Synergetic Financial Configuration - General tab

Use the General tab to maintain details of your organisation's financial configuration such as:

  • control accounts
  • general ledger dates
  • default bank account for transactions.


 Opening the General tab

To open the General tab:

  1. Select Module > System > Finance Configuration Maintenance from the main menu.
    The General tab of the Synergetic Financial Configuration window is displayed.


Synergetic Financial Configuration - General tab key fields and buttons

Fields

Field

Description

Data Structure Version

Synergetic database version that you are running.

The latest build number can be viewed from Help > About on the menu. Synergetic Management Systems may ask what version/build number that you are running if you are encountering a problem in Synergetic.

Important: It is critical that your data structure version and program version are the same.

Automatic Tax Calculation Enabled

This field must be selected to enable GST (Goods and Services Tax) calculations.

It was initially introduced for users to be able to switch over when the GST was first introduced into Australia in July 2000.

Allow Blank Tax Codes to be Posted G/L

Clear this field to force users to supply a tax code for all finance postings.

Note: We recommend that you clear this field. Tax codes are defined in the luTax lookup table. See Maintaining finance lookup tables.

Allow Modifications to Closed Off Postings

Clear this field to lock down prior postings, forcing users to create adjustment postings.

Create Detailed Control Journals for G/L Postings

Select this field to allow multiple dates within a posting.

Clear this field to restrict the posting to entries with the same date.

Note: If this field is selected, existing postings are not affected. Each posting has a corresponding flag that is set according to this setting at the time the posting is created.

Create Adjustment Control Journals for Closed Postings

Select this field to create adjustment journals for control accounts when closed postings are altered. This preserves the original journals.

Note: Even abandoning postings will not remove the journals.

Create Reversal Journals when Changing Posting Date if Closed

Select this field to create reversal journals for closed postings that have their posting date updated.

Synergetic creates the reversal journals for the previous posting date then new journals for the updated posting date.

Sort GL Budgets Tab in Period Order

Select to display budget information in period order. For example, if your financial year runs from April to March, then budgets are displayed with as April as the first month. Clear to display budget information in calendar order.

Foreign Currency Enabled

Select to allow your organisation to use multiple currencies. See Maintaining foreign currencies.

Note: Where foreign currencies are used, the calculated local amount is displayed next to the foreign amount. Foreign amounts are displayed in bold along with their currency code.

Profit/Loss Control Account

Figures from all general ledger accounts where Profit Loss Account is selected are transferred into this account when the Create Next Year General Ledger is run.

This is a balance sheet account that carries across the profit or loss figure to the next year. The account does not normally have any physical journals posted to it, only "assumed" journals transferring profit/loss for each year.

Inter-Company Control Account

Not currently used.

Tax on Income Control Account

Any account posted to with a taxable component and INCOME (meaning GST supplies) as the classification code's SynergyMeaning has the calculated tax figure going into this account.

Debtor charges or G/L receipts with tax classification codes that do not have a SynergyMeaning are also posted.

Tax on Expenses Control Account

Any account posted to with a taxable component and EXPENSE (meaning GST acquisitions) as the classification code's SynergyMeaning will have the calculated tax figure going into this account.

Creditor invoices with a classification code without a SynergyMeaning will also be posted to this account.

Tax Control Account

Account used for the tax figure that is currently either payable or receivable.

Tax Withheld Control Account /
Withholding Tax Percentage

Account used if no Australian Business Number (ABN) is supplied by a creditor.

A tax amount of 48.5% is withheld from payment and automatically goes into this account, in Australia.

Tax Appropriation Control Account

Account that any remaining GST control account balances are posted to at end-of-year.

Note: This field is only used with cash accounting.

Always create BAS Journals

Select to always create journals when BAS is generated.

Note: This field is only used by Victorian catholic schools.

Chart of Accounts Max Length / 1st part G/L

Maximum length of the chart of accounts (COA) code.

Select 1st part G/L if the chart of accounts portion is included at the start of the G/L (general ledger) code.

In the following example, 0295 has been defined as the chart of accounts code for Administration Fees with a maximum length of 4 characters.

See:

Cost Centre Max Length

Maximum length of the cost centre code.

It is usual to have leading zeros so that all values are the maximum. In the following example, 004 is the cost centre code for the English Department (learning area) with a maximum length of 3 characters.

See:

G/L Code Separator

Separator used between the following parts of the G/L code:

Description

Separator used between the following parts of the G/L Code and their descriptions:

  • chart of accounts
  • cost centre.

    In the following example, a hyphen (-) has been specified as the separator between the code and its respective description:
  • 0295.004 - Administration Fees - English Department
  • 0295.004 - Administration Fees - English Department.


    See:
  • Creating new general ledger accounts in the General ledger manual for rules on creating the G/L code.
  • General Ledger Finance Report Maintenance - Details tab in the General ledger manual for a similar example.

Min G/L Journal Entry Allocation Amount Requiring an ID

Community ID must be supplied when general ledger journal entries are created above this amount.

Used for auditing and tax purposes.

Min Cash Receipts G/L Allocation Amount Requiring an ID

Community ID must be supplied when cash receipts journal entries are created above this amount.

Used for auditing and tax purposes.

Balance Sheet Accounts Start at

Set the G/L Code that balance sheet accounts start at.

G/L End of Year Date / G/L Default Year

When the Create Next Year General Ledger program is run, the default G/L Default Year is automatically updated.

The Year End Date is the last day of the highest G/L Year that you have created.

G/L Reporting End Date

Sets the month that you want to use as the default when running general ledger reports. It stops users from posting anything on or prior to this date unless they have the appropriate security authorisation. This must be manually changed when you are ready to "lock in" the period.

The G/L Reporting End Date is the default date used on monthly finance reports.

G/L Reporting Year

Set the year for general ledger reporting.

Last B.A.S Date

Date automatically updated whenever the BAS (Business Activity Statement) is run. It cannot be changed manually.
Transactions that have a BAS or GST implication cannot be posted prior to this date.

G/L Audited to Date

This is a manually set date that stops anyone doing any postings on or prior to this date regardless of security settings.

Default Bank Account

Set the default bank account to be used throughout Synergetic, with the exception of payroll.

G/L Last Restructure Year

Prevents cross-year G/L transactions for this year, which is impossible if the general ledger has been restructured.

Either set the value to:

  • 0 (zero) if the general ledger has never been restructured
  • the year of the last general ledger restructure.
    For example, if the financial year ends on 31st December and the new general ledger structure commenced on 1/1/2016 set this field to 2015. A transaction posted on 20/12/2015 does not affect the carried forward 2016 accounts.

Bank Reconciliation Max Matches

Set the maximum number of transactions allowed per side when matching multiple G/L transactions to multiple bank transactions in bank reconciliation. See Matching two or more G/L transactions to two or more bank transactions in the General ledger manual.

Note: This limit does not affect single-G/L transaction or single-bank-statement reconciliation matches.

Default Budget

Select which budget:

  • is the general budget
  • is the approved budget
  • is the cash budget
  • is the purchase order budget.

See Maintaining available monthly budgets in the General ledger manual.

Buttons

Button

Description

Launch the Foreign Currency Exchange Rate Format window to view the exchange rate format.

Note: You should not change this format without first contacting Synergetic Management Systems.

Launch into Banking Configuration Maintenance. See Maintaining banking configuration files.