Journal Entry General

User Guide

Document Last Updated June 30, 2016

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 Table of Contents
Objectives ........................................................................................................................................... 3
Overview of BEN ................................................................................................................................. 4
Purpose of the Journal Entry - General Responsibility ...................................................................... 6
General Features....................................................................................................................................... 6
What is Journal Entry General Responsibility? ............................................................................... 6
Transactions in BEN Financials ................................................................................................................... 6
Posting ..................................................................................................................................................... 7
Logging on to BEN Financials ............................................................................................................. 8
BEN Financials Homepage .................................................................................................................. 9
Entering a Manual Journal................................................................................................................ 10
Find Journals Window ............................................................................................................................. 10
Lines Tab ............................................................................................................................................... 11
Journals (BEN Financials) Form by Field ................................................................................................... 11
Other Information Tab ............................................................................................................................ 14
Fail Funds Checking Which Account? ..................................................................................................... 15
Journal Categories .................................................................................................................................. 16
GL Inquiry - Journals ........................................................................................................................ 22
Querying in the Line Block ....................................................................................................................... 24
Querying from the Journal Entry Responsibility .............................................................................. 25
Redistribution of Penn Purchasing Card Transactions ..................................................................... 27
Suspense Transactions ..................................................................................................................... 29
Source Suspense ..................................................................................................................................... 30
Locating Suspense Accounts .................................................................................................................... 31
Revision History ............................................................................................................................... 32

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Objectives

Upon completion of this section, you will:

have an overview of BEN, BEN Financials and BEN Balances

know why the Journal Entry - General responsibility is necessary
understand the policies surrounding the Journal Entry - General process
learn how to access the Journal Entry General responsibility
know how to enter a journal entry in BEN Financials for correcting an error,
reallocating costs and transferring costs

know how to delete a saved or unsaved record

know how to query a journal entry from an inquiry or entry mode
know how to adjust Penn Purchasing Card transactions
know how to clear suspense transactions
know where to go for assistance when necessary

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Overview of BEN
Business Enterprise Network (BEN)
Penns business and financial management systems which includes
Web-enabled applications and tools
Support structure

Desktop Configuration
Consistent with current University standards
http://www.finance.upenn.edu/ben/benfin/desktop_req/
Local Support Providers (LSPs)
http://www.upenn.edu/computing/view/support/staff.html
List of primary computer support assigned by Center and by Department

Access/Security
Penn eForms
http://www.upenn.edu/computing/da/eforms/

Important Web Addresses

U@Penn Portal
http://medley.isc-seo.upenn.edu/penn_portal/u@penn.php
Access to a wide variety of University web sites and information including those listed below
BEN Financials Homepage
http://benapps.isc-seo.upenn.edu
Access to BEN Financials and BEN Deposits
Business Enterprise Network
http://www.finance.upenn.edu/ben
News, Calendar, BEN Reps, BEN Knows, Frequently Asked Questions, Support Information, etc.
Financial Training Department Web Page
http://www.finance.upenn.edu/ftd/
Information regarding courses offered, register for training, view the Bottom Line Newsletter, etc.
Audit and Compliance Web Page
http://www.upenn.edu/audit/
Information on controls, compliance mechanisms, and technologies to manage risk as well as
providing guidance on the stewardship of University resources
Responsibility Center Management (RCM)
http://www.finance.upenn.edu/comptroller/rcm/index.shtml
Information about BEN Financials Reports, Fund Aggregations & Object Code Aggregations, etc.

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Overview of BEN (continued)
Purchasing Services Web Page
http://www.purchasing.upenn.edu/
Information about BEN Buys, the Commodity Matrix, Supplier information, etc.
Purchasing Forms
http://www.purchasing.upenn.edu/forms/
Request to Add a New BEN Buys Supplier
Request to Add a New BEN Buys Ship-To-Location
Request for University Tax Exemption Certificate
Request to Resend Approved Purchase Order to Suppler
And more

Need Help?
Dial 6-HELP (6-4357 or 215/746-4357)
Enter your two-digit School or Center code
BEN Helps is available 9:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday
BEN Knows Web Page
http://www.finance.upenn.edu/benknows/
Web site to browse and search for possible solutions to your BEN Financials questions

Penn eForms
Penn eForms are required for entry to most University financial systems. These eForms should be processed
promptly to ensure system access following training. If an eForm has not been processed within 60
days or more of attending a training course, you will be required to repeat the course to obtain
access.

