Clearing of accounts
Contents
General
The function Clearing of accounts is used to see which transactions on an account make up the balance. Transactions are matched and can be cleared against one another. The clearing is carried out as at a specific date, after which the function can be used as an account statement, showing only transactions that have not yet been cleared.
The closing balance or account balance remains the same regardless of whether all transactions or only those that have not been cleared are selected for display. If the Not cleared option is selected, transactions that have been cleared and are no longer open on the account are not displayed.
As an example, transactions on an account for receivables from employees can be cleared, when there is a transaction of an advance payment to an employee and the expenses that the employee has registered. It is possible to see how much of the advance remains available as at a specific date, as expenses registered on an ongoing basis can be cleared against it. Once the entire advance has been used up and the expenses have been cleared so that the remaining balance is 0, the transactions are no longer displayed in the list.
Clearing of accounts can be used for any accounts. Clearing does not affect the bookkeeping, except where the amounts cleared do not cancel each other out and in the case of clearing transactions between different sub-accounts (XXXX1 – XXXX9).
As the function looks back at previous years, there is a possibility to set the first accounting year, i.e. from when the transactions can be taken to clearing. The parameter is in System | Base registers | Company specific parameters.
Setting
Clearing of accounts is in Accounting | Backoffice | Clearing of accounts. The function is activated by registering a voucher series for clearing in Accounting | Backoffice | Bas registers, tab General ledger| Parameters, open the accounting year and go to the Registration tab. Tick the box for Ignore cost centre if clearing between different cost centres shall be possible.
Selections for clearing
- Go to Accounting | Backoffice | Clearing of accounts
- Enter Per date. If the next step is to make a clearing of transactions, the date is suggested as clearing date.
- Select an account or leave the Account field blank to include all accounts. If you select an account with sub-accounts, the selection will also include them. (For example, selection on 2420 also include 242001-242009)
- You can also make a cost centre specific selection
- Select status
- You can also select Amount. This refers to the absolute amount. A filter set to 1000 – 1,000 will therefore include transactions of 1,000 in both the debit and credit columns
List of transactions
The list shows all transactions according to your selection from the previous step. The list contains the same columns as the list in Accounting | Reports | Account specification/ Nominal ledger, but with some additional columns concerning the clearing.
| Absolute amount | Shows the absolute amount of the transaction and is used to sort transactions with the same amount but with the sign reversed. |
|---|---|
| Cleared amount | Shows how much has already been cleared on the transaction per selection date |
| Remaining amount | Shows the transaction’s original amount minus what already has been cleared per selected day |
| Clearing ID | Shows date for previously made clearings |
| Clearing date | Shows the date when clearing was made. |
Clear transactions
- To clear transactions, select two or more records from the list and press the Clear button. Only transactions that are in the same main account and have the same cost centre and cost object may be cleared.
| Amount | is the original amount on the transaction |
|---|---|
| Remaining | is uncleared amounts per selected date |
| Amount to be cleared | is used to state how much that shall be cleared from each transaction. The suggestion here is the complete remaining amount for each transaction, but the amount can be changed and partly cleared, see below. |
| Clearing date | is suggested to same date as Per date in the selection but can be changed. |
|---|---|
| Clearing ID | is automatically set by Marathon and cannot be changed. |
There are four scenarios for clearing with slightly different procedures. Simple clearing, partial clearing, clearing with a remaining balance, and clearing between sub-accounts.
Simple clearing
A simple clearing is when the total remaining amount for two or more transactions to be cleared is 0. For example, a debit and a credit transaction that are cleared against each other. In this case, simply press Save.
Partial clearing
Partial clearing is used to clear an amount other than the outstanding balance on one or more transactions, provided that the total cleared amount remains 0.
For example, in the case of a debit transaction of 600 and a credit transaction of 300, where you wish to clear these, the amount to be cleared must be manually changed to 300 so that the total is 0.
Clearing with a remaining balance
For clearing transactions where the total amount is not 0, clearing with a remaining amount can be carried out. This is primarily intended for clearing entries that almost cancel each other out and where the small remaining difference does not need to be dealt with. For example, when clearing a debit transaction of 1000 against a credit transaction of 999.
This can be done manually by posting 1 as a debit to the account and 1 as a credit to a difference account and then offsetting the three transactions with a remaining amount of 0. The remaining amount clearing method does this in practice, but the bookkeeping does not need to be done manually.
As the total clearing amount per account must always be 0, in order clear 1000 against 999, Marathon needs to create a new voucher with the difference debited/credited to the original account and with a contra posting to a specific account for discrepancies.
The new transaction on the original account is automatically cleared, whilst the new transaction on the specific account for discrepancies will remain uncleared.
Clearing between sub-accounts
Generally, clearing between different accounts is not permitted. An exception is clearing between two sub-accounts under the same main account, for example 24901 and 24903. When clearing transactions between two sub-accounts, Marathon will first create a new voucher that reverses the amount of all transactions being cleared. All transactions, both the original ones and the reversal entries, are then automatically cleared. Please note that clearing between 6-digit accounts ending in 1–9 affects the VAT base amount. Such clearings should therefore not be carried out.
Reverse clearing
If a clearing is carried out erroneously, it can be undone. Then a new clearing is created with reversed signs.
- Select a transaction in the list and click Open. All clearings carried out on the transaction are shown in a table.
- Select a row and press Unclear. The table now shows all transactions included in the clearing and that will be affected by the reversal. Select clearing date and press Save.
