About Posting Groups
If you use other application areas in addition to General Ledger and post to accounts such as Customers, Vendors, Items, or Resources, you must set up a link between these accounts and the G/L accounts. If you only use the General Ledger application area, it is not necessary to set up posting groups.
Posting Groups are used to create these links between the different application areas and the General Ledger application area. As a result, you must have set up the chart of accounts before you can create posting groups. When sales, purchases, and other transactions are recorded and posted where a specific G/L Account is not specified directly, Posting Groups provide the mapping to the correct accounts. For example, in the sale of an item to a Customer on a Sales Order, no general ledger accounts are specified directly. However, upon completing the Navigate function, the review of a posted invoice shows entries that were posted to the G/L. This occurs because the customers and items were assigned Posting Groups to identify the G/L accounts.
There are three major types of posting groups that deal with selling inventory and resources to customers and buying inventory from vendors:
General Posting Groups
Specific Posting Groups
VAT Posting Groups
General Posting Groups
General Posting Groups are added to Customers, Vendors, Items, and Resources to link item and/or resource transactions from purchases and sales documents as well as item journals and job journals to the General Ledger.
General Business Posting Groups: Specifies "who we sell to" (Customers) and "who we buy from" (Vendors).
General Product Posting Groups: Specifies "what we sell" (Items and Resources) or "what we buy" (Items).
General Posting Setup: A matrix window that combines business and product posting groups. With each combination the user can determine to which accounts the program will post:
Sales and Purchases
Sales and Purchase Credit Memos
Sales and Purchase invoice discounts and payments discounts
Cost of Goods Sold and Inventory Adjustments
Direct Cost Applied and Overhead Applied
Purchase Variances
There are exceptions, but typically the General Posting Setup matrix is used to designate the income statement accounts to which you will post. For each combination of business and product posting groups you can assign a different set of G/L accounts. You can post the sale of the same item to different sales accounts in the G/L due to customers being assigned different business posting groups. You may use the same G/L account for different combinations, enabling you to use posting group filters on reports.
General Business Posting Groups
You assign business posting groups to customers and vendors. In the Gen. Business Posting Groups window, you enter a code and a description for the posting group.
When setting up business groups, you must consider:
How many groups you need for breaking down sales by customers.
How many groups you need for breaking down purchases by vendors.
The business groups can be set up to group customers and vendors by geographical area (Domestic, EU Countries/Regions, Overseas, and so on) or the type of business (retail, industrial, wholesale, service) or to distinguish between private entities and government agencies. The number of groups are directly related to the chart of accounts.
If you do not want to distinguish sales and purchases by customers or vendors, it is not necessary to set up any General Business Posting Groups.
For more information about setting up business groups, see How to: Set Up General Business Groups.
General Product Posting Groups
You assign product posting groups to items and resources. In the Gen. Product Posting Groups window, you enter a code and a description for the posting group.
When setting up product groups, you must consider:
How many groups you need for breaking down sales by products (items and resources).
How many groups you need for breaking down purchases by items.
Examples of how Product Posting Groups can be divided are Raw Materials, Retail, Resources, Capacities, and so on. The Product Posting Groups provide the major product groups reflected in the Chart of Accounts. Each Inventory Item and Resource is assigned a Product Posting Group.
For more information about setting up product groups, see How to: Set Up General Product Groups.
General Posting Setup
In the General Posting Setup window, for each combination of business and product posting groups, you can assign a different set of G/L accounts. As a result, it is possible to post the sale of the same item to different sales accounts in the G/L due to customers being assigned different business posting groups.
If using inventory, in addition to entering every possible combination of General Business and General Product Posting Groups, you should enter a line for each General Product Posting Group with a blank General Business Posting Group assigned. An instance when this combination is necessary is for posting activity from Item journals when there is not a Customer or Vendor assigned to the transaction.
For more information on combinations of business and product posting groups, see How to: Set Up Combinations of General Business Groups and General Product Groups.
Copying Posting Setup Lines
The more product and business posting groups you have, the more lines you see in the General Posting Setup window. This can mean a lot of data entry to set up the general posting setup for the company. While there may be many different combinations of business and product posting groups, different combinations may still post to the same G/L accounts. To limit the amount of manual entry, copy the G/L accounts from an existing line in the General Posting Setup window.
