Ledger Account Master

1What is this master? #

• The master list of ledger accounts — used by every voucher, ledger picker and financial report. One record is edited at a time; the page opens ready to add a new ledger.
• A new ledger starts with the database defaults already applied: opening and previous-year balance 0 on the Debit side, date of opening = today, statutory classification __NotApplicable__ , and every behaviour flag at No .
• The address book, credit limits, budgets/targets, branch allocation and login/CRM links of the legacy form are separate follow-up phases.

2Step by step #

Suppose a new customer, ABC Traders , needs an account. The page opens ready to add.

1. Type ABC Traders into Name — it must be unique across the books.
2. Pick the Group Name . This is the decision that matters: the group's behaviour decides everything else the form shows — a Customer/Supplier group brings billing and credit fields, a Bank group brings bank details, an Employee group makes this ledger an employee anchor. If you are unsure, stop and check with accounts; moving a used ledger later is a correction, not a keystroke.
3. Enter the Opening Balance and its D/C side if the party starts with one; leave both alone for a fresh account.
4. Press Enter through the remaining fields — most are optional and group-dependent — until focus lands on Save (F5) , and confirm.
5. After the save the record stays in View mode and the Actions unlock: Address Book / Contacts, Credit Limit, Budget / Target and the rest, each a small dialog that saves against this ledger.
6. Press F3 for the next account. F2 finds an existing one; F4 edits it.

Deleting a ledger is rarely possible once it has been used — the database refuses while any voucher, bill or detail row references it. Retire an account by its status/group practice instead, and rename freely: name changes carry through the by-name links on their own.

3Fields & group-driven behaviour #

• Name * — required and unique. Description is the alias.
• Group Name * — picking a group applies its category rules while adding: liability/income-type categories (Capital Accounts, Current Liability, Direct/Indirect/Revenue Income, Liability, Suppliers) preset the balance side to Credit , everything else to Debit . Suppliers and Customers switch Bill by Bill on (Suppliers also allow payment against negative balance), and a group named Employee marks the ledger as an employee account.
• Account Code — generated at save from the group's numbering rules (prefix, start number, padding, suffix) or the running number when the group uses the default method; it shows __Pending__ until then. Only groups with the Manual numbering method let you type the code.
• Has Login / Login Name — links an application user to this account head (groundwork for the customer / supplier portal). Turning Has Login on makes the Login Name pick required; turning it off clears the link.
• Lead link — the account can be linked to the CRM lead it originated from. The box appears only when the CRM module is licensed and Settings → Account Settings → “Link ledger accounts to CRM leads” is switched on.
• Opening / Prev. Year Balance with D/C — the carried-forward balances and their side; Date of Account Opening defaults to today.
• Behaviour switches — stored as Yes/No: cost centres, bill-by-bill (+ posting method Manual/Auto, enabled only when bill-by-bill is on), employee/payhead (payroll licence), scheduled items, branch-wise balance, cheque tracking/printing/RTGS (bank groups only), negative-balance block, priority account, loan account, stock item value allocation, TCS, referral partner, project payment-schedule tracking (project licence) and transporter/courier.
• Statutory (GST) details — the classification gates the rest: Assessable Value enables Tax Class, RCM Method, HSN/SAC and ITC Eligibility; tax heads (SGST/CGST/IGST/CESS/VAT/CST/ED) enable only Tax Class; dealer/party classes (Registered/Unregistered Dealer, Retail Consumer, Composition Dealer, UIN Holder, SEZ, Transporters) enable the GST Calculation Basis and the Default Transaction Class (pick __Not Applicable__ to store none).
• Branch visibility (ERP edition only) — All makes the account usable in every branch; Selective shows the branch grid so you tick the branches this account is allocated to (the saved branch allocations are removed when you switch back to All).
• Bank accounts — a ledger can hold several bank accounts; maintain them from the Bank Account Details action in the Actions pane rather than on the form.

4Toolbar & keyboard #

• Find (F2) searches and loads an existing ledger; Add (F3) starts a new one; Modify (F4) edits the loaded one (all from View mode).
• Save (F5) and Cancel (Esc) each ask to confirm first — OK is focused, so Enter confirms.
• Delete asks to confirm, then removes the loaded ledger (see the integrity rules below for when it's refused).
• Enter moves field-to-field; the toolbar stays fixed while the form scrolls.