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Purpose of the Journal Entry - General Responsibility
To create entries that adjust actual transactions as needed for transferring costs or correcting previous
entries in BEN Financials
Create transactions, i.e. service center billings

General Features
Ability to query all journal entries in the Journal Entry General responsibility
Ability to check and reserve funds for on-line manual journal entry
Ability to see results of funds checking, i.e., which account on the journal failed funds checking

What is Journal Entry General Responsibility?

The Journal Entry General responsibility allows users to enter journal entries on-line for the following:

Transferring costs for intramural goods and services

Making adjustments to previous transactions for non-sponsored project (5 fund) accounts
Making cost sharing or transfer/share cost incurred for Grants and Contracts
Perform billing functions

Transactions in BEN Financials

There are generally five sources of transactions within BEN Financials
Organization initiated
On-line journal entries
BEN Financials modules
Purchasing
Accounts Payable
Assets
Feeder systems
Salary Management
University Services, etc.
System generated
Mass allocations
Custom Processes
Revenue Reclass
Grant and contract revenue recognition
Every transaction will create a journal entry within BEN Balances
Budget modification creates a budget journal entry
Purchasing and Accounts Payable funds reservation creates/relieves an encumbrance journal entry
Accounts Payable invoice processing creates a journal entry for actual expenses
Feeder system uploads (Mail Services, Penn Purchasing Card) to BEN Balances create a journal entry
On-line transactions create a journal entry directly into BEN Balances

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Posting
Posting is the process of updating account balances
Posting of journals is the responsibility of the Office of the Comptroller
Most journals post automatically every night, except
Manual Encumbrance
Reversing entries
Penn Purchasing Card
Journal entries w/Control Total violations
Journal entries cannot be changed once they have been posted (e.g., Manual On-line & Penn
Purchasing Card)

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Logging on to BEN Financials
From the U@Penn Portal Business Tab (http://medley.isc-seo.upenn.edu/penn_portal/u@penn.php)
Click on BEN Financials>BEN Financials Homepage or type http://benapps.isc-seo.upenn.edu/

These are websites you may want to create a bookmark or favorite in your web browser

Check here for

important system
availability
messages, etc.

Click on BEN Financials

Enter your application User Name and Password

Click on [Login] or press [Enter]

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BEN Financials Homepage
Select the desired Responsibility, in this
case Journal Entry General

The Navigator window briefly

appears on the screen. To change a
navigation path within a responsibility,
invoke the Navigator by
Closing all forms or
Clicking on the Show
Navigator icon on the toolbar

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Entering a Manual Journal

Click on the Journal>Enter navigation path

Find Journals Window

From here, you can either query an existing journal OR enter a New Journal.
Click on [New Journal]

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 Entering a Manual Journal (continued) Batch Name
When entering queries be sure to
Lines Tab use % (wildcards)

Context
Box

To delete an unsaved line

Click on Descriptive Flexfield
Edit>Clear>Record or see Journal
To delete a saved line Categories section
Click on
Edit>Delete

Journals (BEN Financials) Form by Field

Use [Tab], [Enter] or click into the appropriate fields to enter required data.
Journal name - enter the journal name using Penns format as follows:
ORG (4 digits)
Preparers initials (3 characters)
Date (MM/DD/YY)
Journal number (2 digits) e.g., 01, 02, 03 created for the day
Description - the description here will default to each line of the journal entry but can be changed
line by line if needed. If creating a journal for an adjustment to a previous transaction the nature of
the original transaction should be reflected in the description Adj. OBJ codes PO 123456 beakers
from Fisher, Fund 512345 frozen correct suspense, etc.

Ledger Defaults to Penn General Ledger

Period - will default to the current open accounting period
There is only one period open except when both ADJ-YY and JUL-YY are open
To select another open period, click on the List of Values (LOV) icon []
Balance Type - defaults to Actual
Clearing Company - not used at Penn

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Entering a Manual Journal (continued)
Category - select by clicking on the LOV
icon []

Go to the section titled Journal

Categories for a complete listing
including screen captures.

