[Advacs-discuss] Advacs accounting system

[Helmut Wollmersdorfer]

[I am on the list now]

Oliver Elphick schrieb:
> On Mon, 2004-08-09 at 12:53, bob parker wrote:
> 
>>A couple of points about the Glossary of accounting terms.
>>(This is an Australian POV)
>>
>>Accounts PayableUS terminology for the Purchase Ledger (q.v.)
> 
> 
> Are you saying it is also standard Australian terminology?  (I suppose
> the influence of American accounting packages could have made it so
> here, but I'm old-fashioned and I qualified in 1979!)

It seems to me, that A/R and A/P are standard terms now. Last year I 
worked on a large Billing project with a British-Isreal software vendor, 
and the Britt's only used A/R.


> So while the concept may have fallen out of use in many accounting
> systems, I feel it is useful to retain an understanding of it and it is
> a useful shorthand for a required entry in the trial balance covering
> the associated subsidiary ledger.  The alternative to summarising a
> subsidiary ledger on such a report is to print out every account, which
> effectively makes the report unusable because of its bulk.  Using the
> concept of subsidiary ledgers also helps to explain how other modules
> relate to the General Ledger module.

Every computerized ledger (that I know) has AR or AP implemented in the 
GL. AR/AP accounts just get a flag, that they are AR or AP (or more 
generally of type personal account), with additional fields. They can be 
treated as ordinary accounts in the base logic, but have special or 
restricted (for some user groups) logic. Usually they are accumulated to 
a single AR (or AP) account, which one is configurable, and only 
displayed in detail on demand.

In very large companies there can maybe a demand to have a separate 
AR+Billing+CRM. This can make sense.

Helmut Wollmersdorfer