How to Handle Multiple Bank Accounts in the Same Legal Entity in D365 Finance
Posted on: November 30, 2022 | By: Christopher Rusing | Microsoft Dynamics AX/365
The process for vendor and customer payments in D365 is typically straightforward when using standard functionality, however, these processes can easily be disrupted when having multiple companies within the same legal entity or company database for D365. This scenario may appear based on the design of the ERP system. Typically, if a company decides to use a financial dimension, like business unit, to divide the different companies then we will see this challenge come up. Please note that many other challenges may come up as it relates to finance when only using a financial dimension to segregate companies within a legal entity in D365 and all of these should be considered during the design of your D365 environment. So now that multiple companies are within the same D365 legal entity, what financial issues could come up? A very common issue is that each company may have separate bank accounts as they are still operating independently. If you have multiple bank accounts within the same legal entity, then how can you ensure that your users are paying and depositing into the correct bank account?
There are different ways you can handle this situation. One suggestion would be to utilize the method of payment to auto-default the bank account from that configuration. This would work, but there is a control issue in that the user could still change the bank account after it populates on the journal lines. This may not sit well with the financial leadership of your company! Another way would be to auto-default the bank from the journal name configuration.
The journal name configuration allows you to not only set the offset account type and the bank, but also flip the switch to Yes for the Fixed offset account. This will make sure that any user within the system cannot manually change the offset bank account in the journal lines. Secondly, journal names provide the functionality to block other users from viewing/using the journal. You can create a user group, add users to that group, so that only the users named can access the journal. Please note that users that are part of workflow must be included in this user group as well.
The only downside of this is that you will have to create a vendor and customer payment journal for each bank account. I believe that is a low price to pay to make sure you have solid financial controls in your ERP system. If you are looking for additional information about D365F&SCM, please feel free to reach out to us at info@loganconsulting.com or (312) 345-8817.
All the best!
Logan Consulting