New Features and Enhancements in Accounting Spring 2024

The following new features have been introduced in the Spring 2024 release of Accounting.

If you are upgrading from a previous version, see Upgrading to Accounting Spring 2024. This provides a summary of the items that have been added for each feature and details of any required upgrade steps.

Dependencies on other Certinia Packages

Accounting Spring 2024 requires the following Certinia packages to be installed in this order:

  1. Foundations Spring 2024
  2. Reporting Spring 2020

You must install these packages before installing or upgrading to Accounting Spring 2024.

Mandatory Steps to Upgrade Payments Plus

In the Spring 2024 release, Payments Plus requires additional mandatory upgrade steps to be performed. For more information, see Upgrading to Accounting Spring 2024.

Envestnet Bank Integration

Certinia has partnered with Envestnet to enable you to connect your bank account in Accounting to the physical accounts held at your financial institution. The Envestnet bank integration process enables Certinia to import bank account transactions from your bank or other financial institution on demand, using permission-based, secure authentication.

This enables you to import bank statements for reconciliation directly from your bank account, without having to extract, store, and upload a CSV file.

Note:
  • The Envestnet bank integration is based on the existing Plaid bank integration. If you are using the Plaid bank integration, we recommend reviewing the changes introduced to this feature in this release. For more information, see Plaid Bank Integration.

  • If you are currently using the Plaid bank integration, you can set up the Envestnet bank integration to either use it alongside the Plaid integration, or switch to the Envestnet integration completely.

The Envestnet bank integration process enables you to:

  • Create connections to external banks or other financial institutions
  • Link bank connections to bank accounts in Accounting
  • Import your bank statement transactions using Envestnet

The integration currently supports all US, Canadian, and Australian banks and financial institutions that Envestnet supports.

To enable you to use the Envestnet bank integration, we have added:

  • A new Lightning component, Accounting Bank Connections, which replaces the deprecated Accounting Plaid Bank Connections Lightning component. This enables you to connect bank accounts using the Envestnet and Plaid bank integrations and display a list of associated bank account connections.
  • A new remote site setting, EnvestnetEnvironment, which stores the Envestnet URL for sandbox, development, and production environments. This enables you to access the respective Envestnet bank integration environments.
  • Two protected custom settings, Envestnet Configuration Settings and Envestnet Environment Settings. These settings control your access to Envestnet and your environments and must be configured by Certinia Support.
  • A new picklist value, Envestnet, to the External Source field of the Bank Account Connection object. This helps you identify when Envestnet is used as the process that links the bank account to Accounting.

Note that for security purposes, we rotate the client ID and secret keys in the Envestnet bank integration on a regular basis, at least every twelve months. If you are a government cloud customer, the keys are valid until Spring 2025 and must be updated before Spring 2025 and then annually. For non-government cloud customers, the keys are valid until Spring 2025 and we recommend updating them before Spring 2025 and then annually.

For more information, see:

Plaid Bank Integration

We have made the following enhancements to the Plaid bank integration process.

Multiple Bank Integration Enhancements

To enable you to use the Plaid bank integration alongside the new Envestnet bank integration, we have made the following changes:

  • The Connect Bank button on the Bank Connections tab has been renamed to Connect Bank with Plaid.
  • Error messages are no longer displayed when you import statements from the Bank Connections tab. Instead, we have added new notifications and email messages to inform you of the success or failure of the import process.
  • The Accounting Plaid Bank Connections Lightning component has been deprecated and replaced with the Accounting Bank Connections Lightning component.
Note:

If you are currently using the Plaid bank integration, you can set up the Envestnet bank integration to either use it alongside the Plaid integration, or switch to the Envestnet integration completely.

For more information, see:

Plaid Bank Integration Key Rotation

We have rotated the client ID and secret keys in the Plaid bank integration. For security purposes, we rotate these keys on a regular basis, at least every twelve months.

If you are an existing user, to continue retrieving your bank account transactions, you might need to rotate your Plaid bank integration keys. This depends on your version of Accounting and the last rotation date.

For more information, see:

Flexible Cash Matching

We have introduced the following enhancements to cash matching.

Matching to a Specific GLA

Using an auxiliary GLAClosed The general ledger account used when performing cash matching to a specific GLA. The default auxiliary GLA can be set on each accounting company record. during cash matching enables you to match cash entries, payable and sales documents, and journal account lines to a specific GLA. You can specify an auxiliary GLA when committing a match in the Select Journal Details window on the Cash Matching page, or set a default corporate or local auxiliary GLA on each accounting company record.

For example, you can use an auxiliary GLA to perform cash matching across different accounts by:

  • Matching payments made by a parent company for multiple subsidiary companies.
  • Matching intercompany transactions to a loan account and net them off periodically if you do not settle each intercompany invoice by cash.
  • Using the auxiliary GLA as a foreign currency clearing GLA. This is useful when a customer pays an invoice to a bank account that uses a currency other than the invoice currency.

When matching to a specific GLA, Accounting automatically:

  1. Generates a cash matching journal
  2. The value of the auxiliary GLA is posted as a cash matching journal line item to an auxiliary GLA general ledger account.

To support this, we have added a new column, Auxiliary GLA, to the Cash Entries and Transactions grids on the Cash Matching page. You can enter the amounts that you want to match to a specific GLA in those columns. To either show or hide the Auxiliary GLA columns, you can use the Show Auxiliary GLA Values field that we have added to the Cash Matching Settings custom setting.

To enable you to specify the default auxiliary GLA, we have added the Auxiliary GLA Analysis section to the page layouts of the Accounting Company object. This section contains the following fields, which have been added to that object:

  • Auxiliary GLA, which is the default general ledger account used when performing cash matching to a specific GLA
  • Auxiliary Dimension 1 to 4, which are the default analysis dimensions related to the auxiliary GLA

Finally, we have added the same fields to the Select Journal Details window on the Cash Matching page, enabling you to specify or change the auxiliary GLA and dimensions when committing a match.

For more information, see:

Multi-Account Cash Matching

You can now match cash entries of one account with transactions that belong to another account. Previously, Accounting only supported the matching of cash entries and transactions that belonged to the same account.

Cash Entry and Transaction Grids

When you retrieve outstanding transactions during cash matching, the Select Account window now provides you with two grids:

  • The Cash Entry Accounts grid, where you can select a cash entry account for the match. If the cash entry account belongs to a cash matching account group, you can then also select a transaction account that belongs to the same group. If the cash entry account does not belong to a cash matching account group, the account will also be used as a transaction account.
  • The Transaction Accounts grid, where you can select a transaction account that belongs to the same cash matching account group as the cash entry account you selected.

Cash Matching Account Groups

A cash matching account group is a group of up to 100 unique accounts that facilitates multi-account matching. An account can belong to one cash matching account group only and you can create either third-party or intercompany accounting groups. You can manage cash matching account groups from the new Cash Matching Account Groups page. To support this, we have created the following objects:

  • Cash Matching Account Group
  • Cash Matching Account Group Line Item

To use this feature, you must have the new Accounting - Cash Matching Account Group permission set assigned.

Multi-GLA Cash Matching

You can now perform cash matching using multiple GLAs. Previously, only matching within a single transaction GLA was possible. For example, you can use multi-GLA cash matching to:

  • Match a sales invoice to a payable invoice if they both have different GLAs
  • Record a currency write-off as long as the different GLAs are used for either the cash entry lines or the transaction lines

To support this, we have added a new custom setting field, Allow Different Matching GLAs to the Cash Matching Settings custom setting. If this field is selected, different GLAs can be used during cash matching. Note that using different GLAs might not be suitable for all the matches that include values for currency write off. In such cases, we recommend using an auxiliary GLA instead.

When matching across multiple GLAs, Accounting automatically posts the paid value as a cash matching journal line item to the matched line item's GLA, but with an opposite debit or credit value.

The balancing GLA journal line ensures the correct cumulative balances. For example, when matching a $100 sales invoice to a $100 payable invoice, the accounts receivable control GLA must be credited by $100, while the accounts payable control GLA has to be debited by $100.

Multi-Account and Multi-GLA Currency Write-Offs

If the lines selected during cash matching involve a currency write-off, you can now select either a cash entry account or GLA, or a transaction account or GLA, to apply the realized exchange difference. You can select them from the new Currency Write-Off Account/GLA Type field in the Select Journal Details window, which is displayed when one of the following conditions is met:

  • The selected cash entry and transaction accounts belong to the same cash matching account group
  • The Allow Different Matching GLAs field in the Cash Matching Settings custom setting is selected

When performing cash matching across multiple accounts and a single GLA, you can select either:

  • A cash entry account that relates to the account of the document line selected in the Cash Entry grid
  • A transaction account that relates to the account of the document line selected in the Transactions grid

When performing cash matching across either a single or multiple accounts and multiple GLAs, you can select either:

  • A cash entry account or GLA that relates to the GLA of the document selected in the Cash Entry grid. When selecting multiple cash entry lines to match, they must use the same GLA, but the transaction lines can use multiple GLAs.
  • Transaction account or GLA that relates to the GLA of the document selected in the Transactions grid. When selecting multiple transaction lines to match, they must use the same GLA, but the cash entry lines can use multiple GLAs.

