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Distributions

This chapter contains the following topics:

Introduction to Distributions

Making Distributions Entries (With (J/C)

Printing an Edit List

Posting Distributions Entries

Get Distributions

Data Import

Introduction to Distributions

The Distributions selection is used primarily to handle distribution entries transferred to G/L from other modules. Once distribution entries have been entered and verified as correct (with the help of the edit list), you can post them to General Ledger Transactions, the permanent G/L file/table.

Transactions normally entered in General Journal can be entered using this selection if preferred; however, a Distributions requires a separate screen for each transaction whereas General journal supports multi-line entry. Also, distributions must be posted before you can run Get distributions. General journal entries may remain on file as long as you need.

Select

Enter from the Distributions menu.

Making Distribution Entries (Without J/C)

Distributions processing can differ significantly depending on whether or not you have interfaced your General Ledger module to the Job Cost module.

If your General Ledger module is interfaced with Job Cost, skip to the Making Distributions Entries (With (J/C).

Graphical Mode

The following screen appears:

The dates displayed at the top of the tab indicate your current accounting period.

If you see the message Click here to import distributions, as seen below, a file is ready to be imported. For details on importing a file, see the Importing External Cross-Reference Distributions section.

Distributions List Box

The list box displays up to 6 distribution records at a time. You may sort the accounts by account number or Entry sequence both in ascending or descending order. To select a field or change the sort order, click on the column name or the arrow to the right of the column name or use the View options. Only column names in red may be sorted.

To locate a distribution record, start typing a account number or entry sequence depending on which sort field is selected. You may also use the up/down arrows, Page up, Page down, Home and End keys to locate a checking account.

Distribution records that display in the list box are available for changes or deletion. The fields for the selected distribution record display in the lower part of the screen.

When a distribution record is found, you may select the <Enter> key or Edit button to start editing.

Distribution Buttons

When you are adding or editing existing distributions, you have the following button options:

Print and Options Menu Selections

From the Print menu you may print an Edit list. See Printing an Edit List. From the Options menu you may select Account notes and Post the distributions. See Using notes and Posting Distributions Entries.

Character Mode

The following screen appears:

The dates displayed in the upper right-hand corner show your current accounting period.

General Tab

Note that an Entry count and Running balance are kept as you make distributions entries. When the running balance is zero, all entries which have been made are in balance (debits equal credits). You can still exit if the Running balance is not zero.

You can work with both new and existing entries on this screen.

Enter the following information:

Account #

You can change or delete existing entries that are not yet posted to the General Ledger. Entries that have already been posted are not accessible through this selection.

Options 

Enter a valid account number, or use one of the options:

(Account description)

Options 

If you choose <Enter>, the cursor moves to the account description field. Enter the account description, or its leading characters. Upper/lower case is significant. Your options at this point are:

To find a specific entry, enter the account number and entry date. Then press <F1> at the Amount field to scan through the entries which match the account number and entry date.

If an entry is changed, it is filed in the Distributions Transactions, and the Running balance is updated to reflect any change in the amount.

Date

This is the date to be used for distribution to the General Ledger Transactions.

You may enter a date outside the current period, but you receive the warning message below and a warning will print on the Distributions Entry Edit List and Distributions Entry Register.

In most cases when you enter a date outside the accounting period fiscal year date range you will receive this message and the entry will not be allowed.

The following Date not in current fiscal year warning message will display when:

In either case the entry is accepted.

Amount

The cursor is initially positioned for entering either a debit or a credit, depending on the parentheses control you defined for this account (the Paren control code field in Chart of Accounts). In this case, a credit is the expected entry type.

You may either enter the amount, or press <Enter> to move to the opposite column and then enter the amount there.

If you enter zeros for both debit and credit amounts, you are asked if this is correct. If you answer Yes, you may proceed with this entry. If you select No then the cursor goes back to the Amount field.

Options 

Enter an amount, or use one of the options:

For example, if the running balance is a debit of $700.00 and you press <F2>, a credit of $700.00 is entered as the amount.

