Thursday, January 21, 2016

Dynamics GP Company Posting Accounts: Sales-Sales vs. Inventory-Sales

By Steve Endow

Although I have worked with Dynamics GP for over 10 years, because my focus is on customizations, integrations, SQL, and development related areas, I don't consider myself an "Expert" when it comes to Dynamics GP application functionality.

I have taken the MS exams, been certified, been an MCT, and am now a Dynamics GP MVP, but even now, I would still not say I'm a Dynamics GP application expert.  I'm constantly reminded that there are so many nooks and crannies in GP and its many modules that I know there are lots of features and options that I haven't explored, or haven't done so in years and have forgotten about.

Today I received such a reminder.

I was troubleshooting an eConnect integration that wasn't getting the default sales account out of GP for some reason. While poking around in the Company Posting Accounts Setup window, I noticed something.  This is probably obvious to the Dynamics GP application experts out there, but since posting accounts aren't on my Top 10 Exciting Things List, it's one area where I haven't paid too much attention.

This is the Posting Accounts Setup window, displaying the Sales accounts.


Pretty straightforward, right?

And this is the Posting Accounts Setup window, displaying Inventory accounts.  Exciting stuff, I know.


If you haven't fallen asleep yet, you may have noticed that subtle bright red circle around the sales account.

I can understand a Sales-Sales account.  But an Inventory-Sales account?  What's up with that?

Does the inventory module hit sales?  Does an Increase Adjustment affect Sales?  A Variance transaction?  A Transfer?  In-Transit Transfer?  I wouldn't think so.

So why does the Inventory module have a Sales posting account?

And then it dawned on me.  Or at least I had a guess.

If you go into Tools -> Setup -> Sales -> Sales Order Processing, there is an option called "Posting Accounts From".  Your choices are Item or Customer.


This option is pretty obvious.  When you create a sales transaction, you can default the posting accounts from either the line item or the customer.



So continuing with my Sales Account example, if I enter a SOP Invoice, the default account can come from the line item or my customer.

But what if either my customer or my item doesn't have a Sales account?  Well, that's where the company posting accounts come in.

For some reason I thought that if either the customer or item default sales accounts were left blank, GP would use the company Sales posting account.  As in Sales -> Sales.

Since the SOP Setup account options are labeled as "Item" and "Customer", and not "Inventory" and "Sales", I just assumed the fallback would be the single company Sales -> Sales account.

Nope.

As you can probably guess by now, if you choose "Item" in SOP setup, the Sales account will default from the Inventory -> Sales company posting account.  If you choose "Customer" in SOP setup, the Sales account will default from the Sales -> Sales posting account.  Apparently someone deemed it necessary to have two different fallback default company posting accounts.

In my wildest dreams of Dynamics GP posting accounts, and I have many, I probably would not have thought of that particular configuration requirement to have both a Sales and Inventory default sales posting account.  But then again, I'm no Dynamics GP application expert.

And so there ya go, my daily dose of humility in the never ending journey of learning an ERP system.

Steve Endow is a Microsoft MVP for Dynamics GP and a Dynamics GP Certified IT Professional in Los Angeles.  He is the owner of Precipio Services, which provides Dynamics GP integrations, customizations, and automation solutions.

You can also find him on Google+ and Twitter











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