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Juris® Answer Center

General Ledger Startup

  • Updated

A suggested sequence for starting up the General Ledger is:

  1. Place Juris in Maintenance Mode so that the G/L Interface is locked.

    All Firms must have a minimum of two Accounting Years - last year (oldest year) and the current year (next oldest year).

  2. Enter all of the required Accounting Years/Periods to be used for Client Accounting, Disbursements, and Firm Accounting.

    The firm will need to determine all Accounting Years for which Transactions will be entered into the system.  For example, if the oldest Transaction (Bill, Time Entry, Expense Entry, Voucher, Trust Adjustment, Check, Cash Receipt, Credit Memo or Journal Entry) will be dated 4/14/1997, then the 1996 Accounting Year must be set up as well as all subsequent Accounting Years through the current year.

  3. Set up the Chart of Accounts.
  4. Determine the earliest Accounting Year for which financial information will be entered for Firm Accounting reporting (financial statements, trial balances, etc.)
  5. For firms with only two accounting years (one prior year and one current), the Current Accounting Period should be set in the Current Year. For all others, set the Current Period to the next oldest Accounting Year.

  6. This step is only necessary for those entering information for MORE THAN TWO Accounting Years, all others skip to Step 7.

    Using Journal Entries, enter Net change transactions into each Account in the Chart of Accounts for each accounting period in the next oldest Accounting period as needed. Journal entries may also be used to establish ending year balances providing that monthly Comparative reporting is not required. If ending year balances are entered, they must reflect the balance of each account as it was on the last day of the previous year. These are NOT the balances as of the first day of the new year. Comparative Figures In lieu of Journal Entries, Comparative Figures may be entered on the Comparatives panel of each Account in Chart of Accounts maintenance. Comparatives consist of a Prior Year Beginning Balance and Prior Year Ending Balances for each Accounting Period for each Account in the Chart of Accounts. If Comparative Figures are to be used, the proper initialization of accounting tables requires that the first Accounting Year to be used for Firm Accounting reporting must also be the oldest Accounting Year. Comparatives may only be entered PRIOR to running Set Retained Earnings in Step 8.

  7. Make a backup of the database as described in Backing Up Your Juris Databases . Copying the data files does NOT constitute a valid backup.

  8. Set Retained Earnings.

    • All debit and credit entries in Comparatives (for those performing optional Step 6) must offset to zero in Juris for Set Retained Earnings to be enabled.
    • The Set Retained Earnings function will perform a Year End Closing. This is done automatically with no further action required by the user.

    Set Retained Earnings must be run to close the oldest Accounting Year even if no journal entries or comparative figures are entered or if the earliest Accounting Year required firm accounting reporting is not the same as the oldest Accounting Year. The Close Accounting Year function must also be run to close all years prior to the Current Accounting Year. Transactions can still be posted into an Accounting Year after it has been closed, provided the user has permission to date Journal Entries in prior periods. No Comparatives may be entered into the Chart of Accounts if the prior year has been closed either through the Set Retained Earnings or Close Accounting Year function. Comparatives may only be entered PRIOR to running Set Retained Earnings.

  9. Using Journal Entries, enter Net Change transactions into each Account in the Chart of Accounts for the next Accounting Year. This step is necessary only if this Accounting Year will be used in Firm Accounting reporting.
  10. Set Current Period to the Next Accounting Year.
  11. Close the Previous Accounting year.

  12. Repeat Step 6 - Step 11 for each subsequent Accounting Year up to the Current Accounting Year.

    Most Firms choose to enter Net Change for each account for each month of the prior year and current year only, rather than entering multiple year information.

  13. Using Journal Entries, enter Net Change transactions or detail Journal Entries into each Account in the Chart of Accounts for this Current Accounting Year.
  14. Enter G/L Chart of Account numbers in required fields in Table area in Juris (Office, Banks, Expense Codes, Timekeepers and Practice Classes.)
  15. Run Validate Accounts (Under Setup & Manage > Firm Options/Tools >Validate Accounts).

  16. Activate the G/L Interface.

    Be sure that all transactions that will generate Journal Entries, but whose effect is already reflected in current G/L balances, are entered prior to turning on the G/L interface.