For more information on copying the G/L accounts from an existing line, see How to: Copy General Posting Setup Lines.
Specific Posting Groups
The purpose of the Specific Posting Groups is to link the subsidiary ledgers (for example the customer ledger entries) to the general ledger. This allows you to use sales documents, for example, instead of posting directly to the general ledger. When customer ledger entries are created, the posting groups ensure that corresponding entries are made in the general ledger.
There are Specific Posting Groups for the following:
Customers: This posting group maps the accounts receivable account, payment discount accounts, invoice and application rounding accounts, interest and fee accounts relating to customers.
Vendors: This posting group maps the accounts payable account, payment discount accounts, invoice and application rounding accounts, interest and fee accounts relating to vendors.
Inventory: This posting group is used to specify the inventory. Each Inventory Posting Group is then combined with each appropriate Location Code in the Inventory Posting Setup window. For each combination you can map the inventory accounts, WIP account and other variance accounts relating to inventory in the Chart of Accounts.
Bank Accounts: This posting group maps a bank G/L account to a bank account in the program.
Fixed Assets: This posting group specifies the accounts to which the program posts transactions involving fixed assets.
After opening balances have been entered in the chart of accounts for subsidiary ledgers (for example, Accounts Receivable), you should clear the Direct Posting check box on the G/L Account Card.
Customer Posting Groups
In the Customer Posting Groups window, you enter a code and a description for the posting group. This window defines which accounts are used when accounts receivable transactions are posted to your general ledger. Each customer must belong to a posting group because the customer's posting group tells the system where to post the transactions associated with that customer. You can create as many customer posting groups as you like.
If you are using inventory in conjunction with receivables, the combination of General Business Posting Group assigned to your customers and the General Product Posting Group assigned to the Inventory item determine which accounts the Sales Order line entries post to in the General Ledger.
For more information on setting up customer posting groups, see How to: Set Up Customer Posting Groups.
Vendor Posting Groups
In the Vendor Posting Groups window, you enter a code and a description for the posting group. This window defines which accounts are used when accounts payable transactions are posted to your general ledger. Each vendor must belong to a posting group because the vendor's posting group tells the system where to post the transactions associated with the Payables accounts, Service Charge accounts, and Payment Discount accounts. You can create as many vendor posting groups as you like.
If you are using inventory in conjunction with payables, the combination of General Business Posting Group assigned to your vendors and the General Product Posting Group assigned to the Inventory item determine which accounts the Purchase Order line entries post to in the General Ledger.
For more information on setting up vendor posting groups, see How to: Set Up Vendor Posting Groups.
Inventory Posting Groups
Inventory Posting Groups let you define the balance sheet Inventory Accounts for your various Items. In the Inventory Posting Groups window, you enter a code and a description for the posting group.
Each Item must have a General Product Posting Group and an Inventory Posting Group assigned to it. The item's posting groups tell the system where to post the transactions associated with that item.
Inventory Posting Groups also provide an ideal way to organize your inventory. When generating reports, you can separate items by their posting groups.
Inventory Posting Setup
After you have set up your inventory posting groups, you use the Inventory Posting Setup window to create links between Inventory Posting Groups, inventory Locations, and G/L accounts. When you post item-specified entries, the program posts to the G/L account set up for the combination of Inventory Posting Group and Location linked to the item. Note that the only two accounts initially required are Inventory Account and Inventory Account (Interim). The other accounts pertain to specific application areas you may or may not be using.
For more information on setting up inventory posting groups, see How to: Set Up Inventory Posting Groups.
Bank Account Posting Groups
Bank Account Posting Groups are used to map a bank G/L account to a bank account in the program. To simplify tracing transactions and bank reconciliations, each Bank Account should be associated using a Posting Group to a unique General Ledger account.
For more information on mapping a bank G/L account to a bank account, see How to: Set Up Bank Account Posting Groups.
Fixed Assets Posting Groups
Fixed Assets Posting Groups allow you to create links between fixed assets and the general ledger where general ledger integration is activated. Posting groups also facilitate groups of fixed assets for statistical purposes.
In the FA Posting Groups window, you must enter a code for each group of assets you want to work with.
You specify the G/L account numbers needed for the different types of expenses and costs.
