Follow these guidelines, in addition to generic flexfield definition instructions, when defining your Accounting Flexfield structure.
Note: The Accounting Flexfield has several special requirements and limitations for its definition. Follow these recommendations carefully, since an incorrectly-defined Accounting Flexfield will adversely affect your chart of accounts, and application features such as Mass Allocations.
Define your Accounting Flexfield value sets using the Define Value Set form. General Ledger does not support the use of predefined value sets with the Accounting Flexfield.
You must specify a format type of Char for each segment value. The Accounting Flexfield supports only the Char format type because the alpha character T is used by Summary Template values and dependent segments. If you want to limit your segment values to numbers only, choose the Char format type, then enter only numeric values for your segment values. You should not select the Numbers Only check box for the Accounting Flexfield.
Note: By defining alphanumeric segment values instead of all numbers, you have more flexibility when designing segment value hierarchies. For example, you can use numbers for child segment values and characters for parent segment values. This allows you to quickly distinguish between child and parent segment values.
We recommend that you set Right-justify Zero-fill Numbers to Yes for value sets you use with the Accounting Flexfield.
Value sets for the Accounting Flexfield must be independent, table, or dependent-type value sets. Do not use value sets with a validation type of None, Pair, or Special for the Accounting Flexfield.
Do not specify a hidden ID column for any value set used with the Accounting Flexfield.
You should not use a WHERE clause and/or ORDER BY clause for a table validated value set you intend to use with the Accounting Flexfield.
We recommend that you allow parent values for segments in your Accounting Flexfield. Parent values are used to create summary accounts and define security rules. Using parent and child values increases the productivity of General Ledger.
You can define three types of security for value sets.
No Security - All security is disabled for your value set.
Hierarchical Security - Any security rule defined for a parent value also applies to its child values.
Non-Hierarchical Security - Any security rule defined for a parent value does not apply to its child values.
Enable the Allow Dynamic Inserts option for each chart of accounts until you have created an accounting setup using Accounting Setup Manager and assigned a data access set to the GL: Data Access Set profile option. Keep this option enabled if you want to allow the automatic creation of new accounts as you enter them in transactions. If you disable this option, you must define all accounts manually in the GL Accounts window before entering transactions.
Suggestion: Enable Dynamic Insertion for new charts of accounts to allow you to perform your setup, such as assigning a retained earnings account to your ledger in Accounting Setup Manager. After you have completed your accounting setup and have assigned a data access set to the GL: Data Access Set profile option, you can disable Dynamic Insertion for the chart of accounts for transaction processing purposes.
Attention: If you are defining an Accounting Flexfield for Oracle Projects, you must define your segments with the Allow Dynamic Inserts option set to Yes. Refer to the Oracle Projects User's Guide for further suggestions on using the Accounting Flexfield with Oracle Projects.
Define your Accounting Flexfield segments. You can define up to 30 segments for your account structure. You must define at least two segments for your account structure, one for the balancing segment and one for the natural account segment (the two required flexfield qualifiers).
When specifying the column you want to use for your Accounting Flexfield segment, do not use any columns other than those named SEGMENT1 through SEGMENT30. Since the names of these columns are embedded in the Oracle Applications products, using other columns may adversely affect your application features such as summarization.
Enter the segment number for this segment. The Accounting Flexfield requires consecutive segment numbers beginning with 1 (such as 1, 2, 3, ...).
Only Oracle General Ledger applications use the Indexed check box for the Optimization feature. Mark this option if you want the database column that stores this key segment in the combinations table to have a single-column index. You should create indexes for segments you expect to have many distinct values (instead of just a few distinct values).
You must enter a value set in the Value Set field for each segment of the Accounting Flexfield. Value sets for the Accounting Flexfield must be independent, table, or dependent-type value sets. Do not use value sets with a validation type of None for the Accounting Flexfield.
We recommend that you set the Description Size for each of your Accounting Flexfield segments to 30 or less so that your flexfield pop-up window does not scroll horizontally.
You must check the Display check box for each segment. The Accounting Flexfield requires that all segments be displayed. Hiding segments will adversely affect your application features, such as MassAllocations.
You must check the Required check box for each segment.
When defining a segment for future use, you must adhere to all the rules listed above. It is recommended you define a default value for the segment, such as zeros to ease data entry. See: Defining an Accounting Flexfield Segment for Future Use.
Define your flexfield qualifiers for your Accounting Flexfield. Oracle Applications use flexfield qualifiers to identify certain segments in your Accounting Flexfield. You specify your flexfield qualifier values in the Qualifiers region of the Define Key Flexfield Segments form.
Define the natural account segment. A natural account segment contains values representing account types, such as cash, accounts receivable, product revenue and salary expense. In the Flexfield Qualifiers window, select the Enabled check box for the Natural Account Segment to indicate that the segment you are defining is your natural account segment. You can define only one natural account segment in your account.
