Oracle R12 : Interview Questions Answers on GL / Subledgers

1. What are the tables involved in the Transfer to GL and GL posting?

Subledger Tables
XLA_AE_HEADERS
XLA_AE_LINES
XLA_DISTRIBUTION_LINKS

Transfer Journal Entries to GL (XLAGLTRN) process takes the subledger journals and inserts records into the Interface Tables

Interface Tables
GL_INTERFACE / XLA_GLT_

Journal Import (GLLEZL) then reads from the interface table and creates records in the GL Tables

GL Tables 
GL_JE_BATCHES
GL_JE_HEADERS
GL_JE_LINES
GL_IMPORT_REFERENCES

GL Posting process then posts to the GL_BALANCES table.

What are the different methods to transfer Subledger journals to GL?

a) ONLINE MODE
GL Transfer can be spawned during Online Accounting using the “Final Post” option for a specific document (Example: AP Invoice and AR Transaction).

Example: Navigation in Payables: Invoices/Entry/Invoices: Action: Create Accounting/Final Post. This  spawns the GL Transfer, the Journal Import, Data Manager and the GL Posting processes. This request transfers ALL the final accounted data for that document. This method of transfer uses the interface table GL_INTERFACE to move the journals to the general ledger.

b) BATCH MODE
GL Transfer can also be spawned by the Create Accounting concurrent request when submitted with the “Transfer to GL” parameter set to Y.

Example:  Navigation in Payables: Other/Request/Run: Create Accounting
This spawns the journal import and the data manager processes. The GL Posting process is spawned if the Post to GL parameter is set to Yes when submitting the Create Accounting. This request transfers all the final accounting created by the Create Accounting request that spawned it. This method uses the interface table XLA_GLT_.

c) CONCURRENT REQUEST
GL Transfer can be submitted in standalone mode using the concurrent request “Transfer Journal Entries to GL”.

Example: Navigation in Payables: Other/Request/Run: Transfer Journal Entries to GL
This spawns the Journal Import and the Data Manager programs. This request transfers all the final accounting that exists for the given ledger and end date. This method uses the interface table XLA_GLT_.

What is the setup option that determines the level of detail in the accounting lines created for a specific transaction in XLA_AE_LINES?

Each Journal Line Type (JLT) can be setup as required to result in either detailed or merged lines in XLA_AE_LINES.

Navigation: Accounting Setups : Subledger Accounting Setup : Accounting Methods Builder : Journal Entry Setups
Form :”Define Journal Line Types”
Field : “Merge Matching Lines”

The different options are as follows:

1) ALL – The matching lines in XLA_DISTRIBUTION_LINKS for the specific accounting header and specific journal line type (example: LIABILITY) are merged to create records in XLA_AE_LINES.

2) DR/CR – The matching lines in XLA_DISTRIBUTION_LINKS, for the specific accounting header and specific journal line type (example: LIABILITY) with debit side entries, are merged to create one debit entry in XLA_AE_LINES. The matching lines with credit side entries are merged to create one credit side entry in XLA_AE_LINES.

3) NO – Lines in XLA_DISTRIBUTION_LINKS for the specific accounting header and specific journal
line type (example: LIABILITY) are not merged and copied into XLA_AE_LINES.

NOTE: This setup applies to merging lines within a specific transaction.

What is the setup option that determines if transfer to GL is in detail or summarised mode?

There are two variables that determine how the data is transferred to GL from the subledger tables XLA_AE_HEADERS and XLA_AE_LINES. These setups determine whether accounting data from across multiple transactions in the subledger will be merged or not merged while inserting into rows in the GL_JE_HEADERS and GL_JE_LINES tables.

a) Subledger Accounting Options

Navigation: Accounting Setups : Ledger Setup : Define : Accounting Setups
Choose the ledger
Click on “Update Accounting Options”
Scroll to Subledger Accounting Options in the Primary Ledger section
Click on Update Icon
Click on Update Icon against the Application to be setup(Example: Payables)

Field: General Ledger Journal Entry Summarization

This can be set to ONE of the following:

• Summarize by GL Period
• Summarize by GL Date
• No Summarization

This setup determines if the accounting header is summarized or not.

b) Journal Line Types

Navigation: Accounting Setups : Subledger Accounting Setup : Accounting Methods Builder : Journal
Entry Setups
Form :”Define Journal Line Types”
Field: Transfer to GL
This can be set to Summary or Detail

This setup determines if the accounting lines in XLA_AE_LINES are summarized during transfer to GL.

Note 1: Lines cannot be summarised if the headers are not summarised.
If “General Ledger Journal Entry Summarization” is set to No Summarization, the “Transfer to GL” setup in the Journal Line Types are irrelevant. The lines and headers are not summarized in this scenario.

Note 2: Irrespective of transfer in Detail or Summary, there is always a one-to-one correspondence between the XLA_AE_LINES and GL_IMPORT_REFERENCES tables.

  What are the different combinations of the two setup options that determine if transfer to GL is in summary or detail and the corresponding outcome?

GL Journal Entry Summarization	JLT -Transfer to GL	Expected behavior
Summarize(By GL Date or Period)	Summary	Summarized at both GL_JE_HEADERS and GL_JE_LINES
Summarize(By GL Date or Period)	Detail	Summarized at GL_JE_HEADERS, detail GL_JE_LINES
No Summarization	Detail	Detailed at GL_JE_HEADERS and GL_JE_LINES
No Summarization	Summary	Detailed at GL_JE_HEADERS and GL_JE_LINES

Note: The last two options cause the level of detail in the GL to be the same as in the Subledger.

What columns associate GL data back to the SLA data?

Since there is always a one-to-one correspondence between XLA_AE_LINES and GL_IMPORT_REFERENCES, they are used to link GL and the subledgers.

GL_IMPORT_REFERENCES.gl_sl_link_id => XLA_AE_LINES.gl_sl_link_id
GL_JE_BATCHES.group_id => XLA_AE_HEADERS.group_id

What columns indicate the Transfer Status of accounting data in subledger?

The XLA_AE_HEADERS table shows the transfer status of the accounting data, after successful transfer to the GL and Journal Import: