R12’s accommodation of multiple ledgers enables smart decision-making by continuously and quickly providing key financial information crucial to important business decisions. The structure of accounting using multiple ledgers also allows for more consistent processing and GL management as well as secure but widely accessible data. For example, a single transaction in a primary ledger can create multiple accounting representations in multiple currencies in the same ledger set (a ledger set is analogous to a set of books in R11). For a slightly technical look at subledger accounting, see this article.

R12 provides the ability to define accounting rules that derive other transactions. The user enters a transaction one time, then uses the Create Accounting function to populate other ledgers in a ledger set. A ledger may have a different currency, calendar, chart of accounts, or accounting method (i.e. US GAAP, IAS ). The ability to automatically create a new transaction in a different ledger that is linked to an original transaction reduces data entry time and errors, and avoids reconciliation issues because the subsidiary ledger transactions are always in sync with the primary transaction. Straight-through processing allows real-time, single-step posting to all relevant ledgers with a clean audit trail delineating the derivation of primary, secondary, and reporting ledgers. The transactions are transparent with full drill-down. A draft-mode accounting feature allows review and modification of the generated transactions before posting.

The following functions can be performed across ledgers:

• Open and close periods
• Create journals
• Translate and revalue balances
• View information
• Submit standard reports
• Submit financial statements
• Perform allocations

Ledgers allow a consistent approach, standard policies, rules, and processes for global accounting. The common functions across ledgers reduce the workload and produce processing efficiencies.