5Why is an Action disabled? (conditions) #

• Every Action opens for a saved ledger in View mode — save (or load with Find) first; while adding or modifying, the pane stays disabled.
• Address Book / Contacts… and Alternative Contacts… — the ledger's group category must be Customers, Suppliers, Capital Accounts or Bank Accounts (or the group itself is Branches/Divisions ).
• Credit Limit… — the group category must be Customers, Suppliers or Bank Accounts .
• Budget / Target… — the group category must be an income or expense head ( Revenue/Direct/Indirect Income or Expenditure ).
• Division-wise Opening… — the button is hidden entirely unless the company's Track Division setting is switched on (Settings; ask your administrator). With the setting on, it enables once the ledger is saved.
• Branch-wise Opening… — the button is hidden entirely outside the ERP edition. In ERP it enables only for a saved ledger whose Allow branch-wise balance switch is on.
• Cost Centre Allocation… — the button is hidden entirely unless the company's cost-centre feature is on. It enables only for a saved ledger whose Maintain Cost Centres switch is on. With a zero opening balance the click clears the ledger's allocation instead of opening the grid.
• Bill-by-Bill Opening… — the button is hidden entirely unless the company's bill-by-bill feature is on. It enables only for a saved ledger whose Maintain Bill by Bill Balance switch is on. With a zero opening balance the click clears the ledger's opening references instead of opening the grid.
• Employee Info… — the button is hidden entirely unless the Payroll module is licensed. It enables only for a saved ledger marked as an employee account (its group is Employee-typed).
• Custom Fields… — the button is hidden entirely outside the ERP edition or when no custom table targets ledgers. It enables only for a saved ledger.
• Documents… — attach files from the Document Management store to this ledger (view, download, note, detach). Hidden without the Document Management subscription; enables for a saved ledger in View mode.
• Messages… — every conversation in Communications > Inbox & Outbox that is about this party (e-mail, SMS and WhatsApp, both ways) - the ones you may see there - newest first; click one to open it. New message (F3) writes to the party and relates the conversation to it. A sender who is one of the party's contact persons (Address Book / Contacts) is related to it by itself. Needs the Communication Hub and Financial Accounting, Sales or Purchase; enables for a saved ledger in View mode.
• The category comes from the ledger's group — if an Action you expect is disabled, check the group's Primary Category in the Ledger Group master.

6Action — Address Book / Contacts #

• Records the ledger's primary contact: address, city/pin, state and country, prime location, contact person and numbers, GST/PAN/CST/LST registrations and the legacy excise details. Formal Name and Distance feed the E-WayBill / E-Invoice destination.
• Available from the Actions pane for a saved ledger whose group category is Customers, Suppliers, Capital Accounts or Bank Accounts (or the Branches/Divisions group) — the same rule the legacy Address Book tab used.
• GST No — enter URP for an unregistered dealer; otherwise an Indian GST number must be 15 characters and start with the selected state's code (pick the State first so the code is known).
• F5 saves, Esc closes; the State and Prime Location pick-lists come from the State-Code and Location masters — seed those first if the lists are empty.

7Action — Alternative Contacts #

• An editable grid of the party's additional contacts — branch offices, alternate sites or people — kept separately from the single primary contact recorded in Address Book. One row per extra contact.
• Available on the same condition as Address Book: a saved ledger whose group category is Customers, Suppliers, Capital Accounts or Bank Accounts (or the Branches/Divisions group).
• Add (F3) appends a blank row; edit any cell in place; Remove deletes the row when you Save. Save (F5) writes every change (add / edit / delete) in one go; Esc closes.
• The primary contact is never affected here — it stays under Address Book.

8Action — Credit Limit #

• Sets the ledger's credit control (one record per account): the Credit Limit amount, the D/C side it applies to, and the Credit Period in days for overdue-bill tracking.
• Mode decides what an over-limit save does: Block (and any other value, and blank) refuses it outright — today's behaviour; Warn makes the check advisory, the save proceeds; Approval blocks AND offers to raise a credit-approval ticket, decided on the Credit Approvals page, for a temporary deviation valid for the next N bills.
• Credit Approver — the user this account's approval tickets route to; blank leaves it to the fallback approver list (General Settings item 211). The field appears once the credit-approval workflow script has run on the company database.
• Available from the Actions pane for a saved ledger whose group category is Customers, Suppliers or Bank Accounts — the legacy Credit Limit tab rule.
• The D/C side defaults to the ledger's Opening Dr/Cr side when no limit exists yet; it can't be left blank. F5 saves, Esc closes.

9Action — Budget / Target #

• Plans the ledger's year (one record per account): a Type — Budget for expense heads, Target for income heads (preset from the group's category, still changeable) — the D/C side , an Annual Amount and the twelve monthly allocations.
• Available from the Actions pane for a saved ledger whose group category is an income or expense head (Revenue/Direct/Indirect Income or Expenditure) — the legacy Budget Target tab rule.
• Typing the Annual Amount fills every month with the amount ÷ 12; months stay individually editable, and the dialog shows when the allocated total drifts from the annual figure.
• F5 saves, Esc closes. Monthly actuals/difference reporting against transactions is a reporting-phase feature.