Source

Options 

The source is a code used to sort entries when the Source Cross Reference Report is prepared (refer to the Source Cross Reference chapter). Enter a source. If you chose in Control Information to re-display sources, you may use the option:

Accrual Reversal

If the source entered is ACCRUE, accrual reversal is allowed.

Accrue is used to record and adjust expenses, liabilities, revenues, etc., that must be partially accounted for during the current period, but cannot be fully accounted for until the next accounting period.

If you enter ACCRUE here and then select the check mark (Yes) to the Reverse next period field, a reversing entry dated with the starting date of the next period, but opposite in sign, is automatically created when this entry is posted.

This lets you enter an accrual entry which is automatically reversed as of the beginning of the next accounting period.

For example, if a weekly pay period crossed over between monthly accounting periods, you could make entries for the part of the week’s payroll that is to accrue to the current period, and the software automatically creates reversing entries at the start of the new period. (Then in the next period, you would make entries for the full week’s payroll when the payroll week was over.)

If you enter ACCRUE as the source, you must also make the counter-balancing entry with ACCRUE as the source, so that the accounts remain in balance in this accounting period.

If the expected date of the reversal is after the second fiscal year in accounting periods you will not be able to enter ACCRUE in the field. An "Accrual reversal (ACCRUE) Source is not allowed" message displays which like this:

Click on OK and enter a record with a different date or a different Source.

Reference

Options 

Enter a reference. If you chose in Control information not to re-display references, you may use the option:

Doc #

Entering a document number is optional. This is an additional reference.

Options 

Enter the document number. If you chose in Control Information not to re-display document numbers, you may use the option:

Duplicate entries

When you make a new journal entry and an entry already exists for the same account number, date, amount (debit or credit), source, and reference, you will be given a warning to this effect. You are not prohibited from making this new entry, but you should verify that entering this duplicate is correct.

Reverse next period

If ACCRUE was entered in the Source field, you can allow automatic reversal of an accrual entry upon posting.

If ACCRUE was not entered, this field can not be entered and is skipped.

If you select to reverse the entry in the next period, the Running balance will be the same as it was before the entry. The reason for this is the accrual reversal also reverses the entry you made. However, you are still required to make the counter-balancing entry in order for entries to balance within the period.

Correcting entry

This box can be checked only if Control Information specifies that correcting transactions are allowed.

If this entry corrects some other previous entry that was incorrect, you can mark this as a correcting entry. This information is used in preparing the Expanded Cash Flow Statement (in Financial Statement Layouts).

Options 

Make any needed changes. You may also use one of the following options:

Using notes

The purpose of notes for a journal entry is to allow you to annotate the entry with descriptive information. It is an assist to the audit trail so that the full and exact purpose of a particular debit or credit can be understood when someone reviews the Register later.

The notes will always appear on the Distributions Entry Register and you may choose to have them appear on the Edit List as well.

The notes are not saved after posting.

Examples

For practice, and to provide test data for subsequent chapters in this documentation, enter several distributions until the running balance is zero.

Making Distributions Entries (With (J/C)

If you have not installed the Job Cost module or have not interfaced G/L to J/C, skip this section and use the Making Distribution Entries (Without J/C) instead.

Graphical Mode

The following screen appears:

The dates displayed at the top of the tab show your current accounting period.

If there any existing distributions, up to 6 will display in the list box near the top of the screen. The first distribution entry is highlighted and will display in the fields below.

The default sort is By account. On the View menu you can change the sort to be By entry sequence. When a distribution is found, select the <Enter> key to start editing the account or select a different distribution.

Options 

To locate an existing distribution you may start typing the account number or use one of these options:

Options 

When there are existing entries, you have the following button options:

When you are adding or editing existing distributions, you have the following button options:

From the Print menu you may print an Edit list. See Printing an Edit List. From the Options menu you may select Account notes and Post the distributions. See Using notes and Posting Distributions Entries.

Character Mode

The following screen appears:

The current accounting period date range displays.

You can work with both new and existing entries at this screen. Existing entries may be edited or deleted.

General Tab

Note that an Entry count and Running balance are kept as you make Distributions entries. When the running balance is zero, all entries which have been entered are in balance (debits equal credits). (You can still exit if the Running balance is not zero, but you can not post.)

Enter the following information:

Job #

Options 

This is the number of the job for this entry. If this is not an entry for a job, press <Enter> and the cursor moves to Account # field. Otherwise, enter a job number or use one of the options:

The job must exist in the Job Cost system, and can be an active or closed job. It cannot however be a job in the Inactive Job file/table. The job description is displayed automatically.

There are two types of entries for a job: cost and recognized-profit:

In both cases:

Select cost item

Selecting this button displays the cost item lookup.

The Lookup appears like the following:

Selecting a cost item fills in the Sub job # (if applicable), Change # and Category # fields.

Sub-job #

Use the Select cost item button to fill in this field. This field can only be edited if you finished the entry of the distribution.

This field is not filled in by the Lookup entry if the job entered does not have sub-jobs, or (in the case of recognized profit), it has them but does not bill them separately. The sub-job number entered must exist for the job.

Change #

Use the Select cost item button to fill in this field. This field can only be edited if you finished the entry of the distribution.

The change order must be on file for the job. If you do not use change orders at all in your Job Cost system, this field is skipped automatically. If this entry is not for a change order, leave the field blank to skip it.

Category #

Use the Select cost item button to fill in this field. This field can only be edited if you finished the entry of the distribution.

Regarding the cost category:

Account #

Options 

Enter the number of the account where this entry will be posted, or use one of the options:

Account description

Options 

If you choose <F7>, the cursor moves to the account description field. Enter the account description, or its leading characters. Upper/lower case is significant. Your options at this point are:

Date

Enter the date that is used for distribution to General Ledger Transactions (permanent G/L data). You can enter a date outside the current period, but you receive a warning message and a warning prints on the Distributions Entry Edit List and Distributions Entry Register.

It is theoretically possible for more than one item to be on file for the same cost item, account number, and date. If this happens, the fields from Job # to Date are not sufficient to identify which entry you want to access. You can still use the next / previous function keys to locate the desired entry. Such an event will often be a data entry error, but it may be legitimate.

Debit

Credit

The cursor is initially positioned for entering either a debit or a credit, depending on how the Paren control code field is defined in Chart of accounts.

You may either enter the amount, or press <Enter> to move to the opposite column and then enter the amount there.

If you enter zeros for both debit and credit amounts, you are asked if this is correct. If you answer Y, you may proceed with the entry.

Options 

Enter an amount, or use one of the options:

For example, if the Running balance is a debit of $700.00 and you press <F2>, a credit of $700.00 is entered as the amount.

Source

For a recognized profit entry, the source defaults to PFTREC, and you cannot change it.

Reference

Reverse next period ?

Correcting entry ?

Make any changes and select the Save button. For other button options see Distribution Buttons.

Character Mode

Field number to change ?

Options 

Make any needed changes. You may also use one of the following options:

Printing an Edit List

The Edit list selection enables you to print the Distributions Entry Edit List.

See a sample Distribution Edit List report in Sample reports appendix.

Select

Edit list from the Distributions menu.

Graphical Mode

The following screen appears:

Character Mode

The following screen appears:

Enter the following information:

Print sequence

Select Account number (A) to print the report in account number order, or Entry order (E) to print entries in the order in which they were entered.

Print notes

Select the <Space bar> to include the notes on the report, or <Enter> key to omit them.

OK or Cancel

Make any changes or select the OK button to print. Select the Cancel button to go back to the menu.

Posting Distributions Entries

The Post selection enables you to post distribution entries to General Ledger Transactions and prints the Distributions Entry Register.

See a Distributions Register example in Sample reports.

Select

Post from the Distributions menu.

Graphical Mode

The following screen appears:

Character Mode

The following screen appears:

Enter the following information:

Print sequence

Select Account number to print the report in account number order, or Entry order to print entries in the order in which they were entered.

OK or Cancel

Make any changes or select the OK button to post and print the register or select the Cancel button to return to the menu.

The Distributions Entry Register shows every entry that is to be posted, exactly as they will appear in General Ledger Transactions.

