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Optimizing Cross-validation Rules in General Ledger

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Written by Helene Abrams Monday, September 05 2011

Cross-validation rules determine which segment values in your chart of accounts (or other key flexfields) can be used together.  Upon data entry, the rule determines and controls the valid values that may be used in conjunction with other values. This paper shows how to set up Cross-validation rules, discusses the design considerations for your chart of accounts so that you can reduce the number and complexity of your Cross-validation rules, and concludes with a list of the top seven things to remember when designing Cross-validation rules.

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Designing a Global Chart of Accounts and Taking Advantage of Oracle® E-Business Suite Release 12

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Written by Helene Abrams Sunday, May 01 2011

A chart of accounts is a list of accounts used by a business to classify financial transactions. In Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS), the chart of accounts is called the accounting flexfield and is one example of a number of key flexfields in EBS that store values in a table structure for integration with other parts of the enterprise resource planning system. A good chart of accounts provides flexibility for recording and reporting accounting information, provides structure for managing business uniformly, and enhances communication across all parts of the business. A great chart of accounts takes care and consideration in the design phase, with particular focus on five key criteria considerations that will maximize the life of the accounting flexfield. Companies that do not consider their long-term growth and change will eventually find that their chart of accounts is no longer suitable for tracking financial transactions according to the current state of the business.

Note: This article assumes you have a general understanding of the components of a chart of accounts in E-Business Suite. If you don’t, or if it’s been awhile, take a moment to brush up by clicking here for a quick crash course.

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If IFRS...Then, Part 2: 5 Best Practices in Designing a Chart of Accounts in Oracle E-Business Suite

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Written by Natalia Warren Wednesday, June 16 2010

To better manage the transition from U.S. GAAP rules-based to IFRS principles-based financial reporting, U.S. filers who use Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) should determine how many different Charts of Accounts (COAs) they currently have and begin working on a plan to adopt a single global COA for every business entity and reporting unit. Although regional differences in reporting requirements will likely persist even after a full-scale transition to IFRS, this should not prevent organizations from a brutally honest assessment of the current situation. Whether organizations are running R11i or R12, a common COA will simplify external reporting and internally provide management with better and faster reports.

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Putting Numbers in Boxes: Spring Cleaning for Charts of Accounts - Part II

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Written by Helene Abrams Tuesday, February 10 2009

Last month, we wrote an article about putting numbers in boxes that presented the current chart of accounts and design considerations for a local/county government. This month, we are continuing that article with design considerations for a CoA for a high tech manufacturing company. We will refer to this company as HTM in this article. HTM has many of the same issues that the county government had, with segments representing multiple types of data and with different kinds of information within one segment. This chart is a little more complex because HTM is a global company with different statutory and regulatory requirements. Trying to get global consensus on a new chart around the world is also very difficult politically because everyone feels ownership of their current values and they want to continue doing things in the way that they are used to doing them.

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TEChanges - Agility by Design

January Puzzle

A traveler gets lost on a deserted island and finds himself surrounded by a group of n cannibals.

Each cannibal wants to eat the traveler but, as each knows, there is a risk. A cannibal that attacks and eats the traveler would become tired and defenseless. After he eats, he would become an easy target for another cannibal (who would also become tired and defenseless after eating).

The cannibals are all hungry, but they cannot trust each other to cooperate. The cannibals happen to be well versed in game theory, so they will think before making a move.

Does the nearest cannibal, or any cannibal in the group, devour the lost traveler?

Show solution...

Solution

The short answer is the traveler’s fate depends on the parity of the group. If there is an odd number of canibals, the traveler will be eaten, but if there is an even number, the traveler will survive.

To prove this, we will consider small groups and use mathematical induction to explain the solution for larger groups.

Case n = 1: this is an obvious case. If there is one cannibal, the traveler will be eaten. It doesn’t matter that the cannibal will get tired because there are no other cannibals around as a threat.

Case n = 2: this is a more interesting case. Each cannibal wishes to each the traveler, but each knows he cannot. If either cannibal eats the traveler, then he will become defenseless and the other one will eat him. So each cannibal uses backwards induction to realize that the only strategy is to not eat the traveler. The hapless traveler finds a bit of luck, therefore, and actually survives.

Case n = 3: this is where the problem gets interesting. The best strategy is for the closest cannibal to make a move and eat the traveler. The cannibal will be defenseless after eating, but ultimately he will be safe. Why is that? The reasoning is due to induction: once the cannibal eats the traveler, the resulting situation has 2 unfed cannibals and the 1 defenseless cannibal. But as we just showed above, when there are 2 unfed cannibals, neither will make a move for fear of being eaten by the other! Thus the first cannibal to make a move will be safe as the remaining 2 cannibals block each other.

We can prove the higher cases using mathematical induction. If the number n is odd, then the closest cannibal can safely eat the traveler because the remaining number of unfed cannibals is even (and by induction, with an even number of unfed cannibals no one makes a move). If the number n is even, then no cannibal will eat the traveler, for if he did, the remaining number of cannibals would be odd, meaning he will get eaten by the induction hypothesis.

Success Tips for Oracle Project Management

  • Create a standard for documentation at the beginning of your project, and hold team members accountable for completing documentation requirements as well as keeping them at and above the standards required.
  • Before promulgating user documentation or training, it’s also a good idea to choose a representative from the among the business users base to review materials first.
  • If you are not sure about the resources and budget required, obtain several estimates from people that have experience with the same size and scope of your project.
  • Be explicit, before beginning the project, what internal resources are required for execution. This includes people, infrastructure, hardware, and software.
  • Help the project champion understand the impact your project will have on the organization and how its successful completion will make him or her an internal hero or heroine for supporting it.
  • Break up your project into smaller projects (try for projects that can be completed in 4-6 months, especially early on) to get success and demonstrate momentum.
  • Make sure that your testing includes reports, upstream and downstream interfaces, customizations, enhancements, and workflows.
  • Ensure that comprehensive transition reports and meetings between departing and incoming personnel are completed.
  • Instead of spending time and resources implementing third-party reporting, consider consolidating multiple instances, moving to a global chart of accounts (CoA), and/or standardizing on a consistent calendar.
  • Include governance, risk, and compliance management as part of the project plan.
  • Finally, celebrate the successes. Too many projects focus on defects, failures, or small cost over-runs without looking at the big picture and what was accomplished.

The Analyst Corner

John Van Decker, Research VP of Gartner, states:

"A single chart of accounts allows consistency in financial reporting across the enterprise by standardizing on common metrics and reporting structures, reduces dependencies on a separate financial consolidation system, and significantly reduces the costs incurred with ongoing, complex conversions and translations."

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