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What is General Ledger?

The Oracle General Ledger is the central repository of accounting information. The main

purpose of a general ledger system is to record financial activity of a company and to produce

financial and management reports to help people inside and outside the organization make

decisions.

General Ledger Accounting Cycle:

1. Open period2. Create/reverse journal entries3. Post4. Review5. Revalue6. Translate7. Consolidate8. Review/correct balances9. Run accounting reports10.Close accounting periodWhat are Set of Books?

A set of books determines the functional currency, account structure, and accounting calendar

for each company or group of companies. It is replaced by the Ledger Sets in R12.

Set of Books consists of the following Three elements

Chart of Accounts:COA can be designed to match the Organizational Structure anddimensions of the business.

Currency: GL enables to define one currency as Functional Currency and use othercurrencies for transactions.

Calendar:Calendar has to be defined to control the accounting year and its periods.Types of Journal Entries:

Within Oracle General Ledger, you can work with the following types of journal entries:

Manual Journal Entries

The basic journal entry type is used for most accounting transactions. Examples includeadjustments and reclassifications.

Reversing Journal Entries

Reversing journal entries are created by reversing an existing journal entry. You can reverse any

journal entry and post it to the current or any future open accounting period.

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Recurring Journal Entries

Recurring journal entries are defined once, then are repeated for each subsequent accounting

period you generate. You can use recurring journal entries to define automatic consolidating

and eliminating entries. Examples include intercompany debt, bad debt expense, and periodic

accruals.

Mass Allocations

Mass Allocations are journal entries that utilize a single journal entry formula to allocate

balances across a group of cost centers, departments, divisions or other segments. Examples

include rent expense allocated by headcount or administrative costs allocated by machine labor

hours.

Foreign Currency Concepts:

The three key foreign currency concepts in Oracle General Ledger are:

Conversion

Conversion refers to foreign currency transactions that are immediately converted at the time

of entry to the functional currency of the set of books in which the transaction takes place.

Revaluation

Revaluation adjusts liability or asset accounts that may be materially understated or overstated

at the end of a period due to a fluctuation in the exchange rate between the time the

transaction was entered and the end of the period.

Translation

Translation refers to the act of restating an entire set of books or balances for a company from

the functional currency to a foreign currency.

What are Financial Statement Generator Reports (FSG)?

Oracle General LedgersFinancial Statement Generator (FSG) is a powerful and flexible tool you

can use to build your own custom reports without programming. You can define custom

financial reports, such as income statements and balance sheets, online with complete control

over the rows, columns, and content of your report. You can control account assignments,

headings, descriptions, format, and calculations in addition to the actual content. The reusable

report components make building reports quick and easy. You can copy a report component

from one report, make minor edits, then apply the report component to a new report without

having to create a new report from scratch.

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What is Applications Desktop Integrator (ADI)?

Applications Desktop Integrator combines the power of Oracle General Ledger journal entry,

budgeting, and report creation, submission, publishing, and analysis within an Excel

spreadsheet environment.

Journal Components:

Every journal entry in Oracle General Ledger has threecomponents.

Every journal entry belongs to a batch. You create a batch of journal entries by entering aname, control total and description for the batch.

This step is optional. If you do not enter batch information, Oracle General Ledgerautomatically creates one batch for each journal entry, defaulting the name and the latest

open period.

All journal entries in a batch share the sameperiod. Entering a batch control total and description are optional. If you do not enter a batch name, you must recall the journal entry by date. Batch information is stored in the GL_JE_BATCHEStable.Journal Header Information

The header information identifies common details for a single journal entry, such as name,effective date, source, category, currency, description, and control total.

Group related lines into journal entries All lines in a journal entry must share the same currency and category. If no journal entry-level information is entered, Oracle General Ledger assigns a default

name, category, and the functional currency.

Header information is stored in the GL_JE_HEADERStable.

Journal Line Information

Journal lines specify the accounting information for the journal entry. Total debits must equal total credits for a journal entry for all journal entries except budget

journal entries and statistical journal entries.

Description for each line can be entered optionally. Information for journal entry lines is stored in the GL_JE_LINEStable.Journal Posting Methods:

You have threemethods to post journal batches.

Batch Posting:Navigate to the Post Journals window to post a group of journal batches.

(N) Journals > Post

Manual Posting:Select the More Actions button from either the Journals window or the Batch

window to post a journal batch at the time of entry. This option is available only if the profile

option Journals: Allow Posting during Journal Entry has been set to Yes.

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When you post journals, Oracle General Ledger posts all journals in a batch. You cannot post

individual journal entries in a batch.

(N) Journals > Enter (B) More Actions

Automatic Posting:Run the AutoPost program to post journal batches automatically based on a

schedule you define.

(N) Setup > Journals > AutoPost

1. What does set of books comprise of?

CHART OF ACCOUNTS, CALENDAR AND CURRENCY

2. What is a flexfield?

A flexfield is a flexible field which is used to capture mandatory or non mandatory

business information.

3. What is Flexfield structure?

A flexfield structure is collection of segments.

4. What is a Value set?

Value set is container of values that can be assigned to a segment of Flexfield structure.