Effective Date - Todays dat

Budget - remains blank
Tax Not required
Control Total - Penn policy requires the
use of the Control Total

The debit side of the journal is

compared to the control total. The
Journal batch will not post until the
control total matches the debits.

To prevent a Manual Journal from posting, make the

control total a different amount than the debit lines in the
journal. When you save the journal say yes to the warning
message when it appears.

Conversion block - Currency will default to USD. Other fields cannot be changed.
Status block fields will display defaulted information
Reverse block - only completed when you want to reverse a posted journal
[ ] Descriptive Flexfield complete the appropriate information based on the Category selected
Line number - University convention is to start with line number 10; each line thereafter will
increment by 10
Account Number - click on the LOV icon [] or [Ctrl]+L to bring up the Accounting Flexfield;
enter the account number; click [OK]
Enter Debit or Credit amount
Complete Journal Lines as described above until Debits/Credits equal the Control Total
Journal Lines (including the Context Box) can be copied down
Click Edit>Duplicate>Record Above or [Shift] F6
Remember to change the Account Number in copied line
If the debit and credit amount on the journal do not agree, this
message will pop-up when you save the journal.

Modify the line description if additional data is required

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 Entering a Manual Journal (continued)
Tab to the Context Box

Go to the section titled Journal Categories for complete listing including screen captures.

Click on the LOV icon [] or [Ctrl] L to open the Context Find window, if required
Select the Context and click [OK], if required
Click [OK] to complete next line of journal
Click Edit>Duplicate>Record Above or [Shift] F6 to copy full journal line including the context box
Complete the Journal Lines as described above until Debits/Credits equal the Control Total
Click on [Check Funds]
The message to the right will appear which will save
your work (if you havent done so already)
Click [Yes]
Pop-up box tells you Your transaction passed funds check
Click [OK]
Penn policy states that if you do not pass funds checking
Use a different and allowable account number
Do not execute the transaction

If you did not complete the [ ] Descriptive Flexfield information required, this message will
pop-up when you go to save your journal.

Click on [Reserve Funds]

Pop-up box tells you Your transaction passed funds reservation
Click [OK]
Once funds are reserved, you cannot change the journal entry
You must click on [Unreserve Funds] to make modifications
to the unposted journal
Important Note: Not reserving a journal will not prevent it from posting

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Entering a Manual Journal (continued)
Other Information Tab

Status block fields will display defaulted information

Posting either Unposted or Posted
Funds either Passed or Failed
Approval N/A
Source - Manual
Reference - not used at Penn
Reference Date not used at Penn
Reconciliation Reference not used at Penn
Accounting Sequencing block not used at Penn
Reporting Sequencing block not used at Penn

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Entering a Manual Journal (continued)
Fail Funds Checking Which Account?
To determine which account failed funds checking
within your journal entry, click on [View Results]

Budgetary Control Results

Results
Message

Review the Result Message to see which account failed the advisory level funds check

If the account combination fails funds checking, the message will read This detail account causes a
summary account to fail budgetary control in advisory mode

REMINDER - Penn policy states that if you do not pass funds checking
Use a different and allowable account number
Do not execute the transaction

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 Entering a Manual Journal (continued)
Journal Categories

One of the following categories is to be used when creating a journal entry from the Journal Entry
General responsibility:

Category 01 Intramural Goods/Services

Category 02 Adjust a Previous Transaction
Category 07 Grant and Contract Adjustment
Category 17 UPHS Goods/Services
Category 18 UPHS Payroll

See the following pages for a full example of each category.

Important Note: To transfer a cost or correct a previous transaction for Grants and Contract (non-
sponsored projects or 5 Funds) use the Journal Entry G&C Cost Transfers Responsibility. Go to
http://www.finance.upenn.edu/ftd/documentation/Grant_and_Contract_Cost_Transfers_Application_Training.pdf for
instructions on how to enter these transactions.