10Action — Division-wise Opening Balance #

• Splits the ledger's opening balance across divisions and branches — a grid with one row per Division × Branch, each carrying an opening amount and its Debit/Credit side.
• Availability: the action appears in the Actions pane only when the company's Track Division setting is on — companies without division tracking never see it. Turning the setting on/off is a company-wide choice made in Settings (administrator). With the setting on, the button enables for a saved ledger and stays disabled while adding or modifying.
• Add (F3) appends a row pre-set to the ledger's own Debit/Credit side with the remaining unallocated balance pre-filled as the amount — allocating everything to one division needs no typing; pick the Division and Branch and adjust the amount if needed. The header strip shows the ledger's opening balance next to the allocated and remaining totals — Allocated is a net : rows on the ledger's own Debit/Credit side add to it, rows on the opposite side offset it. The opening balance must be fully allocated — Save is refused unless the net allocation equals it exactly (removing every row is allowed and clears the allocation). Save (F5) writes exactly what changed — added, edited and removed rows; Esc closes. Rows with no Division or Branch are ignored, and the same Division × Branch pair can appear only once.
• The Division and Branch lists come from the Division and Branch masters — seed those first if they are empty.

11Action — Branch-wise Opening Balance #

• Splits the ledger's opening balance across branches — a grid with one row per branch, each carrying an opening amount and its Debit/Credit side. The header shows the ledger's own opening balance next to the allocated and remaining totals — Allocated is a net : rows on the ledger's own Debit/Credit side add to it, rows on the opposite side offset it. The opening balance must be fully allocated — Save is refused unless the net allocation equals it exactly (removing every row is allowed and clears the allocation).
• Availability: the action exists only in the ERP edition and enables for a saved ledger whose Allow branch-wise balance switch (on this form) is on. When that switch is on, the dialog also opens automatically right after every Save of the ledger.
• Add (F3) appends a row pre-set to the ledger's own Debit/Credit side with the remaining unallocated balance pre-filled as the amount — allocating everything to one branch needs no typing; pick the Branch and adjust the amount if needed. Save (F5) writes exactly what changed — added, edited and removed rows; Esc closes. Rows with no Branch are ignored, the Debit/Credit side must be D or C, and each branch can appear only once.
• The Branch list comes from the Branch master — seed it first if it is empty.
• When the switch is off you do nothing: saving the ledger keeps one branch-wise row equal to its opening balance, for the branch the ledger was registered in (else the branch you are signed in to). That is what puts the opening into the figures under the report option Branch . A split over several branches made earlier is never changed by this.

12Action — Cost Centre Allocation #

• Splits the ledger's opening balance across cost centres — a grid with one row per cost centre carrying an optional rate and the allocated amount. The header strip shows the opening balance next to the allocated (plain sum) and remaining totals.
• Availability: the action appears only when the company's cost-centre feature is on, and enables for a saved ledger whose Maintain Cost Centres switch (on this form) is on. When the ledger's opening balance is zero , clicking the action clears any saved allocation instead of opening the grid.
• Add (F3) appends a row with the remaining unallocated balance pre-filled; pick the cost centre and adjust the amount. Save (F5) writes exactly what changed — added, edited and removed rows; Esc closes. Rows with no cost centre are ignored. The opening balance must be fully allocated — Save is refused unless the total equals it exactly (removing every row is allowed and clears the allocation).
• The cost-centre list comes from the Cost Centre master — seed it first if it is empty. The dropdown's ＋ Create new cost centre footer is a placeholder (coming soon); until that master page ships, cost centres are maintained in the legacy application.

13Action — Bill-by-Bill Opening #

• Records the pending bills/references that make up the ledger's opening balance — one row per reference with its number, bill date, amount and due date. The Method column is fixed to Opening and the Dr./Cr. column to the ledger's own opening side (both display only). The Branch column appears only in the ERP edition and the Division column only when division tracking is on.
• Availability: the action appears only when the company's bill-by-bill feature is on, and enables for a saved ledger whose Maintain Bill by Bill Balance switch (on this form) is on. When the ledger's opening balance is zero , clicking the action clears any saved references instead of opening the grid.
• Add (F3) appends a row pre-set to the ledger's own Debit/Credit side and opening date, with the remaining unallocated balance pre-filled. The header strip's Allocated is a net — rows on the ledger's side add, opposite-side rows offset it. Save (F5) writes exactly what changed; Esc closes. Rows with no reference number are ignored. The opening balance must be fully allocated — Save is refused unless the net equals it exactly (removing every row is allowed and clears the references).
• Each reference number can appear only once for the ledger, and a reference that already has adjustments in vouchers can't be deleted or modified — the database refuses with a message.

