Removing Relationships to GL Accounts

Before you can delete a general ledger account, you must remove all relationships. Four types of relationships can link GL accounts to other aACE records:

1. GL account used as Setup Account
2. GL account linked to tax profiles
3. GL account linked to line item codes (LICs)
4. GL account linked to general ledger records

Removing each of these relationships is described below.

1. Setup Accounts

The Setup Accounts are used as defaults for specific accounting transactions. To work with these settings, navigate from Main Menu > Accounting > Preferences > Chart of Accounts:

You can remove a reference to a GL account for any of these settings by deleting the account number from the field.

Warning: Once you remove a GL account reference, related transactions may fail until you re-populate the reference field value.

2. Tax Profiles

GL accounts are related to tax profiles in the Tax Profiles module. To work with these settings, navigate from Main Menu > Accounting > Tax Profiles:

You can remove a tax profile by using the Action menu to either deactivate or delete the profile. If the tax accounts are still applicable, we recommend leaving them in aACE and just unlinking the GL account from the tax profile: 

1. Click on the Tax Profile Name and review the linked GL accounts. 
2. Click Edit, and delete the account number from the field.

Note: You must enter another GL account in order to save the tax profile.

3. Line Item Codes

Each LIC requires a GL account relationship. You can update the revenue, cost, and inventory GL accounts for a single LIC or for multiple LICs at one time. 

When deleting GL accounts, you can prevent conflicts by reassigning LICs to a holding detail account. You may need to create a new GL detail account for this purpose. We recommend assigning the LICs to a general ledger account you plan to keep in aACE.

4. General Ledger Records

You can reassign general ledger transactions to a holding account.

In addition, if you have updated your LIC records with the correct accounts, you can update multiple GL transactions based on the relevant LICs:

1. From the General Ledger module list view, filter the list to show the needed account and the transactions related to the needed LIC(s).
2. Click Admin Actions > Reassign GL Account for List from Line Item Codes > Update.

Warning: Be careful not to end up with general ledger data that you cannot accurately reassign later. To avoid this, you may need to create a new GL holding account for reassigning these records.

Best Practices

Recycle Existing Accounts

For some accounts, it may be more effective to update the name and number to match accounts from the chart of accounts (COA) you are importing. This saves the effort of needing to handle related records twice, as when using a placeholder account (see below). 

You can also update account numbers in a batch: 

1. From the GL Accounts list view, filter the list to show all the accounts that need to be updated within a single root header account. 
2. Click Actions > Renumber Account IDs for List. 
3. At the dialog, enter the new, initial number for the Starting Value and enter the Increment By value.
4. Click UPDATE.

Note: When updating GL account numbers, be mindful of preserving the initial numbers, which govern the nine root header accounts, the natural balances of credits / debits, and various reporting results.

Use a Placeholder Account

You can create another account to serve as a placeholder for temporarily linking other records. This can make it easier to keep track of things when reassigning accounts.

1. Create an account named "9999 - Temporary Placeholder" or similar. 
2. Reassign records from the previous account to the placeholder account.
3. Deactivate and delete the previous account.

Keep clear notes of these transfers and temporary assignments. After you import the new accounts, be sure to reassign any linked records or transfer funds from the placeholder to the correct, final accounts.