GL Analysis allows any financial transaction occurring anywhere in Integra to be associated with, for example, a particular project or task or activity or with a particular funding source. Depending on the accounting rules to be applied, different default details can be specified for expense heads and cost centres, and the entry of analysis codes can be made mandatory or optional at the discretion of the accounts manager.
Let us suppose that you have a Research & Development department which draws on various government-backed funding sources as well as special allocations financed internally. In addition, the department is engaged in work on various research projects. Your existing chart of accounts setup will probably allow expenditure to be easily analysed by cost centre and expense head so that the total value of Research & Development expenditure can be retrieved and analysed in terms of expense heads. The GL Analysis facility however, will allow you to report and enquire on the various funds drawn on by that department, and in terms of the projects on which the expenditure was incurred.
GL Analysis involves the attachment of user-definable analysis type codes and analysis elements to selected general ledger account codes as transactions are entered. Various NML General Ledger program options control the operation of GL Analysis generally and determine what appears in the GL Analysis Window:
· The NML Analysis Types option determines the nature of the analyses which are required and can represent projects, tasks, funding sources, fleet items, machinery, employees etc.
· The NML Analysis Elements option is used to define the analysis elements used with each analysis type code.
· The NML Accounts/Analysis Types cross reference option is used to specify the cost centres and expense heads which will solicit analysis details during data entry. If a cross reference record has been set to reference either the cost centre or expense head from which the nominal ledger code is assembled, then the Analysis Codes command button will be available during data entry. Entry will be mandatory only if mandatory entry has been specified on the cross reference record. The button will give you access to the Analysis Details window during transaction entry which will allow selection of one or more analysis types corresponding to each type code specified on the cross reference record.
If no record is set up on the NML Accounts/Analysis Types cross reference program, then account analysis will be switched off throughout Integra.
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