Time Saving Tips Part 2: Posting Profiles in Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations

July 2, 2018

Diann Spencer

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is full of time-saving features! This article is the second in a series of six with Time Saving Tips for Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations and we’re going to show you how Posting Profiles eliminate the need for user decision regarding general ledger accounts. This feature results in faster and more accurate transactions, as well as a lot less confusion for clerks.

Some of the most common postings in an ERP system include recording sales, purchases of inventory, vendor expenses, fixed assets, common bank reconciling items, and posting discounts. Dynamics 365 allows an organization to configure the system to be as granular as needed in order to map specific postings to their corresponding general ledger accounts. The user no longer has to determine which general ledger account to post to.

Below, you will find examples of helpful Posting Profiles for both inventory and fixed assets transactions. Visit our YouTube channel to watch a video demonstration.

1. Posting Profiles for inventory transactions.

Inventory transactions can have different posting profiles based on where the transaction originates (i.e. sales order, purchase order, inventory transfer). Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations allows you the flexibility to designate the posting account based upon the transaction origin AND the inventory group or item.

Sales Order Transactions Tab

Below is the Sales order tab with the radio buttons that represent the possible lines that would be used for recording the accounting distribution. Note that the posting profiles allow the organization to get as granular as required.
For example, “Cost of units, invoiced” is used for the credit to inventory when a sale is being recorded. The screenshot shows that the organization can define the posting accounts based on:
- Vendor (line 1, vendor US-026 in this example)
- Non-inventory service being purchased (line 2)
- Specific inventory item (line 3)
- Inventory group (line 4, Audio, Audio Raw Material).
- Any combination of the above

Using this posting profile setup, an organization performs a one-time setup for all inventory posting and then have complete control over all postings from inventory transactions, regardless of the transaction origin.

Purchase Order Transactions Tab

Below is the Purchase Order tab with the radio buttons that represent the possible lines that would be used for recording the accounting distribution. Like the Sales Order posting profile above, the organization can get as granular as required.
For example, “Cost of purchased materials invoiced” is used to tell the system where to book the debit when a purchase order is being invoiced. Note in the highlighted yellow area that for different types of items, they have set up different general ledger accounts.

Inventory Transactions Tab

Production Transactions Tab

Standard cost variance tab

2. Posting Profiles for fixed assets transactions

In this use case, Posting Profiles tell the system where to book various fixed assets transactions and are used in a transaction. This is very helpful as fixed asset transactions are not done daily and therefore users will tend to forget where they should be booking things. This leads to errors or taking longer to book the transaction for looking up.

Below is an example of the fixed assets posting profile. Note the drop-down list of the common types that might be used when recording fixed assets transactions such as:

Acquisition
Depreciation
Disposal – Sale
Disposal Scrap

The posting profiles are generally used to have different posting profiles by Asset Group. The demo data in USMF would not be meaningful to finance users. I would suggest modifying the posting profile to show it with different accounts by Asset Group and flipping the following two paragraphs.

Let’s drill into the acquisition setup for the Asset Group of Tangible Assets. We see that for Furniture & Fixtures, the default debit to record the cost of the acquisition is to use general ledger 180140, the default debit for Computer Equipment will be 180200, for Buildings it would be 180200. For specific large or unusual assets, you can even define the default account by asset (i.e. BUIL-00001 in this example. Intangible Assets – Patents would be posted to account 180140The default credit to record the acquisition is general ledger 300160. (The offset account would only be used if the asset is acquired by a method other than purchase, in which case the regular accounts payable account would be credited.)

Configuring the depreciation posting profile

This configuration works the same as the acquisition profile

3. Default vendor accounts for non-PO invoices

An organization will often post to 2 or 3 accounts when posting vendor invoices that are not supported by a purchase order. Dynamics 365 allows the organization to attach these default accounts to the vendor record and even specify one account as the overall default to be used.

4.Financial Dimension default templates

These templates are useful when a vendor invoice or purchase order gets charged to multiple financial dimensions in the same percentages for many transactions. Examples include utility bills charged to multiple departments based on square footage, or trade show expenses for more than one product line.

As you can see, Posting Profiles can be a real time saver for finance and operations workers. The customized guidance for choosing the correct general ledger accounts not only saves time but also ensures better accuracy. Although helpful for all transactions, this is especially useful for less common postings where the clerk would not necessarily remember all the right codes.

Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations includes features such as Posting Profiles to allow an organization to create a system that is targeted and streamlined for their unique needs. This customization has never been easier to achieve and now requires little to no code development.

Check out our other Time-saving Tips for Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations!