Diaries Overview

Diaries provide you with a way to produce reports that contain a set of sequentially numbered transactions that have been posted to the general ledger during the fiscal year or for specific fiscal periods.

You assign diaries to transactions when you enter the transactions in the Transaction Center. You also assign diaries when you process accounting transactions such as accounts payable payments or revenue generation. Diary numbers are automatically assigned to each transaction when you save a transaction. The diary numbers tie the specific transactions to debit and credit entries that are posted to the general ledger for the purpose of producing diary reports.

You can set up different types of diaries to assign to different types of transactions. For example, you can set up diary types for purchase transactions and sales transactions. You set up diaries by diary type and company (if you have multiple companies) and assign a specific fiscal period or a fiscal year to which they apply.

Diary numbers are used in addition to other existing reference numbers in Vision. They do not replace the existing reference numbers, such as voucher, payment, receipt, invoice, and other reference numbers.

Configuration

To set up diaries and auto numbering for them:
  • In Configuration > General > Code Tables, you enter diary types in the Diary Type code table. For example, you can set up diary types for purchase transactions and sales transactions.
  • On the Transaction Auto Numbering tab in Configuration > Accounting > System Settings, you set up diaries for your company or for each of your companies, if you have multiple companies. Diaries are assigned a diary type, and you specify whether the diary applies for a specific fiscal period or a fiscal year. You also set up the next diary number to be automatically assigned to the next posted transaction.

Assigning Diaries to Transactions and Auto-Generated Diary Numbers

If you have set up a diary in Accounting System Settings for the fiscal period or fiscal year in which you are entering transactions, a Diary field displays in various places throughout Vision, and you must enter a diary code for transactions entered in all these various places.

You assign diary codes to transactions when you:
  • Enter transactions in the Transaction Center.
  • Create processing runs in Vision Accounting, Billing, Time & Expense, and Inventory.
  • Create entries using the Key Conversion and Data Import utilities.

A Diary Number field also displays on various transaction entry forms. This field prefills with an auto-generated number when you save a transaction. For processing forms that do not display a Diary Number field, diary numbers are automatically assigned to the transactions when you process the run, such as for accounts payable payment processing. The automatic numbering ensures that the diary numbers are sequential, based on the order that transactions are posted.

Deleting a Transaction after it Has Been Saved with a Diary Number

You cannot delete a transaction after it has been saved with a diary number. If a transaction is incorrect and you need to delete it, you must enter zero amounts for the transaction, or enter a reversing transaction.

Summary Entries to the General Ledger

Vision makes automatic, summary entries to the general ledger in several processing situations. For example, when you post accounts payable vouchers, the general ledger liability account receives a single posting for the sum of all accounts payable vouchers that affect that liability account in the posting run. If a company is using the Auto-Numbering with Diaries feature, Vision breaks down these general ledger summary entries so that each separate diary entry has an offsetting amount. The impact is that general ledger postings and reports on those details will show more entries when using the Auto-numbering with Diaries feature.

Transactions Created During Scheduled and Recurring Processing

For transactions that are created for scheduled or recurring processing, the diary numbers are assigned when the process runs. The numbers assigned are based on the next diary number that is specified on the Transaction Auto Numbering tab in Accounting System Settings for the fiscal period or fiscal year in which the when the process runs at the time the processing occurs.

Reporting

Use the Diary report in Reporting > General Ledger to generate various diary reports based on periods, diary codes, diary types, and diary numbers.