The report number and journal name are used to form a unique journal number. Later, when you want to refer to a Distributions Entry Register, you can do so by using GJ (distributions) plus this report number. For example, Distributions Entry Register number 0005 could be referred to as GJ0005.

While the register is being printed, the entries are checked to see if there are any invalid accounts or if any periods are out of balance.

If invalid accounts are referenced, you are not allowed to post. To continue, either delete the entries with invalid accounts and then re-enter them with valid accounts, or enter the accounts into the Chart of Accounts.

If any periods are out of balance (total of debits does not equal total of credits), you are also not allowed to post. To continue, make another entry to bring the periods into balance.

If any of the records are oustide the acceptable fiscal year range the following message displays and you are not allowed to post:

To continue change the delete the entries that are outside the range and re-enter them with acceptable dates.

Assuming no invalid accounts, no periods are out of balance and there is an acceptable date range, the software posts the distributions entries as General Ledger Transactions.

This function sets the Running balance and Entry count to zero and clears the Distributions Transactions so that new entries can be made.

When distributions entries are posted, the debits and credits posted for each accounting period must be in balance. As a result of this requirement, the General Ledger Transactions (which contains your posted journal entries) will always be in balance.

Get Distributions

The Get Distributions selection lets you transfer information from the Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Check Reconciliation, Payroll, Inventory Control, Job Cost, and Fixed Assets distributions to General Journal Transactions (G/L Distribution Transactions).

This is also referred to as interfacing G/L to other modules.

Before running Get distributions, any entries in the Distributions Transactions must first be posted to the General Ledger Transactions.

The Distributions to G/L data contains debits and credits (created by transactions posted in the particular module) that must be transferred to the PBS General Ledger from that module. Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Check Reconciliation, Inventory Control, Payroll, and Job Cost each contain their own individual Distribution to G/L files. (Refer to the additional notes below regarding Fixed Assets or External Cross-reference.) Data from the manufacturing modules are moved into PBS differently. For specific information, see the manufacturing documentation.

If you are using Canadian payroll, a setup is required before you may get distributions. See Canadian Payroll Setup and Notes.

Distributions to G/L Report

Prior to running Get distributions, you should first print the Distribution to G/L Report. All accounts should be printed. The date range should be from Earliest to the date which is the end of your accounting period. Do not specify that the file is to be purged! If you purge distributions before transferring them, you will have to enter these distributions again manually using Distributions. This defeats the purpose of the Get distributions selection.

The purpose of printing the Distribution to G/L Report is to obtain an accurate list of the debits and credits that are to be transferred to G/L.

You may want to print the report to disk and then obtain a printed copy using Print reports from disk. In this way, you can retain a copy of the report on the hard disk in case a spare copy of the report should be needed.

After printing the report, you should then back up your data files and run Get distributions. When running this selection, you should specify that the distributions are to be purged as they are copied to Distributions Transactions. If a power failure (and computer crash) should occur while running Get distributions, simply restore your backup and repeat the procedure.

Getting Distributions

Once Get distributions is run, you may then print a Distributions Entry Edit List and compare this report with the Distribution to G/L Report to verify that all debits and credits have been transferred. (The debits and credits will only be comparable if you have purged the distributions each period. If you have not purged Distribution in a previous period, the reports will not be comparable.

An alternative procedure is as follows:

Note that if you specify that distributions are not to be purged by Get distributions, and you run Get distributions again for the same module, you will never transfer the same distribution from the module to G/L more than once. Get distributions prevents this. Thus, if after step (2) in the alternate procedure above, you discover additional transactions for the accounting period which have not yet been entered into the module, simply enter and post these transactions in the module, and repeat the alternate procedure starting with step (1).

If distributions are transferred for accounts that are not defined in Chart of Accounts, you have to either add these accounts to the Chart of Accounts before these entries can be posted, or delete the entries and then re-enter them for a different (valid) account.

Since the program does not check the validity of the information being transferred, we recommend that you verify that all accounts in the Valid G/L Account are also in your Chart of Accounts.

Select

Get distributions from the Distributions menu.

