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Data checklist: General ledger (For-profit and not-for-profit)

Article author
Jonathon Plowman-Samson
  • Updated

Summary

Learn about the data components and fields required to run a general ledger analysis within MindBridge. 

MindBridge provides powerful analyses with minimal data, but importing additional data fields unlocks additional features and filtering capabilities (such as searching by company, branch, cost centre, department, etc.) so the results can be analyzed more efficiently and effectively.

General ledger data (required)

A general ledger is a book of accounts containing detailed information on journal entries, including their respective debits or credits and associated account numbers. Importing the general ledger into MindBridge unlocks the ability to produce an Income Statement report.

The general ledger file should be exported from an ERP or accounting system in either .xlsx and/or .csv format. Note that when working with Quickbooks Desktop or Quickbooks Online it is recommended that you export a Journal Report instead of a General Ledger Report. 

#

Field name

Description

Required?

Control points in effect 

1

Account ID

The identifier for the general ledger financial account. This information is also found in the chart of accounts.

Example: 14028

Yes
  • Cash Expenditure
  • Cash to Bad Debt Conversion
  • Complex Structure
  • Duplicate
  • Expense Flurry
  • Expert Score
  • Flow Analysis
  • Fund Expense Flurry
  • Outlier Anomaly
  • Rare Flow
  • Reporting Period Adjustment
  • Reversal
  • Reversed
  • Split Expense (Single Transaction)
  • Split Expense (Multiple Transactions)
  • Unusual Amount
  • Unusual Amount by User (recurring)

2

Account Description

The name of the general ledger financial account. This information is also found in the chart of accounts.

Example: Cash and Cash equivalents

No

N/A

3

Effective Date

The date when the journal entry takes effect in the ledger, regardless of when the entry was posted. This date may also be known as the “accounting date”.

Example: 2014-01-01 (YYYY-MM-DD)

Yes
  • Analysis Period Adjustment
  • Duplicate
  • End of Analysis Period
  • End of Reporting Period
  • Start of Analysis Period
  • Start of Reporting Period
  • Reversed
  • Reversal
  • Cash to Bad Debt Conversion
  • Flow Analysis
  • Outlier Anomaly
  • Reporting Adjustment
  • Unusual Amount by User (recurring)
  • Weekend Post

4

Debit

The debit value of the entry.

Example: 19,834.22

Yes
  • 2 Digit Benford
  • Complex Structure
  • Duplicate
  • Expense Flurry
  • Fund Expense Flurry
  • High Monetary Value
  • Interfund Transfer
  • Last 3 digits
  • Material value
  • Outlier Anomaly
  • Split Expense (Single Transaction)
  • Split Expense (Multiple Transactions)
  • Unbalanced Credits and Debits
  • Unusual Amounts
  • Zero Entry

5

Credit

The credit value of the entry.

Example: 19,834.22

Yes
  • 2 Digit Benford
  • Complex Structure
  • Duplicate
  • Expense Flurry
  • Fund Expense Flurry
  • High Monetary Value
  • Interfund Transfer
  • Last 3 digits
  • Material value
  • Outlier Anomaly
  • Split Expense (Single Transaction)
  • Split Expense (Multiple Transactions)
  • Unbalanced Credits and Debits
  • Unusual Amounts
  • Zero Entry

6

Amount

The entry’s value, which may be either positive (i.e., debit) or negative (i.e., credit).

Example: 

19,834.22 (debit position)

-19,834.22 (credit position)

Note: “Amount” is an alternative field for general ledgers that do not provide entries split into separate debit and credit fields.

No
  • 2 Digit Benford
  • Complex Structure
  • Duplicate
  • Expense Flurry
  • Fund Expenses Flurry
  • High Monetary Value
  • Interfund Transfer
  • Last 3 digits
  • Material value
  • Outlier Anomaly
  • Split Expense (Single Transaction)
  • Split Expense (Multiple Transactions)
  • Unbalanced Credits and Debits
  • Unusual Amounts
  • Zero Entry

7

Entered Date

The date the entry was posted in the general ledger, regardless of when it takes effect in the accounting cycle.

Example: 2014-01-01 (YYYY-MM-DD)

No

N/A

8

Transaction ID

The transaction ID is a unique code that identifies each of the journal entries.

Example: 6524

Yes

All transaction-level control points

9

Transaction Type

This represents the “classification” of the transaction; usually based on a predefined list.

Examples: Cash receipts, cash disbursements, general journal, credit memo, purchases, sales.

No
  • Manual Entry

10

Memo

A description of the journal entry. It is typically posted manually and provides the context of the transaction through descriptive content or the use of codes.

Example: This was paid on Dec 7 from Account XYZ. It was a manual entry.

No
  • Complex Instrument
  • Empty Text Field
  • Suspicious Keywords

11

Source

A description of how the journal entry originated (i.e., a system, a manual entry, etc.).

Example: 

General Ledger (GL)

Payroll (PR)

No
  • Manual Entry
  • Zero Entry

12

User ID

The name or identifying code of the user responsible for creating/posting the journal entry.

Example: Paul Johnson or 10922

No

N/A

 

Opening balance data (optional)

This document lists the account identifiers, account descriptions, and opening cash balance for each balance sheet accounts. To provide a consistent view between the opening balance and general ledger activity, the opening balance file should be post closing entries (transferring the net balance of revenue and expense accounts to equity accounts), and the balances should also agree to the issued financial statement from the previous year.