14Action — Employee Info #

• Opens the Employee master pre-linked to this ledger — it loads the ledger's registered employee, or starts a new employee record locked to this account when none exists yet.
• Availability: the action exists only when the Payroll module is licensed, and enables for a saved ledger whose group marks it as an employee account (the ledger's employee switch is Yes).
• Inside, Save (F5) saves the employee and keeps the window open so the payroll details (Pay Scheme, Leave Policies, Shift Assignments) become available; Esc closes.
• The full Employee master is also available as its own page for browsing and maintaining all employees.

15Action — Custom Fields #

• Enters the extra, company-defined data sets attached to ledgers — the same generic entry screen used on the Product master. Which fields appear is defined in the Custom Tables designer: any custom table whose applicable object is the ledger master shows up here, scoped to the loaded ledger.
• Availability: the action exists only in the ERP edition and only when at least one such custom table is defined; it enables for a saved ledger. When several tables target ledgers, a picker asks which data set to open.
• One-To-One tables edit a single record for the ledger; One-To-Many tables edit a grid of records. Saving and closing follow the entry screen's own buttons.
• For a newly created ledger the entry screen opens automatically right after Save (after the branch-opening dialog, when that one applies).

16Integrity rules (why a save / delete is refused) #

• Unique name — a second ledger with the same name is rejected.
• Statutory classification required — pick __NotApplicable__ when it doesn't apply; blank is refused.
• Cheque-name printing — requires the Bank Account Name to be filled.
• Protected heads — Stock , Profit & Loss and Profit & Loss (Last Year) can't be created, renamed or deleted; built-in ledgers disable Delete.
• No opening on P&L — the Profit & Loss head can't hold an opening balance; use Profit & Loss (Last Year) .
• Delete needs a zero opening — a ledger with a non-zero opening balance can't be deleted.
• Reference-bound delete — deletion is refused while the ledger is used by bill sundries, pay-bill or pay-scheme heads, or the fixed-asset register (and, in practice, any posted voucher).
• Module-linked ledgers — a ledger created from another module (LinkedFrom ≠ GEN) can't be renamed or deleted here.
• Bill-by-Bill / Cost-Centre switch-off — turning them OFF deletes that ledger's saved bill-by-bill / cost-centre opening allocations.
• Rename cascade — renaming re-points the ledger's references; only one ledger can be renamed per save.
• Division rows block delete — a ledger with division-wise opening rows can't be deleted; clear its division set first. Its contacts, credit limit, budget/target, branch openings and bank accounts, by contrast, are removed together with the ledger.
• One row per branch / per bank account — the branch-wise opening grid accepts each branch only once, and the bank accounts grid accepts each account number only once; a duplicate row is refused with a message.
• Full allocation — when any rows exist, the net branch-wise, division-wise, cost-centre or bill-by-bill allocation (rows on the ledger's side minus opposite-side rows; a plain sum for cost centres) must equal the ledger's opening balance exactly ; an over- or under-allocated save is refused. Removing every row is allowed — it clears that allocation set.
• Opening bill references — a reference number is unique per ledger, and once a reference has adjustments in vouchers it can't be deleted or modified from the opening grid (database guard).

17Why is a pick-list empty? (prerequisites) #

• Group Name: lists the groups saved in the Ledger Group master — at least one group must exist before a ledger can be saved. Missing the group? Use the dropdown's ＋ Create new group footer to create it inline; it is then selected automatically.
• Tax Class: lists the Tax Class master ; create tax classes there first. It is enabled only for the statutory classes that need one.
• Login Name: lists the application users; create the user first in user management. Enabled only while Has Login is on.
• Default Transaction Class: lists the Transaction Class master; define classes there first. Enabled only for dealer/party statutory classes.
• Branch grid: lists the branches of the selected company — if empty, the company has no branches defined.
• Lead link: shown only when the CRM module is licensed and “Link ledger accounts to CRM leads” is on in Account Settings; lists CRM leads that are neither inactive nor disqualified — record the lead in CRM → Leads first. With the setting off, a ledger that already names a lead keeps it, but a new lead is refused by the server.
• Cost Centre (opening allocation): lists the Cost Centre master — create cost centres there first.
• Statutory Classification, RCM, ITC, GST Basis, D/C, posting method: fixed system lists — never empty.

18If something does not work #