5. How many Flexfields are provided are by oracle applications?

30

6. What is the max no of segments that can be defined for the accounting flexfield structure?

30

7. What are the validation types supported by value sets?

None, Table, Independent, Dependent, Translatable independent, Translatable

Dependent, Special, Pair

8. What are the format types supported for a value set?

Number, Char, Standard date and time, standard time, time, date, date time

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9. Is there any limitation on the no of flexfield structures that can be defined for the

Accounting Flexfield?

No

10. What are the flexfield qualifiers which are available for accounting flexfield structure?

Natural account, Cost center, Balancing, Intercompany

11. Which flexfield qualifiers are mandatory?

Balancing and Natural account

12. Which mandatory account needs to be defined for the set of books definition?

Retained earnings

13. What are all the accounts that can be defined for the set of books form?

RETAINED EARNINGS, SUSPENSE, ROUNDING DIFFERENCES, RESERVE FOR

ENCUMBRANCE AND NET INCOME ACCOUNTS

14. What is the minimum and maximum no of periods that can be defined for the Calendar?

1 AND 366

15. Is the definition of transaction calendar mandatory?

No

16. What are the period statuses that can be associated with the periods?

Open, Closed, Perm closed, Never opened, Future entry

17. Can multiple periods have open status at one time?

Yes

18. How many chart of accounts can be mapped to a set of books?

ONLY ONE

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19. During a financial year can the existing chart of accounts be replaced by new chart of

accounts?

YES

20. Can the calendar be replaced during the financial year for the same set of books?

NO

21. What is the maximum no of set of books that can be defined in GL module?

Unlimited

22. What is a responsibility?

A responsibility is collection of forms and programs that a user can access.

23. Can multiple responsibilites be assigned to a single user?

Yes

24. Can a responsibility be shared by multiple logon users?

Yes

25. From a general ledger responsibility, how many set of books can be accessed?

Only one.

26. What are the different currency conversion types?

Spot, corporate and user

27. What is a corporate conversion rate?

Corporate is a standardized market rate which is applicable to transactions for a period

of time.

28. Which table captures conversion rates information?

GL_DAILY_RATES

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29. List the tables which capture the journals information?

GL_JE_BATHCES, GL_JE_HEADERS, GL_JE_LINES

30. Which column distinguishes the type of journal being entered?

actual_flag (which can be 'A','B','E')

31. Which table captures the balances information of the code combinations?

GL_BALANCES

32. What is significance of compiling a flexfield structure?

It reflects the changes made to a flexfield structure during the unfreezed state.

33. What changes can be enforced on the flexfield structure when it is unfreezed?

Changing segment names, changing ordering sequence, changing window prompts,

adding new segments, changing the enabled and displayed attributes

34. What is Autorate program?

It is a program which selects all the foreign currency transactions in a module in and

applies that days currency conversion rate.

35. Is it mandatory to freeze the flexfield structure before it can be compiled?

Yes

36. How many views are generated when compiling a flexfield structure?

User Defined View and System View

37. What is the significance of intercompany flexfield qualifier?

It allows intercompany transactions to be recorded.

38. How do you setup suspense posting?

A) Define Suspense Account

B) Specify suspense account code combination in set of books form

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39. Manual tax journals can be recorded if Allow Tax Journals option is not selected in the set

of books form?

No

40. Selection of journal approval option makes it mandatory for every journal to be approvedbefore a journal is posted?

Yes

41. Where do you specify journal approval limits in Oracle apps?

In GL module only

42. Can previous conversion rates information be used for current transactions?

Yes

43. After the batch is posted, journals within the batch can be updated?

No

44. To reverse an entire batch what is the option available in GL?

Reverse batch option in Journal Batch window.

45. To reverse only journal within the journal, what steps have to be performed?

A) Navigate to JOURNALS/ENTER

B) Click on FIND

C) Select the batch whose Journal you want to reverse.

D) Query the Journal within the batch.

E) Click on MORE ACTIONS and then click on REVERSE JOURNAL

46. What are the categories of budgets available in GL?

REVENUE BUDGETS and EXPENSE BUDGETS.

47. What are the amount types supported by the applications package?

Qtd, ytd, ptd and pjtd

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48. Can statistical budgets be defined in GL?

Yes

49. What are the modules involved in the encumbrance cycle?

GL, PO, AP

50. What is encumbrance accounting?

Encumbrance accounting is the cycle of generation of encumbrance entries for the

reservation of funds.

51. What is the name of the system generated view when you compile an accounting flexfield

structure?

GL_CODE_COMBINATION_KFV

52. Which Profile option needs to be set for Allowing Mixed journals?

Journals: Mix monetary and Statistical

53. Which Profile Option should be set to prevent transactions on a non-business day?

Journals: Allow Non-Business Day Transactions should be set to No.

54. What is the purpose of Journals: Default Category profile option?

To default a journal category in case of manually recorded journal.

55. What are the journal reversal methods available in GL?

Switch DR/CR

Change Sign

56. Which profile option is used to map a responsibility to a General ledger set of books?

GL: Set of books name

57. What are the different Statuses that a budget can have?

Frozen, Open, Default

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58. Only Ten Budget organizations can be defined in a GL set of books?

False

59. Encumbrance balances are maintained for Expense accounts?

True

60. Encumbrance balances are maintained for Revenue Accounts?

False

Question 1 In the multi-org structure, at what level does GL operate?

Answer General Ledger operates at SOB level.

Question 2 What are the various statuses of GL Periods? And in which table this information is

stored?

