General Ledger Setup Walkthrough

This guide walks through the steps required to configure a working General Ledger from scratch. Complete these steps in order — each step builds on the previous one.

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Steps for source accounts and tax configuration are part of Phase 3 and are not covered here.

Prerequisites

Before starting GL setup, ensure that:

• A tenant exists with at least one organisation
• FND reference data is loaded (countries, currencies, lookups)
• You have the Finance Admin role or equivalent permissions

Step 1 — Create conversion rate types

Define the rate types your organisation will use for currency conversion. At minimum, most organisations need a SPOT or CORPORATE rate type.

1. Navigate to Setup → Currency → Rate Types
2. Create a rate type with a code, name, and optional pivot currency
3. Repeat for each rate type you need (e.g. CORPORATE, BUDGET)

If your organisation operates in a single currency, you can skip this step — no conversion rates are needed when all ledgers share the same functional currency.

For background, see Currency and Conversion Rates.

Step 2 — Load daily rates

For each rate type, enter the daily conversion rates between the currency pairs your organisation uses.

1. Navigate to Setup → Currency → Daily Rates
2. Select the rate type
3. Enter the from-currency, to-currency, date, and rate
4. The inverse rate is calculated automatically

Rates should be loaded before any foreign-currency transactions are posted. Many organisations automate this with a scheduled import.

Step 3 — Create legal entities

Define the legal entities that will own your ledgers.

1. Navigate to Setup → Legal Entities
2. Create a legal entity with a code, name, type, country, and functional currency
3. Repeat for each legal entity in your organisation structure

For background, see Legal Entities and Business Units.

Step 4 — Set up the chart of accounts

The chart of accounts is built in layers: value sets, then a structure with segments, then code combinations.

Step 4a — Create value sets

Define the value sets that will provide the allowed values for each segment of your account string.

1. Navigate to Setup → Chart of Accounts → Value Sets
2. Create a value set for each segment type (e.g. VS_COMPANY, VS_ACCT, VS_DEPT)
3. Add values to each value set — these are the individual codes users will select

Step 4b — Create a chart-of-accounts structure

Define the structure that determines how segments are assembled into account strings.

1. Navigate to Setup → Chart of Accounts → Structures
2. Create a structure with a code, name, and segment separator (typically -)
3. Decide whether to enable dynamic insertion (auto-create combinations on first use) and cross-validation

Step 4c — Add segments to the structure

Link value sets to the structure by creating segments.

1. Within the structure, add segments in display order
2. For each segment, select the value set, set required/optional, and flag the natural account and balancing segments
3. A typical layout: Company (seq 1) → Account (seq 2) → Department (seq 3)

Step 4d — Create code combinations

If dynamic insertion is disabled, pre-create the valid account code combinations.

1. Navigate to Setup → Chart of Accounts → Code Combinations
2. Enter segment values for each valid combination
3. The concatenated string (e.g. 01-1100-100) is generated automatically
4. Enable or disable combinations as needed

If dynamic insertion is enabled, you can skip this step — combinations will be created automatically when first used in a journal entry, provided all segment values are valid.

For background, see Chart of Accounts.

Step 5 — Create calendars and periods

Define the time structure for your accounting cycle.

Step 5a — Create a period type

1. Navigate to Setup → Calendars → Period Types
2. Create a period type (e.g. MONTH with 12 periods per year)

Step 5b — Create a calendar

1. Navigate to Setup → Calendars
2. Create a calendar with a code, name, and the period type from step 5a

Step 5c — Add periods

1. Within the calendar, create periods for each time range
2. Set the period name, number, year, quarter, start date, and end date
3. Add adjustment periods (period 13, etc.) if needed for year-end entries

Step 5d — Open periods

1. For each period, set the period status to OPEN for the applications that need it (GL, AP, AR)
2. Future periods can be set to FUTURE_ENTRY if you want to allow entries in advance

For background, see Calendars and Periods.

Step 6 — Create ledgers

Tie everything together by creating ledgers.

1. Navigate to Setup → Ledgers
2. Create a ledger with a code, name, and type (start with PRIMARY)
3. Select the chart-of-accounts structure from step 4
4. Select the calendar from step 5
5. Select the functional currency
6. Map the ledger to a legal entity (from step 3) as the primary ledger

For background, see Ledgers.

What comes next

After completing these steps, your General Ledger is ready to accept journal entries. The remaining configuration — source accounts, tax setup, and subledger accounting rules — is covered in Phase 3.

Summary

Step	What you create	Depends on
1	Conversion rate types	FND currencies
2	Daily rates	Rate types
3	Legal entities	FND countries, currencies
4	Value sets, structure, segments, combinations	—
5	Period type, calendar, periods	—
6	Ledgers + legal-entity mapping	Steps 3, 4, 5