12274

1© 2015 ELLUCIAN. CONFIDENTIAL & PROPRIETARY | Session ID 12274
Tips to Resolve
an Out of Balance Condition
in Banner Finance
Jang Kwon, M. Comp. Sc.
Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
Monday, April 13, 2015
11:30 – 12:30 PM CST
Session ID 12274

Session rules of etiquette
• Anything that rings: turn OFF or set to silent/vibrate
• Silence is golden: Please, no side conversations
• If you must text, please do it outside the room
• Leaving early? Please do so discreetly
• During Q & A, please use the microphone so we can all hear the question
Thank you for your cooperation!

Introduction
• Accounts Payable out of balance is a dreaded incident
• Many hours/days/weeks spent trying to track down culprit
• Session will shed light on:
 Accounts payable architecture in Banner Finance
 Out of Balance examples and their fixes
 Troubleshooting Tips

Introduction
• Accounts Payable out of balance is a dreaded incident
• Many hours/days/weeks spent trying to track down culprit
• Session will shed light on:
 Accounts payable architecture in Banner Finance
 Out of Balance examples and their fixes
 Troubleshooting Tips
A more educated,
structured approach
to tackling the
problem

Presentation Contents
• What is “Out of Balance”?
• Accounts Payable Architecture
• Possible Causes for Accounts Payable Out of Balance
• Examples
• Troubleshooting: 10 Steps
• Tips
• Summary
• Questions & Answers

What is “Out of Balance”?
Definition & Types
(Yes, there is more than one type)

Out of Balance Definition
• Accounts Payable is considered “out of balance” when the totals
do not match between:
 Open invoices
 General ledger’s accounts payable account
• Out of balance conditions also exist for:
 Encumbrance Control (Open encumbrances ≠ GL encumbrance accounts)
 Revenue Control (Operating acct ledger ≠ GL revenue/expend/transfer accts)
Accounts Payable is
the most common
out of balance
type

FGRCTRL Control Report
• FGRCTRL (in out of balance mode) will show:
 Overview (i.e. totals) of current balance state (page 1)
 General ledger
 Open invoices
 Operating account ledger
 Each fund code found to be out of balance (remaining pages)
 This will help isolate where the discrepancy is

FGRCTRL Report
• Enter parameters:
• Current Fiscal Year
• Report Option Code 3
(i.e. out of balance mode)
• Chart of Accounts code
• Say ‘Y’ to recreate
collector table

FGRCTRL Report – In Balance
REPORT FGRCTRL MORIARTY UNIVERSITY RUN DATE: 13/04/2015
COAS: X GL / Subsidiary Ledger Control TIME: 11:00 AM
FISCAL: 15 PAGE: 1
OPERATING ACCT OPEN OPEN
ACCT. ACCT. TITLE GENERAL LEDGER LEDGER ENCUMBRANCES INVOICES BAL
80000 ACCOUNTS PAYABLE <2,704.50> <2,704.50>
90000 BUDGETED REVENUE CONTROL <1,000.00> <1,000.00>
90010 BUDGETED EXPENDITURE CONTROL <1,000.00> <1,000.00>
90030 BUDGETED TRANSFER CONTROL 1,000.00 1,000.00
91000 REVENUE CONTROL <1,000.00> <1,000.00>
91010 EXPENDITURE CONTROL 1,000.00 1,000.00
91020 TRANSFER CONTROL <1,000.00> <1,000.00>
90040 BUDGETED RESERVATION CONTROL 249,999.77 249,999.77 249,999.77
92000 ENCUMBRANCE CONTROL 750,000.23 750,000.23 750,000.23
---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---
TOTALS 1,000,000.00 1,000,000.00 1,000,000.00
90050 BUDGETED RESERVATION RESERVE <249,999.77>
92010 ENCUMBRANCE RESERVE <750,000.23>
------------------
TOTALS <1,000,000.00>