Answer The statuses of GL periods are are below:

Open Closed Future - Entry Permanently Closed

Never Opened

The information is maintained in GL_PERIOD_STATUSES.

Question 3 IfJournal Approval flag is checked while defining Set of Books (SOB) then all journals

will necessarily require approval. Is this statement correct?

Answer In addition to enablingJournal Approval flag at SOB level; Require Journal Approval flag

at Journal Sources level for journals to require approval.

Question 4 Does GL support Accrual or Cash system of accounting?

Answer GL is a central repository and all the journal entries from sub-ledger flow to GL. Andthere is no option to specify which method of accounting is allowed. So, such an option is

available only at sub-ledger level; at GL level, users are free to entry either type of entries.

Hence, we can say that GL supports both methods of accounting.

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Question 5 Journal can be entered only in Open Periods. Is this statement correct?

Answer No, journals can be entered both in Open and Future-Entry periods. However, journals

can be posted only in Open periods.

Question 6 Can a GL period be opened after the period is being closed? Can the period be

opened after the closure of Financial Year?Answer Yes, a GL period can be opened any time after it is closed; even after financial year is

closed (though not recommended). However, once a period is permanently closed it cannot be

re-opened.

Question 7 What happens when the Posted journal are changed?

Answer Posted Journal cannot be modified. They can only be reversed.

Question 8 What is the difference between Revaluation and Translation?

Answer

Revaluation is used to determine the position of foreign currency debtors, creditors etc at the

end of month; and it created revaluation journal entries.

While Traslation is a functionality used to convert all balances including functional currency (say

INR) balances in a given foreign currency (USD). Then, Trial Balance in that currency(USD) can

be generated. It is used whenof a subsidiary or branch (INR) are required to be merged with

another company reporting in different currency (USD).

Question 9 What is the meaning of Retained Earning? Where the retained earning account

given?

Answer

Retained Earnings represent the undistributed profits of a company i.e. profits retained. The

retained earning account is a mandatory account to be given at the time of defining Set ofBooks (SOB).

Question 10 Can the GL period be closed when there are unposted journals in the period? What

error will it give?

Answer Unlike AP and AR, where period cannot be closed unless all transactions are processed;

GL period can be closed even if there are unposted journals. So, it gives no error as such.

Question 11 What are the maximum number of period that can be open in GL? Answer There is

no limit on number of periods that can be concurrently open GL; however, it is advised to keep

the number of GL Open periods to minimum.

Question 12 What are the key tables of GL module?

Answer The tables that store the information of GL journals are - GL_JE_BATCHES -

GL_JE_HEADERS - GL_JE_LINES While the summary of balances is stored in GL_BALANCES. And

the GL interface table is GL_INTERFACE.

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Question 13 What is the difference FSG report and D2k report?

Answer Financial Statement Generator (FSG) is a functionality GL which can used to develop

financial reports based on data in GL only (i.e. sub-ledger details cannot be displayed in the

report) and FSG reports can be developed by functional users. However, to develop a D2K

report knowledge of table structures and SQL (may be even PL/SQL) would be required. Andusing D2K report can be build for any module or extract data from multiple modules based on

user requirement.

Question 14 What are the various type of balances supported by GL?

Answer Oracle GL supports three type are balances which are:

- Actual

- Encumbrance

- Budger

Question 15 What are the various type of accounts in GL? And at what point is the type of

account identified? And explain the nature of accounts.

Answer Five type of accounts are maintained in GL

- Expense (E)

- Revenue (R)

- Asset (A)

- Liabiltiy (L)- Owner's Equity (O)

While defining the Natual Account segment values, in the segment qualifier we specify the

nature of account. The type of account for a Code combination is stored in

GL_CODE_COMBINATIONS

Expense and Revenue accounts represent expenses/losses and Revenues/Gains respectively.And these accounts have a ZERO balance at the start of the year. This point has to be taken care

of while developing reports where Opening Balance is calculated rather than using

GL_BALANCES table.

Owner's Equity represent Share Capital and includes retained earnings and reserves, if any.

Owner's Equity along with Asset and Liability Balances are carried forward at the end of year.

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Question 16 Explain the concepts of PTD, YTD, QTD and PJTD in GL?

Answer All the below are various ways of calculating balances and each indicate the starting

point since when the balance is calculated

PTD - Period To date (i.e. from the start of period till date)

YTD - Year to date

QTD - Quater to Date

PJTD - Project to Date (i.e. from the start of the project and it can span multiple years)

Question 17 What is a funding budget? And what is its purpose?

Answer A funding budget is a budget for which 'Require Budget Journals' check box is checked.

Funding budget can be used to control expenses if budgeting control is enabled at Set of Books

(SOB) level.

Question 18 What is the maximum number of periods allowed in a year while defining GL

calander? Can you two periods in GL calander overlap?

Answer GL calander allows for 1 to 366 periods per year. And two periods cannot overlap

unless one of them is an adjustment period.

Question 19 When entering a Code Combination in Journals screen, user is getting the error -Please choose an existing combination.

How can this issue be resolved? Can any changes be done so that this issue doenst doesn't arise

again?

Answer The issue can be instantly resolved by defining the combinations to be used in GL

Accounts screen. And to prevent re-occurence of this issue, 'Allow Dynamic Inserts' check-box

should be enabled while defining the Chart of Accounts.

General Ledger Interview Questions in R12

1) Can a flexfield qualifier be changed after it has been created?

