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About Optional Fields Translation from Payroll to General Ledger

You should restrict the flow of information that is passed to General Ledger when you post transactions that use optional fields.

For optional field values to pass from payroll to General Ledger, you can use the Optional Fields setup window to:

Define optional fields for any of the following:
Transactions
Transactions Earnings/Deductions
Transaction Taxes
Payroll Processing
Specify the accounts for which values for an optional field can be passed to General Ledger. When you create general ledger transactions in payroll, the program passes the optional field values used in a transaction to General Ledger if:

The optional fields are the same as the transaction details optional fields assigned to the affected account in General Ledger.
The optional field settings specify that optional field information be passed to the type of account used in the transaction. You specify the settings by clicking the Settings button on the Optional Fields window.
For example, assume you have defined an optional field called ABC for “Transactions” that you want passed to the Bank account in General Ledger. On the Settings dialog box, you must have selected the Bank account, and in General Ledger, you must have defined an optional field ABC as well.

The values then display in General Ledger in the following reports:

The General Ledger journal entry for the account.
The G/L Transaction Details Optional Fields report.
The G/L Batch Listing report (before the G/L batch is posted).
The G/L Posting Journal report (after the G/L batch is posted).

Important! While all account groups are initially selected for new optional fields, you need to consider carefully the purpose of the optional field you are defining. You should send values to General Ledger only for optional fields that require payroll analysis, and only to accounts where they are required.

You do not need to send optional field information for analysis that is performed only in the payroll program. If you routinely send all the optional fields you use in payroll transactions, your General Ledger may become unwieldy, and you may also slow down processing considerably.