As the digital landscape continues to evolve, so does the need for agile and innovative business management solutions. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central stands tall in meeting these demands, and its latest iteration, the 2023 Release Wave 2, brings a slew of application enhancements that promise to reshape the way businesses operate.
In this blog post, we'll zero in on three new and exciting features that aim to elevate user experiences and boost productivity.
1. Incorporate Approvals for Intercompany General Journals
A prominent feature in Business Central's 2023 Release Wave 2 is the inclusion of approvals for intercompany general journals in workflows. This functionality empowers organizations to enforce stringent controls over intercompany transactions, ensuring accuracy and compliance.
With this feature, a predefined approval workflow can be set up to verify that such transactions undergo thorough scrutiny before being finalized. Intercompany general journals are part of the approval workflow for regular general journals.
This means that when you set up workflows for general journals, they automatically cover intercompany transactions. It's a way of ensuring consistency and efficiency. This not only enhances financial governance but also mitigates the risk of errors in intercompany transactions.
To begin using this feature, you just need to create a new approval workflow in the Workflows list for the General Journal Batch Approval Workflow or the General Journal Line Approval Workflow. Once the workflow is created, set up the users on the Approval User Setup page, like you'd do for any other approval process. This makes sure that the right people review and approve transactions, maintaining accuracy in your financial records.
2. Efficient Cost and Revenue Distribution with General Ledger Allocations
The update introduces a powerful tool for financial optimization — General Ledger Allocations. This feature lets organizations distribute costs and revenue more efficiently, providing a nuanced approach to financial management.
Consider a company that incurs shared expenses across multiple departments. With General Ledger Allocations, these costs can be intelligently distributed based on predefined criteria.
The allocation feature helps streamline data entry, reduce errors and allows for predetermined distribution methods, such as “fixed” or “variable”:
- Fixed allocation
- Useful for splitting expenses over an extended period
- The allocation is defined and remains the same until changed in the setup
- Variable allocation
- Distributes revenue or expenses based on changing values over time
- Allows specifying sources for calculating allocation percentages
Microsoft added “Allocation Account” as a new Account Type to Sales Journals, Purchase Journals and General Journals.
Allocation Setup
Microsoft added a new management page for Allocation Account. In the below example, we created a Fixed Allocation Account for a Destination Account Type of General Ledger (G/L) Account. We also entered a share value which automatically calculates the Percent.
You can add Dimensions to the lines or Preview Distributions to view the details and update the allocation amount.
Once the setup is complete, you can select the Allocation Account in a General Journal.
When you post the entries, the system will distribute the allocation based on the setup, as we see in the G/L Entries Preview.
For quick and flexible allocation without creating specific allocation accounts for each G/L account, Business Central offers the "Inherit from parent" option. This feature allows users to split amounts for any G/L account on a document or journal line without the need for creating dedicated allocation accounts. While this method is less transparent, it provides a convenient way to perform ad-hoc allocations without the overhead of creating individual allocation accounts for each G/L account.
3. Custom General Ledger Accounts for Payables and Receivables
In response to the diverse financial structures of businesses, Business Central's latest release allows users to employ different general ledger accounts for payables and receivables other than the one assigned on the customer or vendor posting group.
Microsoft has provided the ability to change the default customer or vendor posting groups by turning on the Allow Multiple Posting Groups toggle.
For vendor posting group changes, turn on the toggle on the Purchases and Payables Setup page. For customer posting group changes, turn on the toggle on the Sales and Receivable Setup and Service Mgt. Setup pages.
After you set this up, you can choose alternative posting groups and change the customer or vendor posting groups when you post sales or purchase documents and journals.
Business Central copies the alternative customer or vendor posting groups to posted documents and journals and posts payable or receivable G/L entries to the G/L accounts specified for the alternative groups.
Key Takeaways
Business Central's 2023 Release Wave 2 sets a new standard for financial management with features designed to enhance control, efficiency and customization. The inclusion of approvals for intercompany general journals, general ledger allocations, and the ability to use different general ledger accounts for payables and receivables provides an enhanced user experience, greater flexibility and improves efficiency when depending on this ERP solution.
You can review the full list of features from Microsoft here.
Need Help?
If you’re interested in improving your processes in Business Central, contact us online or give us a call at 410.685.5512.