Ans) No.

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Once a segment qualifier has been designated for a specific segment and has been saved, it will

permanently have the attributes with that qualifier.

For example, you accidentally designate the cost center segment as the natural account

segment. Even though you do not compile this, the system saves the changes. And once it hasbeen saved, it will have all the attributes designated for the natural account qualifier, even after

it has been changed back, resaved with the correct qualifier and compiled. This is the inherent

functionality of the software.

Unfortunately, there is no real easy solution for this issue. The only option is to create a new

chart of accounts and attach a new set of books.

2) How to delete a segment value?

Ans) There is no supported way to delete a segment value. Segment values can only be disabled

not deleted.

3) Is there a way to load values for a specific segment outside of the form?

Ans) iSetup is the Oracle product that provides supported APIs to load values into Oracle

Applications flexfields.

To load code combinations ADI may be used. Uploading zero amount journals will create new

code combinations.

In this case Dynamic Insertion should be enabled and all account segment values need to exist

before the new account code combinations will be dynamically created.

4) What are the different types of Journals in General Ledger ?

Ans)

1. Functional Currency Jv: This Journal, we enter Local Currency transaction purpose.

2. Foreign Currency Jv: this Journal, we enter other than local currency transaction

purpose...before we define exchange rates

3.Suspense Jv: this Journal, whenever debit is not equal to credit that time, we enable in set of

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books window Suspense button, then it works otherwise it's not working

4.Tax Jv: this Journal, calculate taxation of Purchased items

5.Reverse Jv: this Journal whenever we enter recurring journal, at the time of we using..Wehave two methods...one is Debit to Credit and second one is sign (+ to -)

6.Recurring Jv :this one is We define one template, we use Periodically, these are 3 types

1.Standard 2.Skeleton 3.Formula

7.Mass Allocation Jv :Set of Expenses or Set of Revenue allocate different parts using Formula

A*B/C

A is Total Cost Pool..B is Usage Factor...C is Total Usage Factor...

8. Batch JV: Group of Journal we enter at a time, We Define Control Amount

9. Stat JV: This JV we have one side of Amount either debit or Credit.....

5) What is average Balance In Oracle Financials?

Ans) The Average Balance feature of Oracle General Ledger provides organizations with theability to track average and end-of-day balances, report average balance sheets, and create

custom reports using both standard and average balances. Average balance processing is

particularly important for financial institutions, since average balance sheets are required, in

addition to standard balance sheets, by many regulatory agencies. Many organizations also use

average balances for internal management reporting and

Profitability analysis.

The difference between an average and standard balance sheet is that balances are expressed

as average amounts rather Than actual period-end amounts. An average balance is computed

as the sum of the actual daily closing balance for a balance sheet account, divided by the

number of calendar Days in the reporting period .

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6) Is there a limit to the number of periods in a budget year or how many years a budget can

span?

Ans) One can define budgetary control for n number of years however, one year can have

maximum of 60 fiscal periods7)

7) What is a funding budget?

Ans) A budget against which accounting transactions are checked for available funds when

budgetary control is enable for your set of books.

8) What is planning budget

Ans) The plan for the future expenses is planning budget. It is a paper work. There is no funds

requirement. It does not require journals. There are no restrictions for estimating of funds.

9) I was able to post a budget journal to a closed period, why?

Ans) Yes you can do so, reason being budget journal is not linked with your accounting period.

Once you have open the budget period then you can book budget journal for that whole

period.

10) What is the specific purpose of assigning Balancing Segment Values to the Legal Entity in

Accounting Manager Setup (as once assigned, the same value is not allowed to be selected for

any other Legal Entity), if this value is usable for the Operating Unit(s) that does not have this

Legal Entity Context?

Ans) Summary of key facts:

1. Common COA Structure used for Primary and Secondary Ledgers

2. Ledger shared by Multiple Legal Entities

3. Specific Balancing Segment Values assigned to Specific Legal Entity (Overlap not allowed)

4. Specific Legal Entity Vision Operations Assigned to Payables Manager OU for Legal Entity

Context

5. User preference set to Access Vision Operations OU by Default in Payables

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Conclusion and Findings:

1. Balancing Segment Value Assignment to the Multiple Legal Entities, sharing the same Ledger

does not seem to restrict the user of these Balancing Segment Values in the Feeder, Operating

Unit specific Modules Like AP, wherein Legal Entity Context is passed to the OU through the linkof the Primary Ledger.

2. However, access to these Balancing Segment Values could be controlled through Security

Rules being assigned to the Value Set and the Respective Responsibility

3. The Key question is: If Legal Entity having the context to the Operating Unit that shares the

common Ledger does not have assignment to it, what impact it has on the integrity of data

when this access is otherwise allowed, except through Security Rules?

11) What are the interface tables in General Ledger?

Ans)

GL_BUDGET_INTERFACE

GL_DAILY_RATES_INTERFACE

GL_IEA_INTERFACE

GL_INTERFACEGL_INTERFACE_CONTROL

GL_INTERFACE_HISTORY

12) What is DFF.

Question: What does DFF mean?

Answer: DFF is a mechanism that lets us create new fields in screens that are delivered by

Oracle.

Question: Oh good, but can these new fields be added without modifying/customization of the

screen?.

Answer: Yes, certainly. Only some setup is needed, but no programmatic change is needed to

setup DFF.