Volume Improvements

Additionally, you can now select up to 1,800 transaction lines when performing cash matching and up to 1,000 lines when undoing a match. Previously, up to 520 lines could be selected.

For more information, see:

Accounting Playbook Enhancements

We have enhanced the Remove and Replace Users functionality by introducing the ability to select specific records where you want the replacement to happen. This empowers users to have more control and flexibility when managing user replacements.

To use this enhancement, we have added a new Select Records button in the Remove and Replace Users window. When you click this button, the records related to playbooks, templates and tasks are displayed in the subsequent windows to select from. The visibility of the record windows depends on the roles that you select.

For more information, see Removing and Replacing Users.

Balance Based Currency Revaluation

We have introduced a new currency revaluation method that will enable you to perform balance based currency revaluation. For this, we have added a new Currency Revaluation Method field on the Currency Revaluation Template page. In this field, you can select either "Transaction Lines" or "GLA Balances".

We have also added the Currency Revaluation Journals type.

When you select the GLA Balances based template while creating the currency revaluation criteria, retrieve the data, and generate journals, the currency revaluation journals based on cumulative GLA balances are generated.

To use this new feature, you must enable the Balance Based Currency Revaluation feature in the Feature Console.

Note:

Local general ledger accounts and accounting books are not supported in Spring 2024..

For more information, see:

Currency Revaluation in Lightning Experience

We have deprecated some Visualforce actions and added new Lightning actions for currency revaluation.

For more information, see:

Allocation in Lightning Experience

We have introduced the Allocation feature in Lightning. This will enable you to allocate your costs and revenues in a more streamlined way.

In Lightning, you can:

  • Create allocation rules and allocation bases.
  • Define allocation rule criteria and basis criteria.
  • Select distribution fields for a statistical allocation basis.
  • Edit, duplicate, or delete any rule or basis.
  • Edit distribution criteria for rules.
  • Spread the allocation evenly for a fixed rule.
  • View allocation basis versions.
  • Activate or deactivate the allocation rule or template.
  • Create, edit, or delete allocation templates.
  • Define source and distribution criteria for templates.
  • Create an allocation using the template and run the allocation process.
  • Create template directly from the allocation rule.
  • Manage output GLA on a statistical template.

For more information, see:

To use this feature in Lightning you must enable the Allocation in Lightning feature on the Feature Console. For more information, see Enabling the Allocation in Lightning Feature.

Managing Allocation Rules on Payable Invoice Expense Lines

We have added a new button, Manage Allocation Rule to the Payable Invoices Expense Line Items tab. This button displays a window that allows you to manage the allocation rules that are assigned to the expense lines on a payable invoice. This button is only available when the invoice status is "In Progress".

When you post an invoice that has allocation rules assigned to expense line, these expense line create additional transaction line items with the type "Analysis".

For more information see Managing Allocation Rules On Expense Lines

API Changes

The Certinia API has been updated to support the assignment of allocation rules to expenses lines and the creation of additional transaction line items.

For more information see the Certinia Technical Pack.

Cash Entry Enhancements

We have introduced the following enhancements to cash entries.

Background Posting

You can now post cash entries in the background both:

  • Immediately, using the new Run Background Post list view button
  • As a scheduled batch, using the new Prepare Background Post button in the Cash Entry Mass Posting window

Using the Run Background Post button you can post all cash entries with the status "Ready to Post" for the companies that you are currently logged in. If you are an administrator, any cash entries with the status "Ready to Post" in all companies will be posted in the background.

Using the Prepare Background Post button in the Cash Entry Mass Posting window, you can now post the selected cash entries in the background, either as a scheduled batch or by running the Background Posting Scheduler manually. Previously, this window only enabled you to post cash entries immediately, using the Post button, which we have now renamed Post Now. The Prepare Background Post button enables you to post the selected cash entries with the status "Ready to Post" for the companies that you are currently logged in. If you are an administrator, the selected cash entries with the status "Ready to Post" in all companies will be posted in the background.

For more information, see:

Additionally, to help you control the background posting of cash entries, we have added the following new fields to the Background Posting Settings custom setting:

  • Cash Entry Posting Scope Size. This specifies the number of cash entry records that can be posted in the background at one time. It is recommended that your administrator works with your Accounting team to determine an optimum scope size.
  • Parallel Cash Entry Posting. This indicates that the cash entry records can be posted in the background in parallel. Enabling parallel processing will result in greater performance improvements. This custom setting field is disabled by default.

