Work with the chart of accounts and general ledger (G/L)

Path: Business functionality > Finance > Work with the chart of accounts and general ledger (G/L) · tier official · system finance · narrative reviewed (checked by Opus)

Overview

This section covers chart of accounts and general ledger tasks in Finance in Business Central. Two pages explain the general ledger and the chart of accounts: account types, hierarchy, account categories, posting groups and dimensions.

The other pages cover day-to-day and period-end tasks. You can post directly to G/L accounts with general journals, for example for employee expenses. You can reverse G/L postings with the Reverse Transaction action or undo receipts and return shipments. You can analyze entries through G/L Registers and analysis mode. You can spread amounts with allocations and deferrals, and plan with G/L budgets. Other pages cover revaluing foreign-currency G/L balances and marking entries as reviewed for month-end reconciliation. A separate page covers exporting G/L and VAT data for auditors.

Two pages describe allocation. One covers allocating to multiple G/L accounts with fixed or variable methods. The other covers allocation keys in recurring general journals.

Key points

• Chart of accounts uses posting, heading and total accounts in a hierarchy, with account categories and dimensions to structure reporting.
• Allocations spread revenue and costs across G/L accounts by fixed share, percentage, or variable amounts from statistical accounts, with dimensions, a test function and posting preview.
• Recurring general journals can allocate by quantity, percentage or amount using allocation keys; fixed asset journal allocation is also mentioned.
• Deferral templates automatically defer revenues or expenses to set accounting periods based on posting dates (listed for 2025 release wave 2).
• G/L budgets can cover any period, support multiple versions and dimensions, and can be exported to and imported from Excel.
• G/L revaluation adjusts foreign-currency balances using source currency tracking and posts realized and unrealized gains and losses; it supports an additional reporting currency.
• Review policies and reviewed identifiers help mark G/L entries as reviewed for month-end reconciliation.
• The Audit Files Export extension exports G/L and VAT entries in formats such as SIE, FEC and SAF-T, with account mapping and data quality checks.

Learn pages

• Allocate revenue and costs to multiple general ledger accounts: Learn how to allocate costs to one or more accounts in your general ledger.
• Analyze G/L entries: Describes how to analyze data in your general ledger either on transactional level or on the detailed level.
• Create G/L budgets: Describes how to create G/L budgets to forecast different financial activities and assign dimensions for business intelligence purposes.
• Defer revenues and expenses: Learn how to automatically defer or postpone revenues and expenses.
• Export data for auditing: This article explains how to set up different export formats and then use them, based on auditor or authority requirements.
• Overview of tasks to allocate costs and income: Outlines the tasks to allocate an entry in a recurring general journal to several different accounts when you post the journal.
• Record expenses or income directly in G/L: You can create transactions on the General Journal page for business activities that don’t involve a document.
• Revalue general ledger account balances: Learn how to revalue general ledger account balances before you produce your financial statements.
• Review general ledger accounts: You can track your progress when you review amounts in general ledger accounts.
• Understand the general ledger and Chart of Accounts: This article describes the general ledger, chart of accounts, and account categories.
• Understanding the Chart of Accounts: Describes the chart of accounts, how to set it up, and how to use it.
• Undo a posting using a reversing entry: If you find a mistake in a posted general journal, you can use the Reverse Transaction action to undo the posting with a correct audit trail.

Videos, posts and code changes

Linked by a Haiku matcher with a grounding quote from the item’s summary (link/topics.ts); machine-generated.