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Question: I want these fields to appear in screen only when certain conditions are met. Is it

possible?

Answer: Yes, we have something known as Context Sensitive Descriptive Flexfields.

In Order to do this, we will follow the below steps(screenshots will follow) :-1. Navigate to the DFF Registration screen in Oracle Apps and query on Table

AP_BANK_BRANCES. Now click on Reference Field

2. Navigate to DFF Segments screen and query on the Title of the Bank Branch and Unfreeze

the Flexfield and add segments as to Section "GLOBAL Data Elements" as shown in screenshots.

13) What is Journal Import?

Ans) Journal import is an interface used to bring journal entries from legacy systems and other

modules into the General Ledger.(Specifically Journal Import gets entries from legacy data into

the GL base tables.

The tables populated during journal Import are

GL_JE_BATCHES,

GL_JE_HEADERS,

GL_JE_LINES,

GL_IMPORT_REFERENCES

14) What is the use of GL_Interface?

Ans) Gl_Interface is the primary interface table of General ledger. It acts as an interface

between data originating from other modules such as AP,AR, Legacy data and the Gl Base

tables.

15) What is Actual Flag?

Ans) Actual flag represents the Journal type.

A-Actual

B-Budget

E- Encumbrance.

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16) What is Encumbrance?

Ans) It is a process of Reservation of funds for anticipated expenditure from a budget.

Encumbrance integrates GL, Purchasing and Payables modules.

17) How many Key Flex Fields are there in General Ledger?

Ans) One. Accounting Key Flex Field.

18) How many types of Budgets are there?

Ans) Two Types.

Expenditure Budgets

Revenue Budgets.

19)What are Spot Rate, Corporate Rate, Transaction Calendar and Accounting Calendar?

Ans) Spot Rate:

An exchange rate which you enter to perform conversion based on the rate on a specific date. It

applies to the immediate delivery of currency.

Corporate Rate:

An Exchange rate that we define to standardize rates for our company. This rate is the standard

market rate determined by the senior financial management for use through out the

organization.

User Rate:

Conversion rate that is defined by the user.

EMU Fixed Rate: An exchange rate that is provided automatically by the General Ledger while

entering journals. It uses a foreign currency that has a fixed relationship with the euro.

Transaction Calendar: Defines the business days and holidays for any calendar.

Accounting Calendar: Defines different types of calendars namely Fiscal, Federal Fiscal, Month

etc.

20)What is Security Rule?

Ans) Security Rules are defined to control the access of a flexfield segment value (Financial

information) at a responsibility level.

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21) What are Cross Validation & ADI?

Ans) CVSCross validate segmentsAllows only valid code combinations.

ADIAllow dynamic inserts.Allows any code combination irrespective of validity.ADI would prevail if both of CVS and ADI are checked.

22)What is Translation?

Ans) Translation is a process used to convert functional currency to other reporting currencies

at the account balances level.

23)What is Revaluation?

Ans) It is process used to revalue assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currency into

functional currency based on period end exchange rate we specify. Unrealized gains/losses are

resulted because of exchange rate fluctuations which are recorded in unrealized gain/loss

account in GL.

24)What is FSG (Financial Statement Generator)?

Ans) Financial statement generator feature helps us to generate reports such as balance sheets

and income statements with out programming. It also provides a high degree of control on the

rows, columns, contents and calculations on the report. Different components such as row set,

column set, content set, row order, display set have to be defined before a statement is

generated, of which row set and column set are mandatory.

25) What is Consolidation?

Ans) Consolidation is a period-end process of combining the financial results of separate

business subsidiaries with the parent company to form a single combined statement of financial

results.

26) At what level General Ledger data is secured?

Ans) GL data is secured at Set of Book level. Subledger module data is secured at Responsibility

level (i.e., at Operating Unit Level).

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27) Difference between Primary Ledger and Secondary Ledger in R12 ?

Ans) Primary ledger:

The primary ledger acts as the primary accounting representation

Secondary Leger:

Secondary ledgers represent the primary ledger's accounting data in another accounting

representation that differs in one or more of the following ways:

chart of accounts accounting calendar/period type combination currency subledger accounting method ledger processing options

Use secondary ledgers for supplementary purposes, such as consolidation, statutory reporting,

or adjustments for one or more legal entities within the same accounting setup. For example,

use a primary ledger for corporate accounting purposes that uses the corporate chart of

accounts and subledger accounting method, and use a secondary ledger for statutory reporting

purposes that uses the statutory chart of accounts and subledger accounting method. This

allows you to maintain both a corporate and statutory representation of the same legal entity's

transactions in parallel.

Assign one or more secondary ledgers to each primary ledger for an accounting setup.

The secondary ledgers assigned can only perform the accounting for the legal entities within

the same accounting setup.

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Oracle Apps General Ledger (GL) KEY Tables

GL_SETS_OF_BOOKS

GL_SETS_OF_BOOKS stores information about the sets of books you define in your Oracle

General Ledger application. Each row includes the set of books name, description, functional

currency, and other information. This table corresponds to the Set of Books form.

GL_IMPORT_REFERENCES

GL_IMPORT_REFERENCES stores individual transactions from subledgers that have been

summarized into Oracle General Ledger journal entry lines through the Journal Import process.

You can specify the journal entry sources for which you want to maintain your transactions

origin by entering Yes in the Import Journal References field of the Journal Sources form.