If there are unposted entries in Distributions, you will get a message indicating this. You will either have to post or delete the entries.

Graphical Mode

Otherwise, the following screen appears:

Character Mode

The following screen displays:

Enter the following:

Interface with

Options 

Select the system (module) from which information is to be transferred. Select one of the following:

Only the modules actually present in your system appear on the display.

FA and EX are not defined modules. They allow distributions to be interfaced from another external source. EX appears on the screen only if you have authorized the Cross-reference file in Company information.

Enter the system (module) from which information is to be transferred.

Cutoff date

Enter the last date for which entries will be transferred from the other system’s distribution file to the Distributions Transaction file, or use the option:

Type of interface

Options 

This determines the method of compression that will be used during transfer. Refer to the explanation in the Summarize General Ledger chapter.

Enter either:

These three choices apply for all accounts. The fourth choice applies on an account-by-account basis:

Purge distribution file

This field is checked automatically (set to Y) automatically when interfacing to Fixed Assets External cross reference and cannot be changed.

Otherwise, this determines whether distributions will be purged (completely removed) from the distributions in the other module as they are being transferred to G/L Distributions.

If you do not want to purge the distributions during the interface, you can still purge the distributions at a later time from within the module from which information is being transferred.

Check this box (answer Y) to purge the distributions in the other module, or leave it unchecked (N) to keep them on file in the other module. The default is to not purge.

Use (vendor name/reference) from A/P distributions

This field is available for entry only if A/P is being interfaced and either No compress or Compress, using the account compress code is selected in the Type of interface field.

For each payable, both the vendor’s name and a reference are stored in A/P distributions, so you may choose which one to transfer to G/L Distributions.

You should consult with your accountant on which one should be used.

Enter Reference to transfer the reference or Vendor name to transfer the vendor’s name.

Cross-reference

This field is available for entry only if you chose EX as the module being interfaced. EX stands for external cross-reference. It lets you capture distributions from a foreign (non-PBS) module, even though that module uses a different account number structure. You must already have equated the foreign accounts to the Passport Business Solutions accounts (using the Cross-reference Account file described in the System User documentation).

This field identifies which cross-reference account is used when converting the 40-character free-format account number to the standard four-segment account number.

Select either 1st external cross-reference account (1), or the 2nd external cross-reference account (2).

OK or Cancel

You may select the Cancel button to not get distributions. Otherwise, make any needed changes and select the OK button to process. There will be a period of processing as distributions are transferred. When done, press <Esc> to return to the main G/L menu. No report is produced by this selection, however printing the Distributions Edit list will show the results.

For what to do next, see After Interfacing.

Canadian Payroll Setup and Notes

This section contains the setup and some additional notes for a Canadian Payroll interface.

Canadian Payroll Setup

If you are using Canadian payroll and you want to get distributions from it, you must first enter a line in the cblconfi file. If you are using multiple companies with Canadian payroll, you must enter this line for each company. The line is:

PASS_KPXX_FIL_LOC Where XX = company id.

Then the option to get Canadian payroll will display in the Interface with field. Also, enter the location of the payroll distribution file at the end of the line. Here is an example with a company number of 00:

PASS_KP00_FIL_LOC "C:\CANADA PR\DATA\PR00\"

The double quotes are only needed if there is a space in the path.

Additional Notes

When processing the Canadian Payroll distributions there are a couple of differences from the current Payroll distributions.

Transferring Fixed Assets Distributions

The fixed assets option is not available on the PBS system. However there may be a third-party provider for PBS that has this module.

The Fixed Assets Distribution file contains debits and credits that must be transferred to the Passport Business Solutions General Ledger.

Prior to running Get distributions, you should back up your PBS and Fixed Assets data files, and then follow the procedures your Fixed Asset software provider. The procedure below may be different than your Fixed Asset provider requires.

The name of the file PBS can import is FADIST??.ASC.

At this point, run Get distributions, choosing to interface with Fixed Assets. When running this selection, distributions are automatically purged as they are copied to the Distributions Transaction file. If a power failure (and computer crash) should occur while running Get distributions, simply restore your backup and repeat the procedure.

