under Processes, click Recurring Journals. The Recurring Journals grid appears.

2. Select the Recurring Journal.

3. Click Delete.

4. In the confirmation dialog that appears, click OK. The Recurring Journal(s) is deleted.

You can delete all at once versus one-by-one. In the image below, 6 Recurring journals are selected and available for deletion.

Journals with the following status cannot be deleted:

• Pending Review (After forward)

• Posted

• Approved (Auto-Reversing)

When and How to Process a Recurring Journal Entry

Process a Recurring Journal when all the entries in a Recurring Journal are accurate and ready to be posted frequently for specific periods.

You can process recurring journals for multiple periods with multiple processing options. Process one or all recurring journals and create, overwrite, and post standard journals while processing these journals for multiple periods. 

Let’s understand this with an example:

In the Recurring Journal tab, select the Bonus UK journal. So when you click on the process action, the Process Recurring Journals dialog box pops up.

You can process this journal for multiple periods, for example, Jan23 to March23. Along with the multiple period processing, you can either select Create Standard Journals, Overwrite Standard Journals, and Post Standard Journals processing options or select all.

This process will create relevant standard journals, post those standard journals, and overwrite the standard journals in case they have already been processed but not posted.

In Practice: How to process recurring journals for multiple periods

1. Navigate to Consolidation > Recurring Journals.
2. Select one or all Recurring Journals and click Process.Or
   
3. In the Process Recurring Journals dialog box, select From and To period.
4. Select either one or a combination of these processing options:
   • Create Standard Journals: This option processes recurring journals for a selected period and creates respective Standard Journals.
   • Overwrite Standard Journals: This option processes recurring journals for a selected period and overwrites the standard journals with status not posted.
   • Post Standard Journals: This option posts the standard journals created while processing the recurring journals.
     
     Or
     
5. Click Process.
6. The ADC task is triggered and you will receive a notification once the processing is complete.

In the Standard Journals screen, you can see standard journals created and posted for the respective period.