For each source that has Import Journal References set to Yes, Oracle General Ledger will

populate GL_IMPORT_REFERENCES with one record for each transaction in your feeder system.

GL_DAILY_RATES

GL_DAILY_RATES stores the daily conversion rates for foreign currency transactions. It replaces

the GL_DAILY_CONVERSION_RATES table.

It stores the rate to use when converting between two currencies for a given conversion date

and conversion type. Each row in this table has a corresponding inverse row in which the from

and to currencies are switched.

For example, if this table contains a row with a from_currency of YEN, a to_currency of CND, a

conversion_type of Spot, and a conversion_date of January 1, 1997, it will also contain a row

with a from_currency of CND, a to_currency of YEN, a conversion_type of Spot, and a

conversion_date of January 1, 1997.

In general, this row will contain a rate that is the inverse of the matching row. One should never

insert directly into this table. They should instead insert into the DAILY_RATES_INTERFACE

table. Data inserted into the GL_DAILY_RATES_INTERFACE table will be automatically copied

into this table

GL_PERIODS

GL_PERIODS stores information about the accounting periods you define using the Accounting

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Calendar form. Each row includes the start date and end date of the period, the period type,

the fiscal year, the period number, and other information. There is a onetomany relationship

between a row in the GL_PERIOD_SETS table and rows in this table.

GL_JE_HEADERS

GL_JE_HEADERS stores journal entries. There is a onetomany relationship between journal

entry batches and journal entries. Each row in this table includes the associated batch ID, the

journal entry name and description, and other information about the journal entry. This table

corresponds to the Journals window of the Enter Journals form. STATUS is U for unposted, P

for posted. Other statuses indicate that an error condition was found. CONVERSION_FLAG

equal to N indicates that you manually changed a converted amount in the Journal Entry Lines

zone of a foreign currency journal entry. In this case, the posting program does not reconvert

your foreign amounts. This can happen only if your user profile option

MULTIPLE_RATES_PER_JE is Yes. BALANCING_SEGMENT_VALUE is null if there is only one

balancing segment value in your journal entry. If there is more than one,

BALANCING_SEGMENT_VALUE is the greatest balancing segment value in your journal entry.

GL_JE_LINES

GL_JE_LINES stores the journal entry lines that you enter in the Enter Journals form. There is a

onetomany relationship between journal entries and journal entry lines. Each row in this

table stores the associated journal entry header ID, the line number, the associated code

combination ID, and the debits or credits associated with the journal line. STATUS is U for

unposted or P for posted.

GL_JE_BATCHES

GL_JE_BATCHES stores journal entry batches. Each row includes the batch name, description,

status, running total debits and credits, and other information. This table corresponds to the

Batch window of the Enter Journals form. STATUS is U for unposted, P for posted, S for

selected, I for in the process of being posted. Other values of status indicate an error

condition. STATUS_VERIFIED is N when you create or modify an unposted journal entry batch.

The posting program changes STATUS_VERIFIED to I when posting is in process and Y after

posting is complete.

GL_BALANCES

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GL_BALANCES stores actual, budget, and encumbrance balances for detail and summary

accounts. This table stores functional currency, foreign currency, and statistical balances for

each accounting period that has ever been opened.

ACTUAL_FLAG is either A, B, or E for actual, budget, or encumbrance balances, respectively.

If ACTUAL_FLAG is B, then BUDGET_VERSION_ID is required. If ACTUAL_FLAG is E, thenENCUMBRANCE_TYPE_ID is required.

GL_BALANCES stores period activity for an account in the PERIOD_NET_DR and

PERIOD_NET_CR columns. The table stores the period beginning balances in

BEGIN_BALANCE_DR and BEGIN_BALANCE_CR.

An accounts yeartodate balance is calculated as BEGIN_BALANCE_DRBEGIN_BALANCE_CR

+ PERIOD_NET_DRPERIOD_NET_CR. Detail and summary foreign currency balances that are

the result of posted foreign currency journal entries have TRANSLATED_FLAG set to R, to

indicate that the row is a candidate for revaluation.

For foreign currency rows, the begin balance and period net columns contain the foreign

currency balance, while the begin balance and period net BEQ columns contain the converted

functional currency balance.Detail foreign currency balances that are the result of foreign

currency translation have TRANSLATED_FLAG set to Y or N. N indicates that the translation

is out of date (i.e., the account needs to be retranslated). Y indicates that the translation is

current.

Summary foreign currency balances that are the result of foreign currency translation have

TRANSLATED_FLAG set to NULL. All summary account balances have TEMPLATE_ID not NULL.

The columns that end in ADB are not used. Also, the REVALUATION_STATUS column is not

used.

GL_CODE_COMBINATIONS

GL_CODE_COMBINATIONS stores valid account combinations for each Accounting Flexfield

structure within your Oracle General Ledger application. Associated with each account are

certain codes and flags, including whether the account is enabled, whether detail posting or

detail budgeting is allowed, and others.

Segment values are stored in the SEGMENT columns. Note that each Accounting Flexfield

structure may use different SEGMENT columns within the table to store the flexfield value

combination. Moreover, the SEGMENT columns that are used are not guaranteed to be in any

order.

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The Oracle Application Object Library table FND_ID_FLEX_SEGMENTS stores information about

which column in this table is used for each segment of each Accounting Flexfield structure.

