Weekly Review: Another AP Balancing Technique

There are a number of techniques for balancing the AP sub ledger to the GL in Microsoft Dynamics GP. If you are using GP 10 you can start with the GL Balancing utility in GP. If you are already balanced you can use the balancing code on DynamicAccounting.net to help keep you in balance on a daily basis. But what if you don't fit into either of these categories?
Well, courtesy of fellow MVP Leslie Vail and her newsgroup post, I though that I would pass along her technique. The usefulness of this depends on how many AP transactions you have, how many vendors have open invoices and whether you are posting in detail.

1. Create a GL based SmartList that includes only the Accounts Payable account(s) and excludes any source document that equals 'BF'. Be sure to include the discount account if you are keeping track of it in a separate GL account.
2. Add the Originating Master ID to the SmartList. One thing you'll notice right away is that if there is no vendor ID, there's a possible trx that's trouble.
3. Export the list to Excel. Subtotal the excel spreadsheet by Master ID.
4. Add another column in Excel to net the Dr and Cr columns.
5. Now, the balance by vendor ID should be equal to the Balance on your AP trial balance.
6. Check each vendor and for the ones that don't match you'll need to take a look at the detail transactions and compare.

There's a lot more advice on this topic from experienced people in this newsgroup thread, so don't give up. You can get it balanced.

Originally Posted by Mark at 8/04/2008 08:00:00 AM