Munsoft Matters: Control Account Balancing/Sub-module vs General Ledger

Dear Client,
 
For the past three (3) years Munsoft has dedicated time and resources to enhance the FMS System Reports and other functionalities to capacitate the end-users to reconcile the Sub-module to the General Ledger.
 
Furthermore, in 2019 Munsoft hosted a workshop/mentoring session in balancing Control Accounts to capacitate our municipalities to establish the root cause of the imbalances and perform reconciliations. Some of the municipalities who have taken advantage of these opportunities are reaping the rewards to this day and this supports and confirms the adequacy of the system to provide the end-users with all the necessary tools to be able to perform the investigations independently.
 
Root cause of imbalance between the Sub-module and the General Ledger
 
It is important to note that differences between the Sub-module and the General Ledger are not always caused by system fault or error.
 
The reasons for the differences between the Sub-module and the General Ledger are caused by the following:
 

  • Journals processed on the General Ledger by the end-user. When processing a journal on the General Ledger it does not impact the Sub-module, hence the difference between the Sub-module and the General Ledger.  This does not mean that the journal is incorrect or inappropriate, but it creates a reconciling item when performing your reconciliation.
  • When segments are aligned to Controls Segments when rolling over to the new financial period by the end-user. There are segments (/votes) with balances mapped to the Opening Balance of the affected Sub-module which does not contain transactions from the Sub-module. There are also specific segments that have been designated as Control Segments, these segments house transactions posted from the Sub-module.  If you combine these with segments that are not Control Segments, it will cause an imbalance from an Opening Balance perspective.
  • When the end-user uses the segments inappropriately. There are instances when transactions are captured against incorrect segments.
  • Legacy imbalances from financial systems prior to Munsoft.
 
Reports available on the system to identify the differences
 
  • MSCOA TB (General Ledger > Enquiries and Reports > MSCOA TB). Identify all the segments designated as Control.
  • Detailed General Ledger (General Ledger > Enquiries and Reports > Detailed General Ledger) – Lists the transactions posted on the particular Control Segment, including Journals processed.
  • Migrated Balances Extract (General Ledger > SCOA Menu > Comparative Set Up > Migrated SCOA Extr) – Displays where the balances were mapped to.
  • Detailed Controls can be used for Consumer Debtors, Cash Book, and Creditors modules (General Ledger > Enquiries and Reports > Detailed Controls). All the transactions and misalignments that occurred in the respective module/s are detailed.
  • Interface Reports (Supervisor > Regular Procedures > Month End > Select relevant module (e.g., Creditors) > I’Face Print (for the selected module). The purpose of this report is to determine all the transactions posted from the Sub-module to the General Ledger, per period.
  • Item Summary Report (General Ledger > Enquiries and Reports > G/L Tran Summary). This report is a summary of the detailed General Ledger, it will assist you to identify the various Control Account segments, all the sources which posted to the particular segment e.g., Journals, Sub-module transactions, etc.

 
The way forward
 
Because imbalances on a Control Account are not due to a system related fault or error, these types of requests will be closed from the FMS System Support perspective, however, we do understand that you may still require assistance with balancing these Control Accounts.
 
We do offer services to aid with this matter through our process Support services in Munsoft.  You may contact your Service Delivery Manager for a formal quotation if you are interested in this service offering.
 
Please note that these requests will only be addressed from 1 July 2021.
 
Please contact your Service Delivery Manager for further enquiries.

 
Sincerely, 
Munsoft Team

More Munsoft Matters articles