[AP] Balancing the Accounts Payable Subledger to the General Ledger

How to find and fix differences between the AP balance and the GL balance.

Reports You’ll Use

• AP Open Payables
• GL Trial Balance
• AP Check Register
• AP Batch Transactions
• HQ Batch Control

Step 1: Confirm Where to Start

• Make sure the prior month balanced, or start with the last balanced month.
• Verify no open AP batches:
  • Use HQ Batch Control
  • Filter by Source = AP
  • All batches must be Status 5 or 6

Step 2: Confirm the Out-of-Balance Amount

• Run AP Open Payables.
• Run GL Trial Balance.
• Compare totals to confirm the difference (delta).

Tip: When using AP Aged Payables reports:

• Set Select by Month/Invoice Date = Month
• Leave Through Invoice Date blank
• These reports are date-driven and can miss invoices if invoice dates don’t match post months.

Step 3: Identify the Source of the Difference

Determine whether the difference is caused by:

• Transactions
• Payments
• Both

Step 4: Check for Payment Issues

• Run AP Check Register:
  1. Launch by Paid Month
  2. Set Print Pay Type Recap = Yes
  3. Do NOT run by Date

• Run GL Trial Balance:
  • Use the payment GL account
  • Match Beginning/Ending Month
  • Set Source = AP
  • Set Journal = Payments Journal (found in AP Company Parameters > GL Payment Posting)
• Compare AP and GL totals by payment type.

Step 5: Check for Transaction Issues (if needed)

• Use AP Batch Transactions to review invoice postings.
• Use HQ Batch Control to confirm all batches posted correctly.

Checking Transaction Issues (AP vs GL)

1. Run AP Batch Transactions
   • Go to Accounts Payable > Reports 
   • Run by Beginning / Ending Month
   • Export to Excel to calculate the total for the month (the report has no totals).

2. Run GL Trial Balance

• Use the expense GL account(s)
• Match the Beginning / Ending Month
• Set Source = AP
• Set Journal = AP Expense Journal (found in AP Company Parameters > GL Expense Posting)

3. Compare Totals

• Compare the AP transaction total to the GL Trial Balance total.
• Any difference points to a transaction-related imbalance.

Finding Details After You Identify the Cause

1. Check HQ Batch Control
   • Go to Headquarters > Programs > HQ Batch Control.
   • Open the Grid tab.
2. Filter the batches
   • Set Source = AP Payment or AP Entry
   • Set Status = 5 – Posted Successfully
3. Check interface levels
   • Widen the rows to view the bNotes column.
   • Look for:
     • GL Payment Interface Level set at: 0
     • GL Expense Interface Level set at: 0
   • Interface level 0 means the batch did NOT post to the GL.
4. Understand when this happens
   • This usually occurs during Go-Live or setup issues.
5. Fix the issue
   • Either:
     • Delete and reprocess the payments/transactions with the interface turned ON, or
     • Post a manual GL journal entry to correct the imbalance.

Additional Checks for AP Out-of-Balance

1. Verify All AP Batches Are Final

• Go to HQ Batch Control.
• Filter Source = AP Payment.
• Sort by Status.
• Make sure there are no batches with these statuses:
  • 0 Open
  • 1 Validation in Progress
  • 2 Validation Errors
  • 3 Validation OK
  • 4 Posting in Progress
• Any batch not Posted Successfully or Canceled will cause an imbalance.

2. Check for Other Sources Posting to AP GL

• Run a GL Trial Balance for the affected AP GL account and month.
• Run it once per Source (leave Journal blank):
  • Payroll
  • Job Cost
  • Other subledgers
• If another source posted to AP in error, correct or reverse those entries.

3. Review Manual GL Entries

• Some manual GL entries may be valid (Go-Live or corrections).
• Any other manual postings to AP should be reviewed and corrected if inappropriate.

4. Prevent Future Errors

• Assign Subledger Code = P-Payables to AP GL accounts:
  • General Ledger > Programs > GL Chart of Accounts
• This prevents other subledgers from posting to AP.
• Note: This does not prevent postings from Source = General Ledger.

If AP Is Still Out of Balance

1. If the Difference Is in Payments

• Run:
  • AP Check Register
  • GL Trial Balance
  • Source = AP
  • Journal = CA (or payments journal)
• Export both to Excel.
  • Sort and compare using common fields (your choice), such as:
  • Amount
  • Vendor
  • Check number (CM Ref)
  • GL description
• Find the line that doesn’t match — this identifies the issue.
• Tip: The AP Check Register does not include Batch ID. Use Excel tools (sorting, filtering, or Text-to-Columns) to match data.

2. If the Difference Is in Transactions

• Run:
  • AP Batch Transactions
  • GL Trial Balance
    • Source = AP
    • Journal = AP (expense journal)
• Export both to Excel.
• Compare:
  • Batch ID (AP report) to GL Ref (GL report)
• Subtotal by batch to find which batch is out of balance.
• Correct the issue in that batch.

3. Excel Comparison Tip

• If rows don’t line up, insert/delete rows to align matching data.
• Then use a simple formula to calculate the difference (delta).