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General Ledger (GL) Audit Numbering
General Ledger (GL) Audit Numbering enables you to generate unique, sequential, and gapless audit numbers for your transactions in Zoho Books. Audit numbers help auditors and accountants keep track of your financial data accurately.
Note: This feature is available in early access for organizations that have their Organization Location set to France. To enable it, contact us at support@zohobooks.com.
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How GL Audit Numbering Works
Once you enable GL Audit Numbering in Zoho Books, you can create a sequence with a specific configuration. The sequence can either be Permanent (fixed and cannot be regenerated) or Repeatable (regenerate as needed). When you generate the audit numbers, you can select the period of transactions for which you want to generate the audit numbers. Once generated, you can use these audit numbers to create FEC reports and submit them for audits.
Enable GL Audit Numbering
- Log in to your Zoho Books organization.
- Go to Settings.
- Select Accountant under Preferences.
- In the General tab, scroll down to GL Audit Numbering, and toggle it to Enabled.
- Click Save.
Once enabled, you can create sequences to generate GL audit numbers for your transactions.
Create a New Sequence
Warning: Once a sequence is created, remember that you cannot edit the sequence or create another sequence for the same date range.
To create a new sequence:
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Log in to your Zoho Books organization.
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Go to Accountant on the left sidebar, and select GL Audit Numbering.
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Click Create Sequence.
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On the New Sequence page, complete the following fields:
- Sequence Name: Enter a name for your sequence.
- Sequence Type: You can choose from the following options:
- Permanent: Choose this to keep audit numbers fixed and prevent them from being regenerated.
Scenario: Zylker, a tech company, provides a software solution to Patricia and creates transactions for the services provided to her. When Zylker is sure no additional transactions will be added or existing ones modified, they create a Permanent sequence and generate audit numbers for it. Zylker then uses the generated audit numbers to create FEC reports and submits them for audits.
- Repeatable: Choose this to generate multiple audit numbers or regenerate them as needed.
Scenario: Zylker, a tech company, provides a software solution to Patricia and creates transactions for the services provided to her. As Zylker continues to work with Patricia, new transactions are added over time. When Zylker needs to generate or regenerate audit numbers for these transactions, they choose a Repeatable sequence. This allows them to update the audit numbers whenever new transactions are added, ensuring the records remain up-to-date for FEC reports and audits.
- Period Type: Select the sequence period:
- Fiscal Year: Uses the fiscal year from your Organization Profile.
- Custom Date Range: Set a specific start and end date for the sequence.
Pro Tips:
- When you select the Period Type as Fiscal Year, ensure audit numbers are generated every year without skipping any dates.
- The fiscal year range from your Organization Profile will be applied to the selected year. To modify it when creating a sequence, go to Settings > Organization > Profile > Fiscal Year.
- If your Period Type is Custom Date Range, set the start date as the day after the previous sequence’s end date.
- Fiscal Year: If selected, choose the fiscal year for the sequence.
- Date Range: If you select Custom Date Range, enter the Start Date and End Date for the sequence.
- Prefix: Specify the prefix to appear at the beginning of the audit numbers.
- Starting Number: Set the starting number for the sequence; subsequent numbers will follow this order.
- Suffix: Specify a suffix to appear at the end of the audit numbers.
Pro Tip: Use consistent prefixes, suffixes, and numbering to ensure transaction numbers are generated correctly, avoiding confusion in the set of audit numbers.
- Click Save.
The sequence will be created, and you can start generating audit numbers for it.
Generate Audit Numbers in the Sequence
After creating the sequence, you’ll be directed to the sequence page, where you can generate audit numbers. To generate audit numbers:
- Click Generate Audit Numbers.
- In the Generate Audit Numbers popup, the Start Date will auto-fill based on the selected Custom Date Range or Fiscal Year. Choose the End Date up to which you include transactions in the set of audit numbers you’re generating.
- Click Generate.
The audit numbers will be generated for the sequence.
After generating the audit numbers, you can select a set from the sequence to view transaction details, including the type, transaction number, transaction date, and the GL audit number for each transaction in the generated set.
Notes:
- If you generate multiple sets of audit numbers in a Repeatable sequence, the Start Date will be the day after the last generated set.
- It is recommended to lock the transactions for which you’ve generated the audit numbers using Transaction Locking. This prevents you from modifying or adding new transactions, which could create gaps in the generated set of audit numbers.
Pro Tip: To lock the transactions in a sequence, select the sequence and click Lock Now at the top. On the Transaction Locking page, click Lock for the modules that contain the transactions included in the sequence.
Regenerate Audit Numbers in a Repeatable Sequence
If you’ve added new transactions in Zoho Books, you can regenerate the audit numbers to include the new transactions and eliminate gaps in the Repeatable sequence. Here’s how:
- Go to Accountant on the left sidebar, and select GL Audit Numbering.
- Select the repeatable sequence for which you want to regenerate audit numbers.
- Click Regenerate Audit Numbers in the top right corner.
- In the Regenerate Audit Numbers popup, the start date is pre-filled based on the sequence’s creation date. Choose the End Date for the audit numbers, and click Generate.
Now, when you regenerate, the existing audit numbers will be deleted, and new audit numbers will be generated based on the selected dates.
Delete a Sequence
If your sequence has incorrect prefixes, suffixes, or gaps, and you don’t want to regenerate it, you can simply delete it. Here’s how:
- Go to Accountant on the left sidebar, and select GL Audit Numbering.
- Hover over the sequence, click the dropdown to the right, and select Delete.
- In the popup, click Delete to confirm.
View Audit Numbers in the Journal Report
After you generate audit numbers for the sequence, you can view them in the Journal Report. Here’s how:
- Go to Reports on the left sidebar.
- Select Journal Report under Accountant.
- In the Journal Report page, check Show GL Audit Numbers at the top and click Run Report.
Now, the respective audit numbers will be shown for each journal.