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Entering a Manual Journal (continued)

Journal Categories (continued)

Category: 01 Intra Gds/Svs

Defined Usage
Use for intramural services, service center activity, and transfers between centers.

Journal Header Descriptive Flexfield

Type of Service: Required
Description: Required
Date Rendered: Required
Cost Basis: Required
Additional Comments: Not Required

Journal Line Context Box

Not Used

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Entering a Manual Journal (continued)

Journal Categories (continued)

Category: 02 Adj Prev Tx

Defined Usage
Use for correction of a previous transaction or clearing suspense.

Journal Header Descriptive Flexfield

Type of Adjustment: Required
Reason for Adjustment: Required
Additional Comments: Not Required

Journal Header Context Box

Original Batch Name: Required
Original Trans Date: Required
Lawson AU UPHS COA: Not Required

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Entering a Manual Journal (continued)

Journal Categories (continued)

Category: 17 UPHS Gds/Svs

Defined Usage
Original billing of UPHS Goods/Services only

Journal Header Descriptive Flexfield

Description: Required
Date Rendered: Required
Cost Basis: Required
Additional Comments: Not Required

Journal Line Context Box

Lawson AU UPHS COA: Required

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Entering a Manual Journal (continued)

Journal Categories (continued)

Category: 18 UPHS Payroll

Defined Usage
Use to reimburse UPHS for academic/research done for UPENN by UPHS employees paid on
UPHS payroll (object codes 5140 and 5192).

Journal Header Descriptive Flexfield

Not Used

Journal Line Context Box

Pay Period End Date: Required
Lawson AU UPHS COA: Required

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GL Inquiry - Journals
Perform a journal inquiry to view all journal entry batches for actual, budgets, or encumbrances in BEN
Balances. A user can query from a variety of search criteria including the batch name, journal name,
source, category, period and/or posting status.
From the GL Inquiry (Secured) responsibility
Click on the Inquiry>Journals navigation path. Click on [Open] or double click on the paths
end.

When you first navigate to the Journal Entry Inquiry window, the Find Journals window appears
automatically. After you run the query, you can reopen the Find Journals window by selecting
View>Find from the menu or the flashlight from the Toolbar.
Enter search criteria. Use wildcards, as needed, or List of Values [] where available, e.g. Period

Click on
[More] to see
additional fields
you can use to
refine your
query.
To hide these
extra fields,
click on [Less].

Click on [Find]

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GL Inquiry Journals (continued)

Click on [Review Journal] to see the transactions for the journal queried

From this screen, click

on Help>Record
History to view who
created and updated the
journal.
To query who
created/updated and
obtain their full name,
address and e-mail, go
to the Navigator and
click on View User

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GL Inquiry Journals (continued)
Querying in the Line Block
Within the line block you can query on a desired field vs. scrolling through all the lines in journal.

Position cursor on Line 1; Click on View>Find or the flashlight icon

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GL Inquiry Journals (continued)
Querying in the Line Block (continued)
Enter a search criteria
For example, click in the Accounts From field; enter a segment; click [OK]

Click on [Find] to see the results of your query within the line block

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Querying from the Journal Entry Responsibility
Recommended for Unposted Penn Purchasing Card and Manual Journal Entries only
The Journal Entry General Responsibility is an unsecured responsibility. When you query a journal
entry, all transactions (posted and unposted) are available to query. Be sure to make your query specific
enough to retrieve only the transactions needed for adjustment.

Use of unsecured responsibilities is a privilege which can be revoked. Be sure not to change
anyone elses journal entry without their permission to do so.

When you first select Journal Entry General Responsibility the Find Journals window appears.

After you run the query, you can reopen the Find Journals window by selecting View >
Find from the menu or the flashlight from the Toolbar

Enter query parameters to find the batch or journal you want to review
Be sure to use % wildcard system adds time and date information at the end of the Universitys
naming convention for manual journal entries and batch names

Click on [More] to see additional fields that you can use to refine your query. To hide
these extra fields, click on [Less]

Once you've entered all of your query parameters, click on [Find] to run the query

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Querying from the Journal Entry Responsibility (continued)
The journal batches or journals that meet your query criteria appear in the Enter Journals window. You
see the Batch Status, the Batch Name, the Journal Name, the batch Period, and the Journal Debits and
Credits.

