Define GL accounts for items—Purchasing

One of the differences between Purchasing and Accounts Payable is how they track expenses. Purchasing tracks expenses by items, and Accounts Payable tracks expenses by GL account. When you post a PO purchase invoice in Purchasing, Sage Intacct creates an AP supplier invoice in Accounts Payable that is linked to the PO purchase invoice in Purchasing. The Purchasing item displays as a GL account in the AP supplier invoice. How does this happen?

The answer depends on whether your company is using standard workflows or advanced workflows.

Define GL accounts for items in standard workflows

If your company is using standard workflows, the GL accounts to which the item should post are defined directly on the item. Changes made to an item's GL accounts affect transactions posted or edited after the changes are made.

The following table describes the account fields on the item.

Field	Description
Expense account	The expense account to debit for this item in a purchase transaction. This account is not applicable when Item type = Non-Inventory (Sales only).
Accounts Payable GL account	The credit account (offset) for this item in a purchase transaction. You only need to select an account in this field if you want to override the default Accounts Payable account defined on the Configure Purchasingpage.

Troubleshoot posting accounts for standard workflows

The following table describes some common posting problems and provides possible solutions.

Problem	Possible solution
Expenses are posting to the incorrect expense account	In the Item information page for the applicable item, verify that the Expense account is correct.
Purchases are posting to the incorrect AP account	In the Item information page for the applicable item, verify that the Accounts Payable GL account is correct. In the Configure Purchasing page, verify that the Accounts Payable account is correct. The system uses this account if there is no Accounts Payable GL account defined on the item.

Define GL accounts for items in advanced workflows

If you are using advanced workflows, you'll use item GL groups to categorize items in order to post to the correct GL accounts. Basically, you indicate that an item is a member of a particular item GL group. The purchase transaction definitions contain mapping information for the item GL group to the applicable accounts payable and purchase expense accounts. When a purchase transaction is created for the item, the system posts to the appropriate accounts. Learn more about item GL groups.

Changes made to an item's item GL group affect transactions posted or edited after the change is made.

Troubleshoot posting accounts for advanced workflow

The following table describes some common posting problems and provides possible solutions.

Problem	Possible solution
Purchases are posting to the incorrect Accounts Payable account	In the Item information page for the applicable item, verify that the item GL group is correct. In the transaction definition, verify that the offset account for the item GL group in the Posting configuration tab is correct and that the Is offset checkbox is selected). The AP account is typically the account credited when a PO purchase invoice is posted. The Item GL group, Warehouse, and Supplier GL group may be defined together as the criteria set for the account mapping. Ensure that the correct combination exists on the purchase transaction in question.
Purchasing expenses are posting to the incorrect expense account	In the Item information page for the applicable item, verify that the item GL group is correct. In the transaction definition, verify that the debit account for the item GL group in the Posting configuration tab is correct. The Item GL group, Warehouse, and Supplier GL group may be defined together as the criteria set for the account mapping. Ensure that the correct combination exists on the purchase transaction in question.