• #10184 [Mai][German Localization] Recurring Frequency DateFormula Exports as Invariant Tokens (+1D/+1Y) Instead of Localized UI Tokens (+1T/+1J) in ExcelInital commit (code change): “Recurring Frequency on page 283 is now bound to a text variable”
• #10248 Bug 646799: Spend Request fields in Posted Gen. Journal Line have wrong/different field numbers in country versions (correct in w1) (code change): “Spend Request field numbers in the Posted Gen. Journal Line table”
• #10334 Add integration event OnAfterGetRecordOnAfterConfirmAndModify in the General Posting Setup dataitem OnAfterGetRecord trigger after Modify. (code change): “integration event OnAfterGetRecordOnAfterConfirmAndModify in the General Posting Setup”
• #11324 [main] Bug 649837 Export to Excel All exported rows if Show Currency is enabled in General Ledger Setup. (code change): “exporting to Excel applied a selected currency to all exported rows when Show Currency was enabled”
• #9071 Merged from [28.x]The transaction cannot be completed because it will cause inconsistencies in the G/L Entry table” (code change): “inconsistencies in the G/L Entry table in codeunit Gen. Jnl.-Post Line”
• #9339 [master][Gen. Jnl.-Post Line]` Add var NextEntryNo, var NextVATEntryNo, and var NextTransactionNo to OnAfterInitGLRegister in StartPosting (code change): “OnAfterInitGLRegister in StartPosting gains var NextEntryNo, NextVATEntryNo”
• #9343 [master][Event Request] Request at table 98 “General Ledger Setup”, (code change): “New events were added to table 98 General Ledger Setup”
• #9415 [ALAppExtensions #30294][Event Change Request] Report 12121 “G/L Book - Print” - “OnPreDataItemOnAfterSetGLBookEntryFilters” (code change): “A new integration event is added to the G/L Book - Print report”
• #9421 [Event Request] codeunit 367 “CheckManagement”: add OnFinancialVoidCh… (code change): “balance-account posting logic in financial void check operations”
• #9455 Update permissions for G/L Transaction table (code change): “Access to the G/L Transaction table is added across Base Application”
• #9570 [Master]-Rounding Differences in ARAP with Deferrals and Non-Deductible VAT (code change): “Changes the core posting logic in codeunit 12”
• #57 Add source-verified Finance knowledge and review domain (code change): “posting ledger entries, dimension sets, applying entries, due dates, reversals, journal balance”
• BC Friday Tips #38 Keep Description (community post): “Keep Description field preserves the description text when switching between account types”
• Dynamics 365 Business Central – Error Message “You have one or more documents that must be posted before you post document no….” when posting a Journal (community post): “journal’s number series has manual numbers disabled but the user tries to enter a custom document number”
• Dynamics 365 Business Central – Handling the message “Only the Posting No. Series can be filled in on recurring journals” in Recurring Journals (community post): “Recurring journal lines remain after posting and their posting date moves forward”
• Working with Amount Fields (video): “amount fields; debit and credit; general ledger”
• Comparing Posting Accounts and Posting Groups Between Dynamics GP and Dynamics Business Central (video): “Posting Groups; Business Posting Groups; Product Posting Groups; Customer Posting Groups”
• Control When People Can Post to the General Ledger (video): “posting control; general ledger setup; accounting periods”
• Comparing Correcting and Reversing Entries Between Dynamics GP and Dynamics Business Central (2024) (video): “correcting entries; reversing entries; journal entries; dimensions; general ledger; posting”
• How to Work With General Journals in Business Central (2025) (video): “General journals; Journal templates; Journal entry”
• Ensure Consistency in Journals With Journal Check (video): “Journal Check; Enable Data Check Setting; Journal Check Fact Box”
• Safeguard G/L Accounts From Deletion (video): “Check GL account usage setting; Check GL account deletion after field”
• Comparing General Journal Entries between Dynamics SL and Dynamics 365 Business Central (video): “General journal; Journal entry; offset accounts”
• Comparing Correcting and Reversing Entries between Dynamics SL and Dynamics 365 Business Central (video): “Reverse journal entry in Business Central; Correct dimension in Business Central”
• Control Deferral Posting (video): “deferral templates; deferral posting; general ledger setup; user permissions”
• Comparing Posting Accounts and posting groups between Dynamics SL and Dynamics 365 Business Cent (video): “posting groups; Business posting groups; Product posting groups”
• Comparing General Journal Entries Between Dynamics GP and Dynamics Business Central (2024) (video): “General Journal batches; Account name auto-filter in journal entry”

Business Central pages and reports

The pages, reports and queries this hub’s Learn pages name (ms.search.form, API reference), joined to the code by exact object id (data/index/docs-objects.json); a page shows the table it runs on.

