Appendix A - General Ledger Review (10.4)

The General Ledger (GL) is the official book of record for the State of Florida and contains financial data for all agencies and designated component units. The GL module records the State’s financial information in three ledgers within the Ledger table: the ACTUALS, the CASH BASIS, and the FINANCIAL REPORTING ledger. Transactions post to one or more of the ledgers, first appearing as detailed journal records in the Journal Header and Journal Lines tables, then as a summarized balance update within the Ledger table. The ledger field in the Journal Header, Journal Line, and Ledger table identifies whether the data belongs to the ACTUALS, CASH BASIS, or FINANCIAL REPORTING ledger, helping to separate each ledger’s entries and balances.

ACTUALS Ledger

ACTUALS is the primary ledger within Florida PALM and serves as an agency’s book of record for FINANCIAL REPORTING This ledger represents non-budgetary, posted financial transactions. Transactions are fed to the ledger from source modules and from updates performed directly in the GL. The data is summarized by ChartField string for revenue, expense, asset, liability, and equity balances. Budget and encumbrance details are not stored in the ACTUALS Ledger.

This table shows the source of the entries to the general ledger

	Source	The AP, AR, AM, CM, IU and PR modules create accounting entries that are sent for posting in this ledger.
	Journal Creation	Journal Generator (JGEN) converts these entries into ACTUALS GL Journals. Once these journals are posted, the amounts are reflected to the ACTUALS ledger balances, within the GL module.
	Online GL Journals	Agencies and DFS users can create journal entries directly in the ACTUALS ledger for accounting adjustments. Entries can be created in three ways: Manually using the GL Journal pages Through spreadsheet upload: GLI011 – Inbound Journal Spreadsheet Upload Through interface: GLI006 – Inbound Journal Entry
	Reconciliation	SDE011 – Source Module to GL Reconciliation Tool is used to reconcile source modules to the ACTUALS Ledger.

CASH BASIS Ledger

Contains all Florida PALM cash-impacting transactions. The ledger is systematically populated with transactions that have been posted to the ACTUALS ledger. This ledger is used to support CASH BASIS reporting for agencies and enterprise partners.

	Source	A custom CASH BASIS process (GLE012) derives cash accounting entries from source modules (AP, AR, AM, CM, IU and PR) and loads entries into Custom CASH BASIS accounting entry tables.
	Journal Creation	Journal Generator converts CASH BASIS entries into CASH BASIS GL Journals. Once these journals are posted, the amounts are reflected to the CASH BASIS ledger balances, within the GL module.
	Online GL Journals	Direct or online GL journal entries are not allowed in the CASH BASIS ledger. All GL adjustments in the CASH BASIS ledger come only from the ACTUALS ledger.
	Reconciliation	The CASH BASIS Transaction Reconciliation Report (GLR171) is a custom report that helps users check if the Fund Cash balance matches between the ACTUALS ledger and the CASH BASIS ledger at the transaction level.

FINANCIAL REPORTING Ledger

The FINANCIAL REPORTING ledger is used to support the consolidated FINANCIAL REPORTING needs of the state. This ledger contains data from agencies, component units, and enterprise consolidated adjustments. Data from the ACTUALS ledger is systematically recorded within the FINANCIAL REPORTING ledger. This ledger is maintained and controlled by DFS. Ledger balances are adjusted during Periods 998 and 997.

	Source	All posted ACTUALS journals (including source module journals posted to ACTUALS ledger).
	Journal Creation	A custom FINANCIAL REPORTING ledger process (GLE014) derives FINANCIAL REPORTING accounting entries and converts these entries into FINANCIAL REPORTING GL Journals. Once these journals are posted, the amounts are reflected to the FINANCIAL REPORTING ledger balances, within the GL module.
	Online GL Journals	Only BFR users can create journal entries directly in the FINANCIAL REPORTING ledger for FINANCIAL REPORTING accounting adjustments.
	Reconciliation	The Accounting and Auditing team use an external process to reconcile the FINANCIAL REPORTING ledger with the ACTUALS ledger as part of their FINANCIAL REPORTING activities.

Ledger Architecture

The diagram below provides a high-level view of the Florida PALM ledger Architecture. 

ACTUALS Ledger

Detailed source module data is stored within each source module accounting table. Qualifying source module accounting entries are summarized by the journal generator process and new GL Journals are created. The new summarized GL Journal will include all ChartFields used on the accounting entries, including all Project ChartFields values. Summarized GL Journals are posted to the GL Journal Header and Line tables. These journals also systematically update the ACTUALS ledger balances in the Ledger table. In the Ledger table, GL journals are further summarized to only include the Project ChartField when updating the ACTUALS ledger balances.

CASH BASIS Ledger

Detailed source module data is stored within each source module accounting table. All source module accounting entries are captured by the CASH BASIS Accounting Entries Process. Accounting entries which have a qualifying cash account are stored in the custom CASH BASIS Accounting Entries Tables by module. The process identifies the originating account value which triggered the cash movement and associates it with the corresponding cash line. These CASH BASIS accounting entries are summarized by the journal generator process and new GL Journals are created. The new summarized GL Journal will include all ChartFields used on the accounting entries, including all Project ChartFields values. Summarized GL Journals are posted to the GL Journal Header and Line tables with the Ledger field populated with the CASH BASIS ledger identifier. These journals also systematically update the CASH BASIS ledger balances in the Ledger table. In the Ledger table, GL journals are further summarized to only include the Project ChartField when updating the CASH BASIS ledger balances.

FINANCIAL REPORTING Ledger

The FINANCIAL REPORTING ledger is updated once all entries are posted to the ACTUALS ledger. The systematic FINANCIAL REPORTING Accounting Entries process verifies that GL journals which have not been previously posted to the FINANCIAL REPORTING ledger are copied and posted to the GL Journal Header and Line tables with the Ledger field populated with the FINANCIAL REPORTING ledger identifier. These journals also systematically update the FINANCIAL REPORTING ledger balances in the Ledger table. In the Ledger table, GL journals are further summarized to only include the Project ChartField when updating the FINANCIAL REPORTING ledger balances.

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