Summary accounts have SUMMARY_FLAG = Y and TEMPLATE_ID not NULL. Detail accounts

have SUMMARY_FLAG = N and TEMPLATE_ID NULL.

GENERAL LEDGER TABLES

--CURRENCY

Select * from FND_CURRENCIES

---PERIOD TYPES

Select * from GL_PERIOD_TYPES

--CALENDER

Select * from GL_PERIOD_SETS

Select * from GL_PERIODS

--CHART OF ACCOUNTS

Select * from FND_ID_FLEX_STRUCTURES

Select * from FND_ID_FLEX_SEGMENTS

--LEDGERS

Select * from GL_LEDGERS

--JOURNAL SOURCES

Select * from GL_JE_SOURCES

--JOURNAL CATEGIRIES

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Select * from GL_JE_CATEGORIES

--JOURNALS

Select * from GL_JE_HEADERS

Select * from GL_JE_LINES

Oracle GL Important Tables:

FND_ID_FLEX_STRUCTURES

This table stores structure data about key flexfields.

A structure is the entire definition of all columns and meaning of the key flexfield.

Structure definitions for the accounting flexfieldare stored in this table in record where

ID_FLEX_CODE=GL#.

The accounting key flexfield can have multiple structures, each identified by a unique

combination of ID_FLEX_CODE and ID_FLEX_NUM.

Major Columns - Application_ID, ID_FLEX_CODE, ID_FLEX_NUM

CONCATENATED_SEGMENT_DELIMITER

CROSS_SEGMENT_VALIDATION_FLAG

DYNAMIC_INSERTS_ALLOWED_FLAG

ENABLED_fLAG

FREEZE_FLEX_DEFINITION_FLAG

FREEZE_STRUCTURED_HIER_FLAG

STRUCTURE_VIEW_NAME

GL_CODE_COMBINATIONS

This table stores valid account combinations for each accounting flexfield structure in Oracle

General Ledger.Associated with each account are certain codes and flags, including whether the account is

enabled and whether detail posting or detail budgeting is allowed.

This table references the CODE_COMBINATION_ID which is the foreign key used by Oracle

Applications to track accounting entries.

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Major Columns

CODE_COMBINATION_ID

CHART_OF_ACCOUNTS_ID

ACCOUNT_TYPE

ENABLED_FLAGSEGMENT1... SEGMENT20.

Journal Entry Tables

The major tables storing journal entries related information are as follows:

GL_JE_BATCHES

GL_JE_HEADERS

GL_JE_LINES

GL_CODE_COMBINATIONS

GL_BALANCES

GL_JE_BATCHES

This table stores details of journal entry batches. A batch is group of journal entries.

In General Ledger, Journal entries are posted in Batches.

Each row in this table includes the batch name, status, running total debits and credits for all

entries in the batch and other information.

Major Columns

JE_BATCH_ID

NAME

STATUS : POSTED or Unposted

POSTED_DATE

.........

GL_JE_HEADERS

This table stores journal entry information. There is a one to many relationship between journal

entry batches and journal entries.

Each row in this table includes the associated , batch id, journal entry name and description,

and other information about the journal entry.

Major Columns

JE_HEADERS_ID

JE_CATEGORY

JE_SOURCE

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STATUS

PERIOD_NAME

GL_JE_LINES

This table stores journal entry lines. There is a one to man relationship between journal entriesheaders and journal entry lines. This table contains the information about the account and

amount for each line of the entry.

Major Columns

JE_HEADERS_ID

JE_LINE_NUM

CODE_COMBINATION_ID

PERIOD_NAME

EFFECTIVE_DATE

STATUS

GL_BALANCES

This table stores net debit and net credit information for detail and summary accounts.

This information is stored actual, budget, and encumbrance amounts. It also stores functional

currency, foreign currency, and statistical balances for each accounting period that has ever

been opened.

GL_BALANCES is populated by the system during the GL Post and Summary Account

template definition.

It is used for standard account inquires and for Financial Statement Generator(FSG) reporting.

This table stores activity rather than the actual balance.

Use the following formula to calculate the period to date balance:

(PERIOD_NET_DR- PERIOD_NE_CR)= PERIOD TO DATE BALANCE

Use this formula to calculate the year to date balance

(BEGIN_BALANCE_DR-BEGIN_BALANCE_CR)+ (PERIOD_NET_DR-PERIOD_NET_CR)=YEAR-TO-DATE BALANCE.

Major Columns

SET_OF_BOOKS_ID

CODE_COMBINATION_ID

CURRENCY_CODE

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PERIOD_NAME

ACTUAL_FLAG

ENCUMBRANCE_TYPE_ID

TRANSLATED_FLAG

PERIOD_NET_DRPERIOD_NET_CR

BEGIN_BALANCE_DR

BEGIN_BALANCE_CR

4. What is Journal Import?

A) Journal import is an interface used to bring journal entries from legacy systems and other

modules into the General Ledger. (Specifically Journal Import gets entries from legacy data into

the GL base tables. The tables populated during journal Import are GL_JE_BATCHES,

GL_JE_HEADERS, GL_JE_LINES, GL_IMPORT_REFERENCES etc.

5. What is the use of GL_Interface?

A) Gl_Interface is the primary interface table of General ledger. It acts as an interface between

data originating from other modules such as AP,AR, Legacy data and the Gl Base tables.