FGRCTRL Report – Out of Balance
FISCAL: 15 PAGE: 1
80000 ACCOUNTS PAYABLE <2,704.50> <2,754.50> E
91000 REVENUE CONTROL <1,000.00> <1,000.00>
---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---
TOTALS 1,000,000.00 1,000,000.00 1,000,000.00
------------------
TOTALS <1,000,000.00>
Flag to indicate
out of balance

FGRCTRL Report
FISCAL: 15 PAGE: 1
80000 ACCOUNTS PAYABLE <2,704.50> <2,754.50> E
91000 REVENUE CONTROL <1,000.00> <1,000.00>
---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---
TOTALS 1,000,000.00 1,000,000.00 1,000,000.00
------------------
TOTALS <1,000,000.00>
Difference of $50.00 between
Accounts Payable account
and total of open invoices

Accounts Payable Architecture
How Accounts Payable is setup in
Banner Finance

Banner Finance 101: Accounts Payable Architecture
New
Invoice

New
Invoice
Open
Approved
Completed

New
Invoice
Posting
General Ledger
Accounts Payable Account
ADD to sum total of all
open invoices
Open
Approved
Completed

New
Invoice
Posting
General Ledger
open invoices
Open
Approved
Completed
Time passes
Check run

Posting
General Ledger
open invoices
New
Invoice
Open
Approved
Completed
Time passes
Check run
Posting
General Ledger
SUBTRACT from sum total
of all open invoices

Banner Finance 101: Back End AP Architecture
• Open Invoices total rely on database tables
 FABINVH: Invoice Header Table
 FARINVA: Invoice Accounting Table
 FARINTX: Invoice Tax Allocation Table
• Accounts payable account entries in transaction detail table
 FGBTRND: Transaction History Detail Table
 FGBTRND_LEDGER_IND = ‘G’ (i.e. General Ledger)
New
Invoices
Open
Approved
Completed
General Ledger

Possible Causes for Accounts Payable
Out of Balance
The cause from the previous time
may NOT be the cause this time.

Areas To Consider When Out of Balance
New
Invoice
Posting
General Ledger
open invoices
Open
Approved
Completed
Time passes
Check run
Posting
General Ledger
of all open invoices invoice
flags

New
Invoice
Posting
General Ledger
open invoices
Open
Approved
Completed
Time passes
Check run
Posting
General Ledger
invoice
itself

New
Invoice
Posting
General Ledger
open invoices
Open
Approved
Completed
Time passes
Check run
Posting
General Ledger
Posting
invoices or
checks

New
Invoice
Posting
General Ledger
open invoices
Open
Approved
Completed
Time passes
Check run
Posting
General Ledger
Check
cancellations

Subjective Causes
• Out of Balance condition may occur due to:
• Changes to invoice flags: open, completed, approved, paid, cancel
• Posting disruptions (accounts payable account does not get updated)
• Check cancellations (some cases)
• Changes from unexpected, unintended, or unorthodox methods
• Changes made through normal processing should balance

Examples
What our institution learned – the hard way!

Example # 1: Invoice Cancellations
• Invoice cancellation cases:
 cancellation not posted
 invoice cancelled but still reflected in Accounts Payable account
 Solution: recreate invoice records and re-do invoice cancellation process
 cancel amount ≠ original amount
 Solution: Submit JV reflecting difference amount using JE15 rule code

Example # 2: Check Payments & Cancellations
• Check payment will mark invoice paid, reducing AP account
 Check does not get posted, payment not reflected on AP side
 Solution: investigate check or check run
• Check cancellation: re-open invoice, add back to AP account
 Cancelling zero check did not re-open invoice
 Solution: Set invoice flag from “Paid” to “Open” via SQL statement

Example # 3: Posting is stuck
• New automated process to create invoices blocked posting queue
• Offending documents removed so posting could continue

Example # 3: Posting is stuck
• New automated process to create invoices blocked posting queue
• Offending documents removed so posting could continue
• Out of balance next morning
• Invoice side contained invoice information
• Accounts payable account did not as invoices not posted
• Solution: Fix and repost documents to get back into balance