You define the accounts for the acquisition costs, accumulated depreciation amounts, acquisition costs on disposal, accumulated depreciation on disposal, gains on disposal, losses on disposal, maintenance expenses, and depreciation expenses.
Please note that not all accounts are shown in the standard layout. To see all of the fields, click Posting Gr., Card to open the FA Posting Group Card window. On the General and Balancing Account FastTabs, you can see all of the account fields. The FA Posting Group Card window gives you a good overview of the account structure of the posting group. Each FA posting type can have more than one relation to a G/L account. In most cases, the same account is used for all kinds of depreciation. Only the acquisition cost account is different because it is connected with a VAT Posting Group.
VAT Posting Groups
Value-added tax (VAT) is a transaction tax. VAT is paid by the end consumer, including businesses. The principles for setting up VAT Posting Group, both Business and Product, are similar to those used for setting up General Posting Groups.
VAT Business Posting Groups: Specifies "who we sell to" (Customers) and "who we buy from" (Vendors).
VAT Product Posting Groups: Specifies "what we sell" (Items and Resources) or "what we buy" (Items).
VAT Posting Setup: A matrix window that combines business and product posting groups. For each combination, you can fill in the VAT percent, VAT calculation type, and G/L account numbers for posting of VAT related to:
Sales
Purchases
Reverse charge VAT
Whether VAT is recalculated when a payment discount is granted or received
VAT Business Posting Groups
In the VAT Business Posting Groups window, you set up VAT Business Posting Group to distinguish between the types of customers and vendors. You can use the VAT Business Posting Groups to determine calculation and posting of VAT, for example by specifying whether the customer or vendor involved in the transaction is in an EU or non-EU country/region.
Before setting up VAT Business Posting Groups, you must decide how many different groups you need. This depends on a number of factors including local legislation and whether you trade both domestically and internationally.
On each customer and vendor card, you must enter the code that represents the group to which the customer or vendor belongs. In some situations, VAT is included in the price of goods and services on item or resource cards. In such situations, you must fill in a VAT Business Posting Group in the VAT Bus. Posting Gr. (Price) field for customers or vendors with whom you trade these goods and services.
For more information on setting up VAT Business Posting Groups, see How to: Set Up VAT Business Posting Groups.
VAT Product Posting Groups
In the VAT Product Posting Groups window, you set up VAT Product Posting Group to indicate the different VAT calculations needed for the types of items or resources you purchase or sell.
On each item and resource card, you must enter the VAT Product Posting Group code that represents the group to which the item or resource belongs.
VAT Posting Setup
In the VAT Posting Setup window, you determine to which accounts the program will post VAT.
The VAT Posting Setup consists of combinations of VAT Business Posting Groups and VAT Product Posting Groups. You can set up as many combinations as you need and link various G/L accounts to each combination. For each combination, you can fill in a VAT percent, VAT calculation type and account numbers for posting of VAT related to sales, purchases, and reverse charge VAT.
When you fill in a line in a general journal, purchase or sales line, the program checks the VAT Posting Setup window to see which accounts to use for this particular combination of VAT business posting group and VAT product posting group.
For more information about setting up combinations of VAT posting groups, see How to: Set Up Combinations of VAT Business Posting Groups and VAT Product Posting Groups.
Example of Linking Posting Groups
The Customer Card contains the General Business Posting Group and the Customer Posting Group. The Item Card contains the General Product Posting Group and the Inventory Posting Group. When a sales document is created, the Customer Card information pulls into the sales header and the Item Card information pulls into the sales lines.
The Revenue Posting (Income Statement) is determined by the combination of the General Business Posting Group and the General Production Posting Group in the General Posting Setup window.
The Accounts Receivable Posting (Balance Sheet) is determined by the Customer Posting Group.
The Inventory Posting (Balance Sheet) is determined by the Inventory Posting Group.
The Cost of Goods Sold Posting (Income Statement) is determined by the combination of General Business Posting Group and General Product Posting Group.
The timing of the posting to these accounts depends upon your setup. For example, the time of posting is affected by when you execute periodic activities , (Post Inventory Cost to G/L and Adjust Cost Item Entries) and whether or not the Automatic Cost Posting check box is selected in the Inventory Setup window.
See Also
Tasks
How to: Create a VAT Combination Setup