6. What is the significance of status column, accounting column and Reference column?

A) Status ColumnSymbolizes the Journal entry in the table as either New/Update.

Accounting DateRepresents the date using which the corresponding period in the General

Ledger is identified and accounting is applied.

Reference ColumnsRepresents additional/optional information pertaining to the

batch/Journal Entrys belonging to sub-ledger modules such as AP & AR.

(REF.COLUMNS 1-10 -> Store Batch and Journal Entry names and description,)

(REF.COLUMNS 21-30-> Store information pertaining to sub-ledger modules. These Cols are

also populated as Ref. Cols 1-10 in GL_ IMPORT_REFERENCES, GL_JE_LINES.)

7. What is Actual Flag?

A) Actual flag represents the Journal type. A-Actual, B-Budget, E- Encumbrance.

8. What is Encumbrance?

A) It is a process of Reservation of funds for anticipated expenditure from a budget.

Encumbrance integrates GL, Purchasing and Payables modules.

10. How many Key Flex Fields are there in General Ledger?

A) One. Accounting Key Flex Field.

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11. What is a Value Set?

A) Value set is a collection of values that could be represented by a segment.

12. How do we create Set of Books?

A) The creation of Set of books involves four basic steps.i) Define Functional Currency

ii) Define Calendar

iii) Define the Chart of Accounts

iv) Enter code combination of Retained Earnings account.

13. How many types of Budgets are there?

A) Two Types. Expenditure Budgets, Revenue Budgets.

14. What are the Base Tables and Interface Tables for Journal Import?

Interface Tables: GL_INTERFACE, GL_BUDGET_INTERFACE

Base Tables: GL_JE_BATCHES, GL_JE_HEADERS, GL_JE_LINES,

GL_JE_SOURCES, GL_JE_CATEGORIES,

GL_SETS_OF_BOOKS, GL_DAILY_RATES, GL_BALANCES,

GL_PERIODS, GL_PERIOD_SETS, GL_CODE_COMBINATIONS

15. What is the process of kicking Journal Import from PL/SQL?

A) Using the procedure FND_SUBMIT.SUBMIT_REQUEST.

16. How do we error out a concurrent program from PL/SQL?

A) Using API_SET=VALUE/STATUS (API is a Package).

17. What are Spot Rate, Corporate Rate, Transaction Calendar and Accounting Calendar?Spot

Rate: An exchange rate which you enter to perform conversion based on the rate on a specific

date. It applies to the immediate delivery of currency.

Corporate Rate: An Exchange rate that we define to standardize rates for our company. This

rate is the standard market rate determined by the senior financial management for use

through out the organization.

User Rate: Conversion rate that is defined by the user.

EMU Fixed Rate: An exchange rate that is provided automatically by the General Ledger while

entering journals. It uses a foreign currency that has a fixed relationship with the euro.

Transaction Calendar: Defines the business days and holidays for any calendar.

Accounting Calendar: Defines different types of calendars namely Fiscal, Federal Fiscal, Month

etc.

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18. What are Segment Qualifiers?

Segment qualifiers hold extra information about individual segments such as if the account is an

Asset, Liability or Expense, if you can post to the account and more.

When we define a segment value in the Segment Values window, we must also assign qualifierswhich determine the account type (asset, liability, or expense), whether budgeting is allowed,

whether posting is allowed and other information specific to the segment value.

Allow Budgeting, Allow Posting, Account Type, Control Account, Reconciliation Flag.

19. What are Flex Field Qualifiers?

A) They determine the hierarchy of the segments with in a flex field structure. They are of four

different types, Balancing Segment Qualifier, Natural Accounting segment Qualifier, Cost Center

Segment Qualifier, Inter Company Segment Qualifier.

20. What is MRC (Multiple Reporting Currency)?

Multiple Reporting Currency is a feature used to maintain transactions and account balances in

multiple currencies. MRC is implemented at the transaction level where as Currency Translation

is implemented in the Account Balances level. MRC in functionality replaces the usage of DUAL

Currency and Translation processes in Oracle GL module.

21. What is Security Rule?

Security Rules are defined to control the access of a flexfield segment value (Financial

information) at a responsibility level.

22. What are Cross Validation & ADI?

CVSCross validate segmentsAllows only valid code combinations.

ADIAllow dynamic inserts.Allows any code combination irrespective of validity.

ADI would prevail if both of CVS and ADI are checked.

23. What is Translation?

A) Translation is a process used to convert functional currency to other reporting currencies at

the account balances level.

24. What is Revaluation?

A) It is process used to revalue assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currency into

functional currency based on period end exchange rate we specify. Unrealized gains/losses are

resulted because of exchange rate fluctuations which are recorded in unrealized gain/loss

account in GL.

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25. What is FSG (Financial Statement Generator)?

A) Financial statement generator feature helps us to generate reports such as balance sheets

and income statements with out programming. It also provides a high degree of control on the

rows, columns, contents and calculations on the report. Different components such as row set,column set, content set, row order, display set have to be defined before a statement is

generated, of which row set and column set are mandatory.

26. What is Consolidation?

A) Consolidation is a period-end process of combining the financial results of separate business

subsidiaries with the parent company to form a single combined statement of financial results.

27. At what level General Ledger data is secured?

A) GL data is secured at Set of Book level. Subledger module data is secured at Responsibility

level (i.e., at Operating Unit Level).