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Reconciling Accounts Payable – General Ledger Out of Balances in Deltek GCS

Track down out of ballance discrepancies quickly with this guide from Cordia Partners. In it you will find seven common causes for the Open A/P report to differ from the amount in the General Ledger for the A/P account.

Files

Why does the amount on the Open A/P report differ from the amount in the General Ledger for the A/P Account?

Cause #1: Future Voucher/Current Payment

  • The most common reason is when a voucher(s) is entered into the next period, but paid in the current period.
  • You may check that quickly by running both your Open AP report and your AP GL account report in the next period.
  • If those two reports balance, the reason you are out of balance in the current period is due to voucher(s) entered into the next period, but paid in the current period.
  • This is a timing difference that resolves itself in the next period.

Cause #2: Unposted Cash Disbursement

  • The Cash Disbursements Journal or the Voucher Distribution Journal has not been posted to the G/L.
  • You should always post these journals before attempting to reconcile the A/P account to the Open A/P Report.
  • The Open A/P Report is updated as soon as vouchers are posted to the A/P Files (Post Vouchers to A/P Files screen).
  • The G/L, however, is not updated until the Voucher Distribution Journal and the Cash Disbursements Journal are posted in the Print/Post Voucher Distribution Journal screen and the Print/Post Cash Disbursements Journal screen.
  • You can check this by attempting to post the journals for the accounting period you are reconciling.

Cause #3: Journal Entry to A/P Account

  • A journal entry or journal posting from a module other than Accounts Payable has been made to the A/P account.
  • You can find out if this has happened by reviewing the G/L Detail Report of the A/P account.
  • A journal entry should be made to reverse the entry that was made, and an A/P voucher entered if necessary.

Cause #4: A/P Voucher to the A/P Account

  • The A/P account was charged on the expense portion of the A/P or non-A/P entry screen.
  • This should only occur during initialization.
  • If it occurred after initialization, reverse the effect of the entry to the A/P account with a journal entry or another A/P voucher.

Cause #5: Balance at Initialization

  • The Open A/P Report and the A/P General Ledger account did not balance at initialization.
  • It is very important when initializing the system that you enter A/P vouchers charged in the expense portion of the voucher to the A/P account that is carrying your beginning A/P balance.
  • These vouchers must total the beginning A/P account balance.

Cause #6: Wrong Check Date

  • The date on one or more checks is in a different accounting period than the accounting period you indicated when entering the check information.
  • When can this occur?
    • printing A/P checks.
    • recording a manual check in the Individual Voucher Selection screen.
    • recording a manual check in the Enter/Edit Non-A/P Vouchers screen.
  • The accounting period entered determines which accounting period's Cash Disbursements File will be updated, whereas the check date indicates in which period the payable will be excluded from the Open A/P Report.
  • GCS warns users in all three of the above screens to try to prevent this situation.
  • You can find this error by using the Check Register to look for check dates in the wrong accounting period.
  • To fix the current accounting period financial statements make a reversing journal entry to the cash and the A/P.
  • Note this on the Cash Disbursements Journal and to reverse the journal entry in the next period.

Cause #7: Prior Year Audit Directory

  • The beginning balances were brought forward from the prior year audit directory (two-directory fiscal year-end procedure), where the balance of the A/P account was changed.
  • You will need to identify the payables that were added or eliminated in the prior year audit directory.
  • If the payables were added in the current year directory charged to expense, enter the opposite of the prior year entry (usually this will be a credit to expense and a debit to A/P).
  • If the payables are still outstanding and have not yet been entered into the ongoing directory, enter a voucher and charge the A/P account in the expense portion of the voucher (similar to initialization).

 

These guidelines have been provided by Cordia Partners, a TBS Consulting Partner.

Cordia Partners
8320 Old Courthouse Road
Suite 320
Vienna VA, 22182

Ph: 703.42.6200
Fax: 703.462.6235