For more information, see Background Posting Settings.

Cancel Mass Action

We have added the Cancel Lightning mass action to help you cancel your cash entries more efficiently. You can now cancel multiple cash entries in the background in one go as long as they belong to the same company. The process automatically skips any cash entries if:

  • Their status is other than "Complete"
  • The payment status of the related document is "Part-Paid" or "Paid"

In addition, we have added the following checkbox and field to the Cancel Cash Entries window:

  • The Original Period checkbox. You can select it to use the period of the canceled cash entries for the canceling cash entries.
  • The Period field. You can use it to select a specific period for the canceling cash entries when the Original Period checkbox is deselected.

Note that depending on the number of lines specified in the Cash Entry Cancel Async Line Limit custom setting field, when canceling multiple cash entries:

    • If none of the selected cash entries exceed the limit, the canceling cash entries are created, posted, and matched in the background.
    • If any of the selected cash entries exceeds the limit, the canceling cash entries are created in the background, but you must post and match them manually.

For more information, see Canceling a Cash Entry.

Year End Process for Subsidiary Companies

We have introduced several enhancements to the year end process for subsidiary companies.

When you run the year end process for a single local company, multiple local companies, or multiple local and corporate companies, the balance of each local GLA is displayed in the resulting year end journals. You can now check the value of each GLA in the Line Items tab of each journal record.

In addition, you can now select local GLAs in the Retained Earnings GLA and Suspense GLA fields on the Company and Year objects. This complements the support of local GLAs for subsidiary companies introduced in Spring 2023. You can now run the year end process for a single company or multiple companies that use local GLAs only.

We have also introduced new validations to ensure that the retained earnings and suspense GLAs set in the years are:

  • Local or corporate depending on whether the company has a local chart of accounts structure assigned
  • Only used for the year end process

This ensures the consistency of the year end process and the resulting year end journals.

Also, when you run the year end process for a single or multiple local companies in GLA Only mode, the dimension values used in the chart of accounts mappings and in your payable and sales documents are carried forward to all the resulting year end journal records.

For more information, see:

Year End Process Validations

We have updated the validations that apply before you run the year end process. You can now run the year end process if the period 101 of the selected year and period 000 of the following year have year end transactions posted in them. This allows you to re-run the year end process if it fails to run correctly. For more information, see About the Year End Process

Year End Journal Line Limit

To help control the maximum number of lines that a year end journal can include, we have added the Year End Journal Line Limit custom setting field to the Document Line Volume Settings custom setting. You can use the new field, together with the other year end volume limits fields in that custom setting, to further optimize the processing of year end journals in different scenarios. Note that the Document Line Volume Settings custom setting is protected. To change the maximum number, contact Customer Support. For more information, see Document Line Volume Settings.

Enhancements to Accounts Payable Automation

We have made the following enhancements to this feature in Accounting:

  • Improved the matching of vendor account names when creating a payable invoice from a scanned payable document. This feature now uses the Invoice Email, Bank Phone, and Tax Registration Number fields to match vendor account names accurately from the Account object in the Accounting package.
  • Included support to notify one or more Accounts Payable Users of the corresponding company when an invoice fails to create a payable invoice and the invoice's net total value is mismatched.

For more information, see:

Defaulting Account Values for Multiple Companies

We have made several improvements to the areas of Accounting where an account does business with different companies across different countries:

  • Multiple finance contacts per company
  • Multiple credit terms per company
  • Unique accounts receivable and accounts payable GLAs per company

To use these new multiple company features, you must enable the Multiple Companies Configuration feature in the Feature Console. For more information, see Enabling Multiple Companies Configuration.

Multiple Finance Contacts per Company

If you use Automated Collections, you can now also send reminders and customer statements to the finance contact specified on a related multiple companies account config. This is useful when you have multiple contacts from different companies associated with the same account.

Previously, Automated Collections only supported the finance contact specified on the related account, in addition to collections communication contacts. Now, you can specify the reminders and customer statements contact you want using the new Finance Contact field on the Multiple Companies Account Config object.

If you specify a finance contact on a related multiple companies account config record and select the Use Multiple Companies Configuration field in the Accounting Settings custom setting, that finance contact is used instead of the related account's finance contact. Note that if you use this feature, you can also send reminders to a collections communication contact on the related contact.