Define the primary balancing segment. General Ledger uses your primary balancing segment to ensure that all journals balance for each value of your primary balancing segment. General Ledger also uses your primary balancing segment to ensure that entries that impact more than one balancing segment use the appropriate intercompany or intracompany balancing.
Indicate whether the segment you are defining is a primary balancing segment. You can define only one primary balancing segment for an account. The segment you use as a primary balancing segment must be an independent segment (it cannot use a dependent value set). Most users of General Ledger designate company/legal entity or fund as their primary balancing segment. If using multiple charts of accounts, you should share the same balancing segment across all charts of accounts.
Define the Cost Center segment. Cost centers indicate functional areas of your organization, such as Accounting, Facilities, Shipping, and so on. In the Flexfield Qualifiers window, select the Enabled check box to indicate that the segment you are defining is a Cost Center segment.
Oracle Assets and Oracle Projects require you to qualify a segment as cost center in your account.
(Optional) Define a management segment if you want to perform management reporting and secure read and write access to segment values for the management segment. This segment can be any segment, except the balancing segment, natural account segment, or intercompany segment.
Identify a secondary tracking segment in your chart of accounts and assign the Secondary Tracking Segment qualifier to it. General Ledger tracks retained earnings, cumulative translation adjustments, and revaluation gains/losses by both the balancing segment and the secondary tracking segment to provide you with more accounting detail. The secondary tracking segment cannot be the same segment as the balancing segment, intercompany segment, or natural account segment. See: Secondary Tracking Segment.
(Optional) Define the intercompany segment. General Ledger automatically uses the intercompany segment in account code combinations to track intercompany transactions within a single ledger and among multiple ledgers. The intercompany segment has the same value set as the balancing segment.
Define dependent segments to create context-sensitive segments. Context-sensitive segment values can have one meaning when combined with a particular independent segment value, and have a different meaning when combined with a different segment value.
You can define more than one dependent segment for an independent segment. You can also define more than one independent segment to have different dependent segments. You cannot, however, define a dependent segment for any segment with validation type other than Independent nor have multiple levels of dependency for the same segment.
Define your Accounting Flexfield segment values. When specifying a parent value, be sure to mark the Parent check box and enter the rollup group level information and hierarchy details. Be sure you do not assign overlapping ranges of child values to the same parent value. For multi-level hierarchies, be sure that grandparents do not share the same child ranges as their lower level parent values. This causes looping and will affect your summary accounts.
You use rollup groups to create summary accounts. Decide your segment hierarchy before you create parent and child segment values.
Enter Segment Qualifiers. Segment qualifiers hold extra information about individual segments such as if the account is an asset, liability, or expense, if you can post to the account, and more.
Freeze and compile your account structure in the Key Flexfield Segments form when you are ready to begin using it. You must recompile your flexfield every time you make changes to your structure and segments, including enabling or disabling cross-validation rules and enabling or disabling shorthand entries using the Shorthand Aliases window.
You will see your flexfield changes immediately after you freeze and recompile your flexfield. Other users will see the changes after they change responsibilities or exit the application and log back in.
Warning: Plan your key flexfield structures carefully. Once you freeze your structure and begin using it, you should not modify your structure. Attempting to do so may create data inconsistencies that can seriously impact your application or require a complex conversion program.
After you freeze and compile your Accounting Flexfield, you should submit the Generate Ledger Flexfield program from the Requests window. This program dynamically creates the GL Ledger Flexfield. This flexfield is a copy of the Accounting Flexfield with an added Ledger segment. This flexfield is used exclusively by General Ledger features, such as MassAllocations, Recurring Journals and FSG reports that use the Ledger segment.
Warning: You should never use the GL Ledger Flexfield to modify your chart of accounts structure or segment values. You should only use the Accounting Flexfield.
Note: If one or more segments in your Accounting Flexfield use table validated value sets, you must run the following programs after you freeze and compile your Accounting Flexfield:
Setup Flattening Program for Table Validated Value Sets: This program needs to be submitted for each table-validated value set in your Accounting Flexfield.
Generate Ledger Flexfield: This program needs to be submitted once for each Accounting Flexfield.
Define cross-validation rules to control the combinations of values you use to create accounts. Refer to the Designing Your Cross-Validation Rules essay for suggestions on designing your Accounting Flexfield cross-validation rules.
Define Flexfield security rules for a responsibility to restrict access to specific segment values or ranges of segment values. Security rules can be applied to hierarchies. Security rules defined for a parent in a hierarchy can extend to all its children.
Security rules restrict access to specific segment values or ranges of segment values:
When you enter data in General Ledger windows. For example, you cannot enter an account code combination in the Enter Journals window that contains a restricted segment value.
When you perform online inquiries
When you run FSG reports
When you run Standard Reports for Account Analysis, Journals, General Ledger, and Trial Balance.
Note: Programs, such as the subledger transfer programs to General Ledger, Journal Import, or Posting program, do not enforce segment value security rules.