Example # 4: Back-end invoice clean up
• Preparing for year-end: close about 30 small, open invoices
• Status flags changed from open to closed in FABINVH, FARINVA

Example # 4: Back-end invoice clean up
• Preparing for year-end: close about 30 small, open invoices
• Status flags changed from open to closed in FABINVH, FARINVA
• Invoice side up to date
• Accounts payable account not updated to reflect invoice closing
• Solution: Re-open invoices, close them properly one by one

Example # 5: Revenue Control Out of Balance
• FGRCTRL control report indicated revenue control balance issue
• Solution (via back-end SQL):
 Extract GL lines for fund code from FGRCTRL (FGBTRND_LEDGER_IND = ‘G’)
 Extract operating ledger lines for same fund code (FGBTRND_LEDGER_IND = ‘O’)
 Compare both sets of data to locate difference

Troubleshooting: 10 Steps
Order of steps required to take action!

Troubleshooting: 10 Steps
When out of balance condition appears, ask “What Changed?”:
1. Any technical, system-level disruptions (server, CPU, database)?
2. Any check cancellations?
3. Any check run issues?
4. Any posting queue problems?
5. Any invoice entry problems (manual and automated)?

Troubleshooting: 10 Steps (continued)
6. Any back-end SQL modifications to FABINVH, FARINVA?
7. Get GL list: list of open invoices charged to AP account
8. Get Open Invoice list: list of open, completed, approved invoices
9. Fields: document number (alphabetical order), invoice amount
10. Compare document counts between lists. If the counts:
 DIFFER: document(s) not in both lists causing out of balance
 MATCH: reconcile amounts for each document. At least one will not match.

Tips
Ways to decrease the agony of troubleshooting!

Tip # 1: Run Control Reports Daily
• Run FGRCTRL as part of other daily/nightly control reports
• This will limit suspect transactions to last 24 hours
• FGRCTRL will narrow down to fund code(s) out of balance
• Use fund code(s), checking Activity Date fields for:
 Invoices
 Checks
 Accounts payable account (in transaction detail)

Tip # 2: Have a Clean Control Report
• In balance definition:
• Accounts payable account = sum of all open invoices

• Sum of all imbalances = 0

• Sum of all imbalances = 0
• Same fund codes will always show when FGRCTRL is run
• A burden when trying to resolve new out of balance case
• Get rid of all imbalances = clean control report
• Problem fund(s) will reflect latest out of balance situation

Tip # 3: Eliminate posting issues possibility
• Were there any posting queue issues?
• Perhaps invoice was caught in crossfire and not posted
• Check with DBA, technical staff if any posting issues found
• Check FOIAPPD screen: document may be waiting to post

Tip # 4: FGIGLAC Screen
• FGIGLAC is the General Ledger ACtivity screen
• Can shows all accounts payable transactions from front-end
• Enter Fund Code from FGRCTRL, AP account code, then look
for either:
o The exact out of balance amount
o Half the out of balance amount
o Twice the out of balance amount

Tip # 5: Beware the Back-end SQL
• Change of invoice flags using SQL will trigger out of balance
• Documents did not go through proper posting process
• Consider out of balance repercussion when doing mass change

Tip # 6: Address Out of Balance Right Away
• System can run out of balance but that is not good practice
• Although a tedious digging exercise, strive to be in balance
• Out of balance issues must be resolved when closing fiscal year
• Avoids audit questions

Summary
• Check for out of balance condition daily
• Clean FGRCTRL report pinpoints error
• Back-end SQL fixes may impact balance
• Ask: “What changed?” e.g. cancelled checks
• Leave no stone unturned
• “Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how
improbable, must be the truth.” – Sherlock Holmes

Questions & Answers
• Questions?
• Elaboration?
• If I don’t know the answer, leave me
your coordinates after the session:
I will research and get back to you.

Thank You!
Enjoy the rest of ellucian LIVE & The Big Easy!
Jang Kwon
jang.kwon@concordia.ca
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Session ID 12274

12274

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