For more information, see:

Multi-Account Credit Terms

You can now use multi-account credit terms when your companies trade with the same vendor and customer accounts using the Multi-Account Credit Terms feature. This feature can help you determine the due date and discounts for billing documents sent to multiple accounts, and manage credit terms for multiple companies in one central location. It supports both sales and payable documents and uses the following fields:

  • Base Date 1 – 4
  • Days Offset 1 – 4
  • Description 1 – 4
  • Discount 1 – 4

If you specify multi-account credit terms on a related multiple companies account config record and select the Use Multiple Companies Configuration field in the Accounting Settings custom setting:

  1. The multi-account credit terms are used instead of the related account's or company's credit terms.
  2. The discounts are calculated based on the multi-account credit terms for sales invoices and payable invoices.
  3. The due dates are calculated based on the multi-account credit terms for sales invoices, sales credit notes, payable invoices, and payable credit notes.

This applies to both:

  • Sales and payable documents created from scratch
  • Sales documents created using the Billing Document to Sales Invoice or Credit Note integration

To support this, we have added:

  • The Multi-Account Credit Terms object
  • The Multi-Account Credit Terms field to the Multiple Companies Account Config object

For more information, see:

Unique Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable GLAs per Company

You can now use unique accounts receivable control and accounts payable control GLAs when your companies trade with the same vendor and customer accounts. To use these GLAs instead of the related account's GLAs, do the following:

  1. Specify the accounts receivable control and accounts payable control GLAs on a related multiple companies account config record.
  2. Select the Use Multiple Companies Configuration field in the Accounting Settings custom setting.

Now, when posting sales and payable documents, the accounts receivable control and accounts payable control GLA information on a related multiple companies account config record can also be used on the document's transaction line items of the "Account" type. Depending on whether the related company uses a local chart of accounts structure, you can use either local or corporate accounts payable and accounts receivable GLAs.

To support this, we have added the following fields to the Multiple Companies Account Config object:

  • Accounts Payable Control
  • Accounts Receivable Control

For more information, see Multiple Companies Configuration Overview.

Datastream Support

If you have Datastream installed and configured, you can use it to create several multiple companies account config and multi-account credit terms records. To streamline this process, we have prepared a template spreadsheet file (XLSX) where you can easily specify the information you want to upload via Datastream.

For more information, see:

Enhancements to the Billing Document to Sales Invoice or Credit Note Integration

We have introduced the Billing Document to SIN or SCR Admin tab that allows you to create sales invoices and sales credit notes from billing documents. For more information, see Billing Document to SIN or SCR Admin Page.

Accounting Task Launcher

We have made the following enhancements to the Accounting Task Launcher:

Collections Plus Enhancements

The following enhancements have been made to Collections Plus.

Conga Support on Reminders in Automated Collections

The Automated Collections process has been updated to support reminder rules that use Conga to generate invoice attachments for reminder rules. You can now send reminders for these rules and also manage the attachments associated with the rules. A new button has been added to the Automated Collections page that opens a window that allows you to manage the attachments. The Manage Attachments window displays information on Conga batches that have been created. You can also use it to create new Conga batches to generate invoice attachments. For more information, see Automated Collections.

A new column has been added to the Send Reminders grid on the Automated Collections page to indicate whether a reminder rule has Conga attachments associated with it. Another column has been added to the Reminder to Send window to indicate the number of Conga attachments associated with the companies associated with a reminder rule. For more information, see Automated Collections Fields.

The Use Existing Conga Attachments field on the Reminder Rule page is now supported. If you select this checkbox, any existing Conga attachments on sales invoices are used when sending reminders. If you do not select this checkbox, you must create the attachments every time you send reminders. For more information, see Reminder Rule Fields.

Additionally, the error handling process has been updated so that error logs are generated for reminders that do not have Conga attachments available. For more information, see Reminder Errors.

Outbound Vendor Payments

We have changed the package dependencies for outbound vendor payments. Now, to use Asperato Connector to pay multiple vendors, you must install and configure Accounting Summer 2023 SP5 or later in your org. For more information, see Upgrading to Accounting Spring 2024

Release Content

We want to help you find all of the information and resources that you need to use our products effectively.

In-App Guidance

Certinia in-app guidance uses Salesforce user engagement features to deliver Certinia content, such as tutorials and walkthroughs, directly from our products.

In this release, we've updated our in-app guidance. For more information, see Accounting In-App Guidance.

Certinia Trailhead

If you want to learn more about the new features in this release, see the ERP Cloud - Spring 2024 Release Highlights Certinia Trailhead module. This module will guide you through the new features in ERP Cloud.

Fixes

Fixes are listed on the Known Issues page of the Certinia Community. You can access this page from the Community Support Hub. For a brief description of the issues that have been fixed in this version of Accounting, see the relevant section of the Known Issues page.