If distributions are transferred for accounts that are not defined in the Chart of Accounts file, you have to either add these accounts to the Chart of Accounts file before these entries can be posted, or delete the entries and then re-enter them for a different (valid) account.

Since the program does not check the validity of the information being transferred, we recommend that you verify that all accounts entered in the Fixed Asset System are also in your Chart of Accounts.

Importing External Cross-Reference Distributions

An external cross-reference distribution file contains debits and credits that must be transferred to General Ledger. These distributions come from modules or systems other than those supported directly by Passport. These may have been created by another module, by your MIS department, from a external billing system, or some other source. One common source is CounterPoint®.

Import File Layout

To use this feature, create your file with the following format:

* The Account number must be entered exactly the same way it is entered in CTL > Account links, followed by trailing spaces (enough to fill the 40 characters allowed). Account links are created by entering or automatically generating the accounts in the CTL > Account links menu selection. See the External Cross References chapter in the PBS System documentation.

All fields are plain ASCII text. The file name must be EXDIST??.ASC.

Running Get Distributions

Before you run Get distributions, you should back up your PBS data and external cross-reference file, and then follow the procedures established for your external system to obtain a permanent record of the debits and credits for the period.

At this point, run Get distributions, choosing to interface with an External cross-reference. When running this selection, distributions are automatically purged as they are imported as Distribution transactions. If a power failure (and computer crash) should occur while running Get distributions, simply restore your backup and repeat the procedure.

Select OK to import the external distributions.

Import File Handling

If there is data in the import file with dates after the Cutoff date, a backup file is created that includes this data only. This file is moved to the (top-level PBS)\BACKUP\00\ and the file is named EXDIST00.ASC (00 stands for the Company ID. Substitute it for your actual company). It can be imported at a later time assuming that you are using a Cutoff date that is after the dates in the file. The program will import data from the backup folder.

When an import is run and the full data from the file is imported, the EXDIST00.ASC file is copied to \BACKUP\00, the program imports that file and a backup file is created. Whether there are errors or not, the file is moved to the \BACKUP\00 folder. The file is copied and named to something like this EXDIST00-2013022011283696.ASC. This EXDIST00-2013022011283696.ASC file name is the original name plus the date and time the import was run.

If distributions are transferred for accounts that are not defined in Chart of Accounts, an error message displays and a reported is printed.

Whether you print the report or not, this message displays next.

You cannot import the data until you make changes and re-import. You may either add the missing account to the Chart of Accounts and cross -references (if that is the error) or edit the import file to correct the data and import again.

WARNING: If there were errors in the file, you did not import and you have fixed the errors and want to re-import, do not copy the EXDIST00.ASC from the BACKUP folder to the top-level PBS folder and re-import. You may move it, but do not copy it. If you copy it the program will merge and import both the EXDIST00.ASC from the top-level and the one from BACKUP.

For those accounts which do not appear in the cross-references see the External Cross References chapter of the PBS System documentation for further information about entering them.

After Interfacing

Use Distributions Enter to change, delete, or print an edit list of the entries transferred. Post the entries to General Ledger Transactions when you are satisfied they were transferred correctly.

Entries transferred to General Ledger using Get distributions are easily recognized:

If compressed by date, the original journal number is retained. Compression is not really by date alone, but by date within journal.

If compressed by period, the journal number is lost.

If not compressed, the original journal number is retained.

If compressed by date, this is NET CHANGE FOR mmddyy/jrnl where mmddyy is the date and jrnl is the journal number.

If compressed by period, this is NET CHANGE FOR THE PERIOD

If not compressed, this varies by module as shown in the table below.

If compressed (by date or period), the document number is blank.

If not compressed, this varies by module as shown in the table below:

Data Import

Select

Data import from the Distributions menu.

Data Import Manager is licensed separately and may not be available on your system. You may also use Data Import Manager to import files for A/P payables, A/R miscellaneous charges, Check Reconciliation data, I/C transactions, payroll time worked entries and more.

For information on the configuration and use of data import, see the Data Import Manager documentation.

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