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Summary Journal Entry Workflow

Zuora

Summary Journal Entry Workflow

Overview

This article provides prerequisites, a workflow, and an example scenario to help you get started using summary journal entries with minimal conceptual information.

Prerequisites

Before you start using this feature:

  • Zuora Finance must be enabled on your Zuora tenant.
  • You must set up accounting periods in Zuora.
  • You must set up the chart of accounts and accounting codes in Zuora.
  • Zuora Finance permissions are required to use this feature. See Finance Roles for more information.

Workflow

Set Up Segmentation

Before you start using summary journal entries, you must set up segmentation. You only need to set up segmentation once. To set up segmentation, perform the following steps:

  1. Configure segments
  2. Configure a GL segmentation rule

Create and Use Summary Journal Entries

Once you have set up segmentation, you can create and use summary journal entries. To do so, perform the following steps:

  1. Create a journal run
  2. View summary journal entries
  3. Download transaction details
  4. Export summary journal entries

Example Scenario

The following example shows a typical workflow for creating and using summary journal entries.

In this example, your business sells its products in the United States, the United Kingdom, and China. During the accounting close at the end of each month, you use data from Zuora to create journal entries in your general ledger. To simplify this process, you want Zuora to auto-create summary journal entries for all your transactions. You also want Zuora to segment the summary journal entries by country to reflect how you organize your general ledger.

To achieve this, do the following.

Configure Segments

You must set up segmentation before you create summary journal entries. See Segments for more information.

Configure a segment called "Country" and associate it with the Country field on the Bill To Contact object.

Configure the GL Segmentation Rule

Create a GL segmentation rule called "By Country" and add the Country segment to it.

The GL segmentation rule determines how Zuora groups transactions into summary journal entries. See GL Segmentation Rules for more information.

Now that you have set up the GL segmentation rule, you are ready to auto-create summary journal entries.

Create a Journal Run

Create a new journal run for this month's accounting period and include all transaction types.

Zuora will use the GL segmentation rule automatically during the journal run. See Journal Runs for more information.

This example assumes that you have already set up revenue recognition in Zuora.

View Summary Journal Entries

Transactions are grouped into summary journal entries based on transaction type, currency, debit account, and the GL segmentation rule. 

To view the summary journal entries, navigate to the accounting period for which you created the journal run and click on the Summary Journal Entry tab. You can also view the summary journal entries by viewing the completed journal run.

See Manage Summary Journal Entries for more information.

Download Transaction Details

You want to check a particular summary journal entry in more detail.

Download the transaction details of the summary journal entry. See Download Transaction Details for more information.

Verify the transactions.

Example Transaction Details

Export Summary Journal Entries

Once you have verified the transaction details, close this month's accounting period.

Export the journal entry items. See Export Journal Entries for more information.

Example of Exported Summary Journal Entries

You can now enter the data into your general ledger.

After entering a summary journal entry into your general ledger, update its Transferred to Accounting field to Yes. This marks that the summary journal entry has been entered into an external financial system and ensures no further changes are made to the transactions in Zuora. For more information, see Manage Summary Journal Entries.