Creating a Beginning Balance journal entry is necessary to establish general ledger balances for your agency as of the accounting conversion date. It is recommended that you review the Converting Your Accounting help topic prior to beginning this process.
AMS360 balances for the following accounts can be entered in full detail (Customer/Policy/Invoice):
- Customer Accounts Receivable
- Broker Accounts Receivable
- Finance Company Accounts Receivable
- Broker Commission Payables
- Brokerage Company Payables
- Fee Company Payables
- Insurance Company Payable
- Employee Commission Payables
If you want to enter these balances in full detail, see Creating Beginning Balance Journal Entries:
- Be sure to activate the Conversion Accounts you need in the GL Chart of Accounts before you begin adding balances.
- Have you setup your Banks in Bank Setup for the bank account general ledger numbers? You must setup your bank accounts before you post any accounting activity (GL beginning balances) to these accounts.
Click the PDF icon to open and print a General Ledger Beginning Balance Worksheet.
Accessing the Beginning Balance Journal Entry
- Open the Administration Center.
- On the Agency Overview toolbar, click Edit.
- Expand the Required Task List section, and then click GL Beginning Balance JE.
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You can also access this form from the Financial Center by selecting Actions > Beginning Balance Journal Entry > General Ledger. |
General Information Section
When you open the Beginning Balance Journal Entry form, the General Information section is expanded.
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Business Unit |
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Journal Date |
Enter the date you want the journal entry to post to the general ledger. The date defaults to the current system date but can be changed. This date is generally the last day of the month prior to your "Live" month on AMS360. Why? This allows you to print financials on AMS360 for...
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Journal Memo |
Enter a description of the purpose for the journal entry. The default is "Beginning Balance Journal Entry." |
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Totals |
These fields are dynamic and update as you add voucher lines to your journal entry. Before you can post the journal entry the following must be true:
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Other GL Accounts Section
- Expand the Other GL Accounts section.
- Click New to begin your general ledger beginning balance journal entry. The data entry fields appear.
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GL # |
Choose the appropriate account number from the list. If the account number is sub-divided (grouped) by a particular entity, that type of entity in the GL # required fields will become active. Select the appropriate entity from the list. Conversion Account Entries (Subsidiary Ledgers) Customer, broker and finance company receivables, broker and employee commission payables, and brokerage, fee, and insurance company payables are entered by entity to their applicable conversion accounts when entering GL Beginning Balance Journal Entries. Why? Because, when you originally entered these beginning balances to the system accounts, you created subsidiary ledgers for these various entities by entering them by division/entity/customer/policy/invoice number. To create a valid journal entry (debits = credits), these balances were then offset to their appropriate conversion (conv) accounts by division/entity in a reciprocal (opposite) amount.
Now, during the GL Beginning Balance phase you must enter these balances (totals by division/entity) again, only this time to the conversion accounts. This creates a valid (debits = credits) journal entry AND brings the conversion account balances to $0.00.
Conversion Account Entries (No Subsidiary Ledgers) Currently, there is no provision in AMS360 for entering account balances directly to the system accounts below as a subsidiary ledger.
When entering GL Beginning Balances enter the balance of these accounts by division to the following accounts:
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Amount |
Enter the balance for the account. |
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Description |
Defaults "GL Beginning Balance" but can be changed, if desired. |
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Business Unit |
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GL # Required Fields |
Required fields are based on the general ledger number selected in the GL# field. When a system account is subledgered (grouped), by one of the entities listed below, you must select the specific entity for that general ledger account balance.
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Workflow: Add General Ledger Account Detail Rows
A detail row must be entered for every account in your source trial balance report that has a balance. To create a detail row:
- Click New. The data entry section expands.
- Complete the fields for the first general ledger account on your source report. Click Add. Continue entering general ledger balances.
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Clicking Add adds the detail row but does not close the data entry fields. If you click Add, the detail row is added, but the data entry fields close. To continue, you must click New to begin again. |
- Enter all system account balances by division and in some cases by entity to the conversion accounts. See the Other GL Accounts Section > GL # for more information on this process.
- Be sure to enter your total customer, broker and finance company receivables as follows, depending on your agencies accounting basis, and whether you entered late charges on the Creating Beginning Balance Journal Entries:
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Accrual |
Your detailed accounts receivable is entered when you post your Customer Beginning Balance journal entry. These entries post to general ledger accounts #11211000000, #11221000000, and #11231000. To balance this journal entry you are required to offset the total receivables balance to account #11290000 - Conversion Receivables Differences. Subsequently, when entering your General Ledger Beginning Balance journal entry, the total receivables amount from your source report must be entered to account #11290000 to balance the journal entry and offset (clear) the #11290000 account. |
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Cash |
When No Late Charges are Posted on the 'Customer' Beginning Balance Journal Entry: Use the instructions for Accrual accounting basis. When Late Charges are Posted on the 'Customer' Beginning Balance Journal Entry: Your detailed accounts receivable is entered when you post your Customer Beginning Balance journal entry. These entries post to general ledger accounts #11211000000, #11221000000, and #11231000. To balance this journal entry you are required to offset the total receivables balance to account #11290000 - Conversion Receivables Differences. For agencies set up on a Cash accounting basis, the late charge amount designated for account #11290000 does not post there, but automatically posts to the deferred late charge accounts by business type.
Therefore, to balance/clear account #11290000, balance the General Ledger Beginning Balance Journal Entry, and post your income correctly, you must do the following:
Because the total late charges are already posted to the #21480000 and/or the #21490000 Deferred Late Charge system accounts. As your customers pay the receivable balances, your late charge income will be deducted from the deferred late charge account and posted to the late charge income account at that time. |
- When you are finished entering all general ledger account balances, the balance in the Totals field should equal zero, indicating the total of all debits entered equals the total of all credits entered. The journal entry will not post until this field equals zero.
- Click the Post icon.