Dates are pretty straightforward on the general ledger.  If the calendar says May (or the first few days of June) it’s May.  It’s more complicated for AP transactions or sponsored research or other projects.

Every transaction carries an effective, or “as of”, date and a posting date.

• The subledger effective date does not affect or control the general ledger effective date.

For example, a retro labor distribution change may post to the July payroll in the calendar month of December.  The payroll effective date is July.  A project cost transfer may post to a project with an expenditure date of September in the calendar month of December.  The PPM effective date is September.  Both of these transactions are summarized to the general ledger in December, where the effective date is December.

On a requisition you can enter expenditure item date for project.  The general ledger date for the requisition will be the posting date.  The effective date for the project will be the date you enter.

This is important to keep in mind for corrections posting in FY 2023 for FY 2022 transactions.  The effective date in the general ledger will be FY 2023.

• The subledger posting date does control the general ledger posting date.

The subledger entries are summarized to the general ledger each night.  For our two examples above (payroll effective July and project effective September) when they post to the subledger in December they will be summarized to the general ledger in December.  The posting dates will all be December.

• The general ledger is only active for open periods, and both the “as of” and posting date must be in an open period.

Generally, the open period is the current calendar month which extends the first few days of the next calendar month.  The old month generally closes on the fifth business day of the next month.