The GL & Close work center is used to post manual journal entries, review ledger activity, view accounts, maintain finance projects, maintain depreciation assets, and run close steps.
What this screen is for
Use GL & Close for finance work that belongs directly in the general ledger or period close process. This area is powerful and should be used with operating discipline: use dedicated workflows for customer payments, vendor invoices, vendor payments, credit card expenses, receiving, shipping, and inventory movement before using a manual journal entry.
Manual journal entries are for finance-approved adjustments that do not belong in a more specific PAX workflow.
Screen path
Dashboard > Finance > GL & Close
GL & Close options
| Option | What it opens | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
Journal Entries |
Journal Entries screen |
Review recent manual journal entry lines and post new balanced manual journal entries. |
General Ledger |
General Ledger report |
Generate ledger activity by date range and account, including opening and ending balances. |
Chart of Accounts |
Chart of Accounts screen |
Search and review account number, description, type, and status. |
Projects |
Projects Management screen |
Create, edit, activate, and archive finance project tracking records. |
Depreciation |
Depreciation Assets screen |
Create depreciation assets and review depreciation schedules. |
Close Period |
Select Closing Type menu |
Run month-end, quarter-end, and year-end close options. |
Main workflows
- Review and post manual entries from Journal Entries Overview.
- Create a balanced manual journal entry from How to Create Journal Entry.
- Review ledger activity from General Ledger Overview.
- Review account setup from Chart of Accounts Overview.
- Maintain finance projects from Projects Overview.
- Maintain depreciation assets from Depreciation Overview.
- Review close options from Close Period Overview.
- Run close steps from How to Close Period.
Journal Entries
The Journal Entries screen shows recent journal entry lines and supports search by reference, account, account description, amount, date, project, or created-by user.
New entries require:
- Reference.
- Posted date.
- At least two lines.
- Account on each line.
- Debit or credit amount on each line.
- Total debits equal total credits.
- Optional project per line.
If no fiscal period is selected, PAX finds an open fiscal period for the posted date. If no open period exists for that date, posting is blocked.
General Ledger
The General Ledger report runs by start date, end date, and account. Users can run all accounts or select a specific account.
The report shows opening balance, journal entry activity, debit, credit, running balance, project, created-by user, and ending balance by account. If the end period is still open, PAX marks ending balances as preliminary.
Copy for Excel copies the generated report data to the clipboard. It does not post or change ledger activity.
Chart of Accounts and Projects
Chart of Accounts lets users search accounts by account number, description, account type, or status. The Finance screen is read-only. Use System Settings Chart of Accounts Overview for account maintenance.
Projects maintains finance project tracking records. Users can create new projects, edit existing projects, mark projects active or inactive, and archive active projects. Journal entry lines can reference active projects.
Depreciation
Depreciation maintains depreciation assets and schedules. New assets require asset name, category, purchase date, cost, useful life, start depreciation date, asset GL account, accumulated depreciation GL account, and depreciation expense GL account.
PAX calculates total months, monthly depreciation amount, and end depreciation date from the cost, useful life, and depreciation start date. Schedules show month, monthly depreciation, accumulated depreciation, net book value, and whether the month has been posted.
Monthly depreciation posting is run from Month-End Closing, not from the asset setup screen.
Close Period
Close Period opens a menu with three choices:
| Option | Current behavior |
|---|---|
Month-End Closing |
Runs customer activity review, monthly depreciation posting, and inventory average monthly usage recalculation. |
Quarter-End Closing |
Previews and closes an open fiscal period, writes closing balances, seeds the next period opening balances, and locks the closed period. |
Year-End Closing |
Currently displays that the feature is not available in PAX. |
Month-End Closing defaults to the prior calendar month. It can analyze customer activity as of the final day of that month, update customer active/inactive flags, post monthly depreciation journal entries, and recalculate average monthly usage for active parts based on completed-month usage.
Quarter-End Closing loads open fiscal periods, previews account closing balances and the next period to seed, shows bank reconciliation warnings, and blocks closing when a bank reconciliation is in progress for the selected period.
What happens behind the scenes
Opening the GL & Close work center does not change records.
| Action area | System effect |
|---|---|
| Manual journal entry | Creates a journal entry header and journal entry lines in an open fiscal period after validating balanced debits and credits. |
| General Ledger report | Reads journal entries, opening balances, account metadata, projects, and created-by users for the selected date range and account. |
| Chart of Accounts | Reads account setup and active status. |
| Projects | Creates, updates, activates, deactivates, or archives project tracking records used by journal entry lines. |
| Depreciation asset setup | Creates depreciation asset records and calculated schedules from asset cost, useful life, and selected GL accounts. |
| Monthly depreciation posting | Creates depreciation journal entries for active assets that have not already been posted for the selected month. |
| Customer activity update | Updates customer active/inactive flags based on order and invoice history through the closing month. |
| Average usage recalculation | Updates average monthly usage used by reorder point calculations and inventory forecasting. |
| Quarter close | Writes fiscal closing balances, seeds next-period opening balances, and locks the closed fiscal period against new journal entries. |
Troubleshooting
A manual journal entry will not post
Likely cause: Debits and credits do not balance, a line is missing an account or amount, the reference or date is missing, or no open fiscal period exists for the posted date.
Safe fix: Correct the entry fields and confirm the posted date belongs to an open period.
Contact support if: The entry is balanced and dated in an open period but still fails.
General Ledger balances are marked preliminary
Likely cause: The selected ending period is still open.
Safe fix: Treat the ending balance as subject to change until the period is closed.
Contact support if: A closed period still appears preliminary.
Quarter close is blocked
Likely cause: A bank reconciliation is in progress for the selected period, the next fiscal period is missing, or the selected period is already closed.
Safe fix: Complete or delete the in-progress bank reconciliation, confirm the next fiscal period exists, and rerun the preview before closing.
Contact support if: The blocking condition has been resolved but closing is still unavailable.
Depreciation posting says assets were skipped
Likely cause: Depreciation was already posted for those assets in the selected month.
Safe fix: Review the depreciation schedule and journal entries before attempting any correction. Do not post duplicate depreciation.
Contact support if: The asset should not have been posted for that month.