• Page 18 “G/L Account List” · on Table 15 “G/L Account”
• Page 20 “General Ledger Entries” · on Table 17 “G/L Entry”
• Page 37 “Where-Used List” · on Table 90 “BOM Component”
• Page 39 “General Journal” · captioned “General Journals” · on Table 81 “Gen. Journal Line”
• Page 65 “Rounding Methods” · on Table 42 “Rounding Method”
• Page 99 “G/L Account Where-Used List” · on Table 180 “G/L Account Where-Used”
• Page 113 “Budget”
• Page 116 “G/L Registers” · on Table 45 “G/L Register”
• Page 118 “General Ledger Setup” · on Table 98 “General Ledger Setup”
• Page 120 “G/L Budget Entries” · on Table 96 “G/L Budget Entry”
• Page 121 “G/L Budget Names” · captioned “G/L Budgets” · on Table 95 “G/L Budget Name”
• Page 154 “G/L Account Balance/Budget” · on Table 15 “G/L Account”
• Page 251 “General Journal Batches” · on Table 232 “Gen. Journal Batch”
• Page 283 “Recurring General Journal” · captioned “Recurring General Journals” · on Table 81 “Gen. Journal Line”
• Page 312 “Gen. Business Posting Groups” · on Table 250 “Gen. Business Posting Group”
• Page 313 “Gen. Product Posting Groups” · captioned “General Product Posting Groups” · on Table 251 “Gen. Product Posting Group”
• Page 314 “General Posting Setup” · on Table 252 “General Posting Setup”
• Page 350 “G/L Acc. Balance/Budget Lines” · captioned “Lines” · on Table 922 “G/L Acc. Balance/Budget Buffer”
• Page 395 “General Posting Setup Card” · on Table 252 “General Posting Setup”
• Page 422 “G/L Balance/Budget” · on Table 15 “G/L Account”
• Page 552 “Gen. Prod. Posting Group Conv.” · on Table 551 “VAT Rate Change Conversion”
• Page 569 “Chart of Accs. (Analysis View)” · on Table 376 “G/L Account (Analysis View)”
• Page 570 “Chart of Accounts (G/L)” · on Table 15 “G/L Account”
• Page 634 “Chart of Accounts Overview” · on Table 15 “G/L Account”
• Page 790 “G/L Account Categories” · on Table 570 “G/L Account Category”
• Page 791 “G/L Accounts ListPart” · on Table 15 “G/L Account”
• Page 1158 “Cash Account Balances” · on Table 15 “G/L Account”
• Page 1700 “Deferral Template Card” · on Table 1700 “Deferral Template”
• Page 1701 “Deferral Template List” · captioned “Deferral Templates” · on Table 1700 “Deferral Template”
• Page 1702 “Deferral Schedule” · on Table 1701 “Deferral Header”
• Page 1703 “Deferral Schedule Subform” · captioned “Deferral Schedule Detail” · on Table 1702 “Deferral Line”
• Page 1704 “Deferral Schedule View” · on Table 1704 “Posted Deferral Header”
• Page 1705 “Deferral Schedule View Subform” · captioned “Deferral Schedule Detail” · on Table 1705 “Posted Deferral Line”
• Page 1706 “Deferral Schedule Archive” · on Table 5127 “Deferral Header Archive”
• Page 1707 “Deferral Sched. Arch. Subform” · captioned “Deferral Schedule Detail” · on Table 5128 “Deferral Line Archive”
• Page 2670 “Allocation Account” · on Table 2670 “Allocation Account”
• Page 2673 “Allocation Account List” · captioned “Allocation Accounts” · on Table 2670 “Allocation Account”
• Page 2674 “Allocation Account Preview” · on Table 2672 “Allocation Line”
• Page 5260 “G/L Account Mapping” · on Table 5260 “G/L Account Mapping Header”
• Page 5264 “Audit File Export Setup” · on Table 5264 “Audit File Export Setup”
• Page 5266 “Audit File Export Documents” · on Table 5265 “Audit File Export Header”
• Page 5267 “Audit File Export Doc. Card” · captioned “Audit File Export Document” · on Table 5265 “Audit File Export Header”
• Page 5270 “Audit File Export Format Setup” · on Table 5268 “Audit File Export Format Setup”
• Page 5629 “Fixed Asset Journal” · captioned “Fixed Asset Journals” · on Table 5621 “FA Journal Line”
• Page 7132 “Item Budget Names” · on Table 7132 “Item Budget Name”
• Page 7133 “Item Budget Entries” · on Table 7134 “Item Budget Entry”
• Page 7138 “Purchase Budget Overview”
• Page 7139 “Sales Budget Overview”
• Page 9203 “Budget Matrix” · on Table 367 “Dimension Code Buffer”
• Page 9219 “Purch. Budget Overview Matrix” · on Table 367 “Dimension Code Buffer”
• Page 9239 “Sales Budget Overview Matrix” · on Table 367 “Dimension Code Buffer”
• Page 9373 “Budget Names Purchase” · captioned “Purchase Budgets” · on Table 7132 “Item Budget Name”
• Page 9374 “Budget Names Sales” · captioned “Sales Budgets” · on Table 7132 “Item Budget Name”
• Page 22207 “Review G/L Entries” · on Table 17 “G/L Entry”
• Report 1 “Chart of Accounts”
• Report 3 “G/L Register”
• Report 1700 “Deferral Summary - G/L”
• Report 1701 “Deferral Summary - Sales”
• Report 1702 “Deferral Summary - Purchasing”

Learn also names 1 object with no object page: page/5261.

Source: Microsoft Learn (CC BY 4.0). Descriptions are Learn’s own.