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

  • Updated

Summary

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

MindBridge provides powerful analyses with minimal required data. However, by importing additional data fields, you can access additional features and filtering capabilities (such as searching by company, branch, transaction type, cost centre, department, etc.) that allow you to analyze the results more efficiently and effectively.

General ledger data (required)

A general ledger is a record that contains all the journal entries (e.g., transaction data) for a company to create their financial statements. This is the main file required for any general ledger analysis.

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
  • Expense Flurry (NFP with Fund)
  • Expert Rules
  • Flow Analysis
  • Outlier Anomaly
  • Rare Flow
  • Reporting Period Adjustment
  • Reversal
  • Reversed
  • Split Expense (Single Transaction)
  • Split Expense (Multiple Transactions)
  • Unusual Amount

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 entered. 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

4

Debit

The debit value of the entry.

Example: 19,834.22

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

5

Credit

The credit value of the entry.

Example: 19,834.22

Yes
  • 2 Digit Benford
  • Complex Structure
  • Duplicate
  • Expense Flurry
  • Expense Flurry (NFP with
  • Fund)
  • High Monetary Value
  • Interfund Transfer
  • Last 3 Digits
  • Material Value
  • Outlier Anomaly
  • Split Expense (Single Transaction)
  • Split Expense (Multiple Transactions)
  • Unbalanced Debits and Credits
  • Unusual Amount
  • 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)

-19,834.22 (credit)

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
  • Expense Flurry (NFP with Fund)
  • High Monetary Value
  • Interfund Transfer
  • Last 3 Digits
  • Material Value
  • Outlier Anomaly
  • Split Expense (Single Transaction)
  • Split Expense (Multiple Transactions)
  • Unbalanced Debits and Credits
  • 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
  • Weekend Post

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 entered manually and provides a description of the entry.

Example: This was paid on Dec 7 from Account XYZ.

No
  • Complex Instrument
  • Empty Text Field
  • Suspicious Keyword

11

Source

The source of the journal entry.

Example:

General Ledger (GL)

Payroll (PR)

No

 N/A

12

User ID

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

Example: Paul Johnson or 10922

No

N/A

 

Opening balance data (optional)

This document lists the opening balance for all the general ledger accounts. The opening balance file should include the prior year's post-closing entries (e.g., top-side journal entries, revenue and expense close-out entries). It is best practice to ensure the balances agree to the prior year financial statements.

Importing an opening balance file allows MindBridge 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 Rules
  • Flow Analysis
  • Expense Flurry (NFP with Fund)
  • Outlier Anomaly
  • Rare Flow
  • Reporting Adjustment
  • Reversal
  • Reversed
  • Split Expense (Single Transaction)
  • Split Expense (Multiple Transactions)
  • Unusual Amount

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 allows MindBridge 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
  • Expense Flurry (NFP with Fund)
  • Expert Rules
  • Flow Analysis
  • Outlier Anomaly
  • Rare Flow
  • Reporting Adjustment
  • Reversal
  • Reversed
  • Split Expense (Single Transaction)
  • Split Expense (Multiple Transactions)
  • Unusual Amount

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
  • Expense Flurry (NFP with Fund)
  • Expert Rules
  • Flow Analysis
  • Outlier Anomaly
  • Rare Flow
  • Reporting Adjustment
  • Reversal
  • Reversed
  • Split Expense (Single Transaction)
  • Split Expense (Multiple Transactions)
  • Unusual Amount

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
  • Expense Flurry (NFP with Fund)
  • Expert Rules
  • Flow Analysis
  • Outlier Anomaly
  • Rare Flow
  • Split Expense (Single Transaction)
  • Split Expense (Multiple Transactions)
  • Unusual Amount
Note: GIFI codes (Canada tax codes) are acceptable for use instead of MAC codes, and do not require re-mapping.

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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