General Ledger Registers in Dynamics NAV (Navision)

One of the reasons for which companies choose to implement an ERP system is the fact that an ERP provides enhanced traceability for transactions recorded. Traceability means to know when a transaction has been made, where it was recorded, by whom, what kind of consequences generated etc. In Dynamics NAV (Navision)  traceability is secured by using ”General Ledgers Registers” – a table which logs each transaction.

Transactions in Dynamics NAV can be recorded through dedicated forms (sales and purchase orders and invoices, manufacturing orders, consumption notes etc.) in operational modules, or by using general ledger journals for accounting specific recordings: banks, petty-cash operations, monthly closing etc.

When a transaction is recorded, either through dedicated forms or general journals, once the transaction is recorded into the system, the information disappear from working forms, it is dispersed in various tables.

In order to ensure traceability, for each recorded transaction a table called ”G/L Registers” is updated with a record. The path for accessing the table is:

Departaments->Financial Management->General Ledger->History->G/L Registers

If we click on the link ”G/L Registers” the following windows will open:

Here we have the following fields:

No. – for each transaction recorded a general register number is automatically created. The order of general registers numbers reflects the real order of transactions recording in Dynamics NAV (Navision);

Creation date –   shows the date when the transaction was recorded and this can be different from accounting posting date. Sometimes there is a dispute regarding the  recording date of a transaction, the information from this field helps us to settle the dispute;

User ID –  it shows us the user who recorded the transaction;

Source Code –  provides information regarding the functional module where the transaction comes from. For example, the code ”SALES” tells us that transaction was recorded from ”Sales and Receivables” module;

Journal Batch Name – if the transaction was recorded in general journals, then here we have the name of the journal batch;

From Entry No., To Entry No. – these fields define the accounting entries range generated by the transaction in the table ”General Ledger Entries”. If you click on one of these fields, it will open the entry from general ledger entries and here you can explore the accounting details of the transaction;

From VAT Entry No. , To VAT Entry No. – the fields work the same as those mentioned above, but now the table is ”VAT Entries”.

Besides these fields, the interface provides quick access to the tables containing entries generated by transactions. In the picture bellow, one can see in the upper left corner various buttons making the link to entries tables such as: general ledger, customers, vendors, bank accounts, fixed assets, etc.  If we are selecting a line of general register and we are clicking one of those buttons, the entries from the table – generated by the transaction on the line – will be displayed.

G/L Registers Report

When we want to export the information from G/L registers, we can use the report called ”G/L Registers”, which  is a standard Dynamics NAV (Navision) report. It can be found following the path:

Departments->Financial Management->General Ledger->Reports->Entries->G/L Register

The report can be run filtered on a G/L register  entry or for all the G/L registers entries.

In the picture above we have an example of  the report run for all general registers entries, you can see that the report shows the key elements of each transaction: posting date, type and document number, general ledger accounts, amounts, description, posting groups.

Do you want to explore other functionalities in Dynamics NAV?  Check here: Dynamics NAV (Navision) Resources