General Ledger Account Key Segments

General Ledger Account Key Segments

FIMS offers a user-definable General Ledger account key. You can specify up to eight separate General Ledger account segments, up to 22 (alpha-numeric) characters. The initial decisions with respect to the General Ledger design will have a long-term impact on the ease with which financial statements are generated. Most organizations find that the suggested segment definition (using six common segment definitions plus an optional functional expense segment) is the best design for a General Ledger that will be maintained at the Fund level.

When you are using Fund-level accounting, one G/L account segment is the Fund ID. To take advantage of roll-up financial reporting by Fund category, most organizations also use additional account segments that code for the various Fund categories. For example, you may use a G/L segment that indicates whether the account belongs to an unrestricted, donor advised, or designated Fund. You could then create a financial report that adds up balances from all of the Funds that have a specific segment coding to produce a Statement of Financial Position (Balance Sheet) for those Funds.

Because Fund-level accounting may require many G/L accounts (for example, 20 accounts for 25 Funds equals 500 accounts), FIMS can automatically create G/L accounts based on a Master Chart of natural account numbers combined with data from the Fund record (the Fund categorization codes that become segments of the G/L account key).

Example: G/L Account Segment Definition for a Fund-Level General Ledger