Importing an opening balance file into MindBridge unlocks the ability to produce a Balance Sheet report. 

#

Field name

Description

Required?

Control points in effect 

1

Account ID

The identifier for the general ledger financial account. This information is also found in the chart of accounts.

Example: 14028

Yes
  • Cash Expenditure
  • Cash to Bad Debt Conversion
  • Complex Structure
  • Duplicate
  • Expense Flurry
  • Expert Score
  • Flow Analysis
  • Fund Expense Flurry
  • Outlier Anomaly
  • Rare Flow
  • Reporting Adjustment
  • Reversal
  • Reversed
  • Split Expense (Single Transaction)
  • Split Expense (Multiple Transactions)
  • Unusual Amount
  • Unusual Amount by User (recurring)

2

Account Description

The name of the general ledger financial account. This information is also found in the chart of accounts.

Example: Cash and Cash equivalents

No

N/A

3

Account Balance

The most up-to-date balance for each of the accounts (refer to the note below the “closing balance” table for more information).

Example: 18,152.16

Yes
  • Material Value

 

Closing balance data (optional)

This document lists the account identifiers, account descriptions and closing cash balance for each account. The closing balance should reflect the most updated amount in each of the accounts. 

Importing an opening and closing balance file into MindBridge unlocks the ability to produce a Pre-Analysis Completeness Report. The closing balance is only used in this report and does not take the place of any calculated balances in MindBridge.

Note: If the supplied general ledger does not contain adjusting entries, the closing balance file should be an unadjusted trial balance.

#

Field name

Description

Required?

Control points in effect 

1

Account ID

The identifier for the general ledger financial account. This information is also found in the chart of accounts.

Example: 14028

Yes
  • Cash Expenditure
  • Cash to Bad Debt Conversion
  • Complex Structure
  • Duplicate
  • Expense Flurry
  • Expert Score
  • Flow Analysis
  • Fund Expense Flurry
  • Outlier Anomaly
  • Rare Flow
  • Reporting Adjustment
  • Reversal
  • Reversed
  • Split Expense (Single Transaction)
  • Split Expense (Multiple Transactions)
  • Unusual Amount
  • Unusual Amount by User (recurring)

2

Account Description

The name of the general ledger financial account. This information is also found in the chart of accounts.

Example: Cash and Cash equivalents

No

N/A

3

Account Balance

The most up-to-date balance for each of the accounts (refer to the note below the closing balance table)

Example: 18,152.16

Yes
  • Material Value
Note: Either the unadjusted balance or the adjusted balance can be used for the closing balances. The data provided may depend on the timing of the analysis to be performed (i.e.; before year-end closing, right after the year-end, or after the issue of the financial statements for preliminary analysis purposes).

In case the balance is adjusted, the general ledger data should be consistent with the adjustments, and also include the adjustment entries. For this reason, the closing balance should be created at the same time as the general ledger data to prevent any differences in transactions as well as in balances. 

These formulas demonstrate the concept and the relationship between the closing balances and the general ledger.

  • Closing balance = Opening balance + General ledger data activity 
  • Closing adjusted balance = Opening balance + General ledger data activity + Adjusting entry activity 

Chart of accounts data

This document is an index of the financial accounts present in the company’s general ledger.


#

Field name

Description

Required?

Control points in effect 

1

Account ID

The identifier for the general ledger financial account. This information is also found in the chart of accounts.

Example: 14028

Yes
  • Cash Expenditure
  • Cash to Bad Debt Conversion
  • Complex Structure
  • Duplicate
  • Expense Flurry
  • Expert Score
  • Flow Analysis
  • Fund Expense Flurry
  • Outlier Anomaly
  • Rare Flow
  • Reporting Adjustment
  • Reversal
  • Reversed
  • Split Expense (Single Transaction)
  • Split Expense (Multiple Transactions)
  • Unusual Amount
  • Unusual Amount by User (recurring)

2

Account Description

The name of the general ledger financial account. This information is also found in the chart of accounts.

Example: Cash and Cash equivalents

Yes

N/A 

 

MindBridge Account Classification (MAC) code system

In order to classify your client’s unique accounts, MindBridge uses the MindBridge Account Classification (MAC) code system to map accounts across a wide and diverse range of industries into a single, consistent classification system. 

Find out how MindBridge classifies accounts using MAC codes. 

This column can be filtered with the filter builder and affects the following control points:

  • Cash Expenditure
  • Cash to Bad Debt Conversion
  • Expense Flurry
  • Expert Score
  • Flow Analysis
  • Fund Expense Flurry
  • Outlier Anomaly
  • Rare Flow
  • Split Expense (Single Transaction)
  • Split Expense (Multiple Transactions)
  • Unusual Amount
  • Unusual Amount by User (recurring)

Interim analysis data

The interim analysis considers partial general ledger data (for example, the analysis may comprise 9 months of general ledger activity, instead of 12 months). The same concept of a general ledger applies to the interim analysis, the difference is that the period does not include the full fiscal year. The analysis can be performed and accessed even after the full general ledger data is received.

For the data fields related to the interim analysis data, refer to the general ledger data section in this document.

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