Click on [Review Journal] to see detailed information about the selected journal.
Changes to Journals can only be made on Unposted journals, e.g. Penn Purchasing Card

Querying in GL Inquiry vs. Journal Entry

There are some important differences between querying a journal in the GL Inquiry responsibility and
querying a journal in the Journal Entry General responsibility. They are as follows:
Use the Journal Inquiry function from the GL Inquiry (Secured) responsibility if you need to see all
entries in a journal
In the Journal Entry - General responsibility, you will not see the interfund entries, including the
liability object code (2305) posted for each Penn Purchasing Card journal

Use the GL Inquiry (Secured) responsibility, if you need to see all the object codes and funds within a
particular journal
The object/fund rules control both what you can/cannot enter in a journal entry AND what you
can/cannot see when you query an existing batch in the Journal Entry responsibility

For CNAC, the rule is that only NAC '0' is allowed. Within the Journal Entry General responsibility,
you can't enter any other NAC value and you won't be able to see any accounts (in a journal batch)
that have a NAC value other than zero.

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Redistribution of Penn Purchasing Card Transactions
Penn Purchasing Card transactions are examples of journal entries for which costs may need to be
redistributed. Most journal entries, except Penn Purchasing Card, are posted nightly. Penn Purchasing
Card entries remain unposted for five days (Monday to Friday) to allow for modifications. The Journal
Entry - General responsibility is used to redistribute costs for source system journal entries containing
default account information.
Select the Journal Entry General responsibility
Navigate to Journals>Enter
Enter the search criteria on the Find Journals window
Use wildcards (%) before and after the 6-digit Penn Purchasing Card ID number in the Batch
field, e.g. %Pxxxxnn%, where xxxx is the ORG number and nn is the two-digit cardholder
number

Use U% or Unposted as the parameter in the Status Posting field

Click on [Find] to execute query
Click [Review Journal] to open journal
Enter Control Total for journal
Make changes to journal lines as needed
Click on [Check Funds]
Reminder: Do not continue with transaction if you do not pass funds checking

Click on [Reserve Funds]. Pop-up box tells you Your transaction passed funds reservation.
Click [OK]

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Suspense Transactions
Suspense account entries result when a transaction, originating from a system outside of BEN Financials
and transferred to BEN Financials via a feeder file, contains an account error. Account errors can result
from an invalid mapping of the legacy account to the related BEN Financials account; or when a specific
segment value is invalid, expired, or disabled; or when the BEN Financials account format is invalid; or
when the BEN Financials account violates internal account mapping logic.

On-line entry of transactions (i.e. Manual Journal Entries, Purchase Orders) will not generate suspense
transactions because all entries are validated at the time of entry or save process. However, when an
unbalanced on-line journal is submitted for posting, BEN Financials will post the offset to OBJECT = 9500
and ORG = 0000. Sometimes this occurs when a user has not completed the journal and forgets to enter
an amount in the Control Total to prevent it from posting that night.

There are two types of suspense transactions:

Source

Source Suspense transactions are transactions that are programmed to return to the source department
responsible for the feeder. Since the CNAC will not be the same as the original transaction, end users will
not be able to view or report on these transactions. Only a few feeder systems are programmed in this
manner: Gifts, BRS and PROCARD. The OBJECT code corresponds to the suspense object specific to the
feeder. ORG will always be equal to SUSP. The account which failed appears on the Description line of
the journal entry.

A transaction from any other feeder can also be returned to the source department if the ORG in the
account cannot be determined either because the old account number mapping is incorrect or is missing
from the mapping tables, or because the BEN Financials account contains an invalid ORG value.

Organization

Organization Suspense accounts are transactions that contain invalid, expired, or disabled segment
values in the account. The transaction then is returned to the CNAC and ORG from the original account.
The OBJECT code corresponds to the suspense OBJECT code specific to the feeder. PROGRAM and CREF
always are set to 0000. The account which failed appears on the Description line of the journal entry.

