I noticed from the VHD issued from Microsoft, with AX 2012 RTM VHD, it has its own Chart of Account numbers; but after 2012 R2 VHD it’s using changed main accounts for COA. And I belive each company implementation is having its own accounts for COA to fit the company’s purpose. I know we can create new accounts using the GL module, but how are the majority numbers quickly established when a new implementation is done? Is there a tool to help the consultants to quickly establish the COA system ? Or there is some guidelines that we can follow? Right now, I am still not very clear how this is done.
The Data Import Export Framework tool (DIXF) can be used to import Main accounts. DIXF has an entity called ‘Main account’ specifically for this purpose.
Thank you for your reply, Terry, but I guess my question is not that technical, but a business one. Let 's say a company used to use GP, or another little ERP system, then they want to use AX, so AX consultant would design and help to establish new COA in AX. So, some main accounts would be established for Pretty cash/ Tax / Adjustment, etc. We have a variety of accounts that are must, I guess as COA is shared among multiple legal entities, the whole COA structure could contain hundreds of main accounts in total. So, is there a general guide to ensure that the ones we create is good enough to let the system run?
I mean, new main accounts can be added when needed, but the “good enough” state can cover a significant amount of accounts then. How do we know we have enough accounts, there must be some guide/reference, I would say?
The AX consultant educates the customer in the posting requirements, the AX requirements, they talk about dimensions and try to get the business to think about the structure and the restructure, then in tandem with the customer it is created - this is not a quick fix. It is generally done in a common tool like Excel to pass around and garner opinions. Then you either manually create it, us DIXF or use your own import mechanism from the Excel to import it in.
It is a critical element the customer has to own and get correct - the import is the easy part. The testing comes from the customer exposure to the system through training, UAT, Pilot etc.
Oh, I see - sorry! Yes, you’re right. During implementation a consultant would help with the design of the CoA. Many companies use the implementation of AX as the opportunity to start from scratch, or to consolidate the CoAs of companies that were previously using different CoAs.
f you already know your Chart of Accounts, I would say the only AX specific thing to think about is Financial Dimensions. It may be that you have several accounts in your CoA which could be replaced with one in AX, and Financial Dimensions could be used to differentiate transactions in the account.
You could look at this series of blogs that Microsoft published on the topic ‘Planning your chart of accounts’:
If you are specifically moving from GP, I am aware that GP offers default CoAs to use. I have never seen anything like this for AX. Additionally, what AX calls Financial Dimensions might be called ‘Segments’ in GP.
Thank you very much, AdamRoue and Guy Terry, I really appreciate your responses, as Terry could be a better fit, I will verify solution with his reply, but Adam you really helped a lot as well~