GENERAL LEDGER: (REQUIREMENTS GATHERING)
It is very important for a functional consultant to
ask right questions to client to get maximum input to design future business
process
QUESTIONNAIRE FOR CLIENT
1.
Chart of Accounts Definition
1.1. How many legal entities do you have?
1.2. Do they all use the same chart of
accounts?
1.3. Do they all use the same accounting
calendar?
1.4. Do they all use the same currency?
1.5. In how many sites are these legal
entities located?
1.6. Do you currently do periodic
consolidation of these locations in reporting?
1.7. How often do you perform this
consolidation?
1.8. What does your current chart of accounts
look like (e.g. number of fields, size of
each field)?
1.9. Describe the function served by each
field in your chart of accounts.
1.10. What are the deficiencies in your
current chart of accounts?
1.11. Describe your accounting calendar(s):
1.11.1. Number of periods in year,
1.11.2. Year end.
1.12. How do you want to report profit and
loss (e.g., by organization, product line)?
1.13. What are your cross
company/department/cost center security requirements?
2.
Journal Entry
2.1. Which of the following types of journal
entries do you need?
2.1.1. Regular?
2.1.2. Recurring?
2.1.3. allocations/formula based?
2.1.4. Self-reversing (next period/future
period)?
2.1.5. Statistical entries (e.g., square
footage, head count)?
2.1.6. System generated inter-company
balancing entries?
2.1.7. System generated suspense posting?
2.1.8. Revaluation (foreign currency exchange
rate fluctuations)?
2.2. Do you use batches to enter journals?
2.3. Do you use control totals when entering
journals?
2.4. Do you reverse journals on a regular
basis? Explain why.
2.5. Do you have any input documents that you
currently use? Can you provide copies?
2.6. Is there any information that is kept at
the journal entry level which might be considered unique?
2.7. Do you have any audit requirements which
might be considered unique?
3.
Budgeting
3.1. Describe your budget preparation
process. How many budgets do you prepare? When are they prepared?
3.2. Do you create a starting budget from
last year’s budget or actuals?
3.3. Do you budget in spread sheets?
3.4. What level do you currently budget at
(e.g., fully coded account level)?
3.5. Are budgets confidential across
organizations (companies, departments, etc.)?
3.6. Are budgets frozen at a certain point?
3.7. Do you do
budget transfers throughout the year?
3.8. Do you
have multiple budget versions?
3.9. Do you
need to perform mass updates to budgets (e.g., cut travel related expenses by
five percent across the board)?
4. Multi-Currency
4.1. How
many currencies do you use and what are they?
4.2. What is
your policy on changing currency rates?
4.3. Do you
perform consolidation between various businesses that use different currencies?
4.4. Do you
do data entry in multiple currencies?
4.5. Do you
generate reports in multiple currencies?
4.6. Do you
do translations monthly into foreign currencies?
4.7. What
account values do you use for cumulative foreign currency gain or loss?
4.8. Do you
have any special audit requirements for foreign currency accounts?
4.9. Do you
need to inquire into original entered currency balances?
5. Posting /
Closing
5.1. How
frequently are journal entries posted to your general ledger balances?
5.2.
Describe journal posting procedures.
5.3.
Describe your closing process.
5.4. How
long does it take to close?
5.5. Is the
closing schedule consistent across all companies?
5.6.
Describe your requirements for prior period adjustments.
5.7. How
long does it take to close at year end?
5.8. Do you
use a period 13 at year end closing?
6. Project
Accounting
6.1. How
many projects do you currently have?
6.2. How
many new projects are created each period, on average?
6.3. How
many projects are inactivated each period?
6.4. What
purpose is accomplished by setting up projects?
6.5. What
type information is tracked for each project?
6.5.1. Project
description?
6.5.2. Project
manager?
6.5.3. Responsible
department?
6.5.4.
project start date?
6.5.5.
project end date?
6.5.6. Total
project budget?
6.5.7. Project
type?
6.5.8. Other?
6.6. How are
project numbers assigned?
6.7.
Describe other project accounting requirements.
7. Inquiries
7.1. What
standard inquiries do you require?
7.1.1.
account balance inquiry by period for a fiscal year?
7.1.2.
summarized account balance inquiry by period for a fiscal year (e.g., all sales
and marketing expenses for division A)?
7.1.3. Drill
down capability from account balance inquiry to journal entry detail?
7.1.4. Drill
down capability from journal entry to source transaction(s) (e.g., drill down
to the accounts payable invoices making up a journal entry)?
7.1.5. Other?
7.2. Does
inquiry access need to be restricted by user, by company and/or division or
cost center?
8. Reports
8.1. What
standard reports do you require?
8.1.1. Income
statement?
8.1.2. Balance
sheet?
8.1.3. Trial
balance?
8.1.4. General
ledger?
8.1.5. Others?
8.2. How
frequently are reports generated and how are they distributed?
8.3. What
reporting structures do you use (e.g., cost center, product, geography)?
8.4. Do you
require ad hoc reporting for end users?
8.5. Are
there any reporting requirements which you might consider out of the ordinary?
9. Interfaces
9.1. What
systems are interfaced with general ledger?
9.1.1.
accounts payable?
9.1.2. Billing
system(s)?
9.1.3. Cash
receipts?
9.1.4. Inventory?
9.1.5. fixed
assets?
9.1.6. Payroll?
9.1.7. Other?
9.2. For
each of the interfaces listed note how the interfaces are accomplished (e.g.,
manually, automatically, or via spreadsheet upload).
10. Security
10.1.
Describe duty separation requirements.
10.2. Is
data entry restricted by company and/or department or cost center?
11. Other
11.1.
Describe the five best features of the current system.
11.2.
Describe the five biggest deficiencies of the current system.
11.3.
Describe any major general ledger areas not already covered.
12. Volumes
12.1. How
many accounts (e.g., cash, accounts receivable, accounts payable) are in your
chart of accounts?
12.2. How
many fully qualified accounts are in your chart of accounts?
12.3. How
many accounting periods in each fiscal year?
12.4. How
many manual journal entry lines are recorded per period?
12.5. How
many total journal entry lines are recorded per period?
12.6. How
many years of account history do you store on-line and at what level of detail?
12.7. How
many budgets do you prepare per fiscal year?
12.8. How
many years of budget information do you store on-line?
12.9. How
many projects do you currently have defined?
12.10. How
many projects are added each period?
12.11. How many
projects are inactivated each period?