It is the responsibility of each organization to monitor the suspense transactions

posted to their respective ORG. All transactions, except payroll, bursar, and gift
transactions, can be corrected in BEN Financials, with an online journal entry. Payroll
transactions must be corrected in Salary Management; bursar transactions should be
corrected in the SAM system; and gift transactions must be corrected in the Gift System.

To monitor the transactions posted during the month to suspense accounts, the user must first

Locate the suspense accounts

Identify the specific transaction

Correct the transaction posted to the suspense account

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Suspense Object Codes
Source Suspense
Below is how the transaction will look to the source system or feeder:
CNAC ORG BC FUND OBJECT PROGRAM CREF
### SUSP 1 000000 94##/95## 0000 0000
Below is how the transactions will look to the organization reviewing the suspense account.
The transaction must be reversed from suspense using the exact account charged/credited to
suspense, i.e. Program 0000; CREF 0000

Organization Suspense
CNAC ORG BC FUND OBJECT PROGRAM CREF
### #### 1 000000 9404/95## 0000 0000

9404 Cashiers Office 9532 LRSM

9500 Default 9533 Physics
9501 Payroll [50xx-51xx] 9534 HR Post Doc
9502 Telecommunications [5261-5263] 9535 Internal Mail Services: UPS (5274
9505 UMIS [5310] 9536 DNA Sequence
9506 DCCS [5309] 9537 Translational Core Lab
9507 Archives [5330] 9538 Vector Core
9508 Publications [5265] 9539 Chemistry
9509 Physical Plant [5407] 9540 Medical Computing
9510 Residential Maintenance [5407] 9541 Radiation Safety
9511 Bookstore 9542 AFSA
9512 Procard (Penn Purchasing Card) 9543 Medical Copy Center
9513 Internal Mail Services: Bulk Mail [5274] 9544 Gene Therapy
9514 Internal Mail Services: Bulk Labor [5274] 9545 Credit Card Cr/Dr
9515 Internal Mail Services: Mail Labor [5274] 9546 Med IDS Service
9516 Internal Mail Services: Daily Postage [5274] 9547 Pathology
9517 Internal Mail Services: Postage Due [5274] 9548 Fleet Card
9518 Internal Mail Services: Fed Express Domestic [5274] 9549 SCXC Stem Cell Xenograft Core
9519 Internal Mail Services: Fed Express Internatl [5274] 9550 SOM Tech Services
9520 Internal Mail Services: International Mail [5274] 9552 Radiology
9521 Internal Mail Services: DHL [5274] 9553 GTP Cell Morphology
9522 Internal Mail Services: Xpress [5274] 9554 Genome Frontiers Institute
9523 Wharton Reprographics 9555 Pathology Centralized Resources
9524 Wharton Audiovisual Services 9556 Microscopy Core
9525 Cell Center 9557 FRES Lease
9526 ULAR Animal Procedure 9558 UPHS RES CHRGS (Clinical Research)
9527 ULAR Per Diem 9559 TRC SVCS Translational Research Center
9528 Computer Connection 9560 VET IMAGE CORE (Vet Imaging Core)
9529 PENN Card 9561 RAD CLINIC IMAGE CORE (Clinical Imaging Core)
9530 Faculty Club 9599 Frozen Account
9531 Dining Service

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Locating Suspense Accounts

Use the GL Inquiry responsibility to check for suspense accounts for an organization.
Navigate to Inquiry>Account
Enter the search criteria
It is not necessary to enter the ORG as GL
Inquiry is a secured responsibility. You will only
have access to the ORGs in your profile.
However, entering an ORG will narrow your
search and/or speed up your query.

Click [OK]
Click on [Show Journal Details]
View the Line Description field to see the
account number that caused the suspense
transaction

Correct the suspense transaction using the Journal Entry General responsibility.
Follow the steps for creating a journal entry in the previous section
Use category 02 Adjustment to Previous Transaction
Be sure to complete the context box on the line with the Original Batch Name & Transaction
Date of the suspense transaction

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Revision History

Date Page Number(s) Topic

November 26, 2012 (BAM) Various R12 BEN Financials Upgrade

June 30, 2016 (BDL) Pages 4, 5 & 7 Removed BEN Reports reference; no longer exists

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