How Ajera validates and assigns dates

To determine valid dates and assign accounting dates, Ajera uses the dates you enter in these fields:

  • Beginning Balances Date field in:

Multi-company only. The Don't Allow Entries Prior To date must fall after the last beginning balance date of all your companies to prevent invalid general ledger entries.

How Ajera determines an accounting date depends on the task:

  • Entering a transaction
  • Changing a transaction
  • Deleting a transaction

When you enter a new transaction

When you enter transactions for tasks from the Manage menu, Ajera makes the necessary debit and credit entries for financial reporting. It uses the date of the transaction as the accounting date. For example, when you enter a vendor invoice, Ajera uses the accounting date for the debit and credit entries.

The date you enter must not be earlier than the Don't Allow Entries Prior To date in > Setup > Company > Preferences. If the Don't Allow Entries Prior To date is blank, the date you enter must be later than the Beginning Balances date in Company > Preferences.

Multi-company only. The Beginning Balances date for individual companies in your organization is found in > Setup > Company > Companies. If the Don't Allow Entries Prior To date in > Setup > Company > Preferences is before a company's beginning balance date, a warning message appears. Enter a date after the last beginning balance date of all your companies to prevent invalid general ledger entries.

You have three companies with beginning balance dates of May 31, 2012; June 30, 2012; and July 31; 2012. Enter August 1, 2012, in the Don't Allow Entries Prior To field.

When you change a transaction

Certain changes to a transaction affect financial reporting. For example, when you change the account, department, or amount on a vendor invoice distribution, Ajera makes debit and credit entries to reverse the original entries. It also creates new entries to reflect your change.

Ajera determines the accounting date, as follows:

If the original transaction date is

Then for the accounting date

Not earlier than the Don't Allow Entries Prior To date

(Or if the Don't Allow Entries Prior To date is blank)

Ajera uses the original transaction date for both the reversing and new entries.

Earlier than the Don't Allow Entries Prior To date

Ajera uses the Don't Allow Entries Prior To date for both the reversing and new entries

Note:

If you selected the Enter accounting dates check box in > Setup > Company > Preferences, Ajera automatically enters the Don't Allow Entries Prior To date as the accounting date, but you can change it to a later date.

When you change the date on an existing transaction

You can change the date when:

  • The transaction date is not before the Don't Allow Entries Prior To date.
  • The Don't Allow Entries Prior To date is blank.

When you change a date on an existing transaction, Ajera creates financial entries to move the transaction to the new date. It creates debit and credit entries to reverse the original entries using the original date and creates new entries using the date that you entered.

When you delete a transaction

When you delete a transaction, Ajera creates reversing debit and credit entries.

If the original transaction date is

Then for the accounting date

Not earlier than the Don't Allow Entries Prior To date

(Or if the Don't Allow Entries Prior To is blank)

Ajera uses the original date for the reversing entries.

Earlier than the Don't Allow Entries Prior To date

Ajera uses the Don't Allow Entries Prior To date for the reversing entries.

Note: If you selected the Enter accounting dates check box in Company> Preferences, Ajera automatically enters the Don't Allow Entries Prior To date as the accounting date but you can change it to a later date.

Deciding the accounting date

If you want to choose the accounting date, select the Enter accounting dates check box in > Setup > Company > Preferences. When you perform transactions that require an accounting date, Ajera then displays the earliest valid date, which you can confirm or replace with a later date if needed.

If you want Ajera to automatically use the earliest valid date, clear the Enter accounting dates check box in > Setup > Company > Preferences. When you perform transactions that require an accounting date, Ajera uses the earliest valid date as the accounting date. 

Note:

When performing Beginning Balance tasks, you must use accounting dates earlier than the Beginning Balances date in > Setup > Company > Preferences. If you use multi-company, the Beginning Balances date may be in > Setup > Company > Companies.