Custom General Ledger System
Features, Integrations, Benefits, Costs
ScienceSoft draws on 17 years of experience in financial software development and practical knowledge of 30+ industries to create reliable general ledger solutions.
General Ledger System: The Essence
A general ledger (GL) system aggregates financial transactions across multiple business entities in real time, structures and reconciles them, and provides data to generate consolidated financial reports. Custom general ledger software is especially helpful for companies having subsidiaries or branches that use different functional currencies, accounting calendars, or operate under specific local regulations.
Read on to learn about the solution’s capabilities, important integrations, amazing benefits it brings, costs and timelines to develop a custom general ledger system.
General Ledger System: Key Features
Each general ledger solution ScienceSoft creates has unique functionality to serve client-specific needs. Here, we have outlined the features commonly requested by our clients:
GL entry management
- Real-time import of external and intercompany financial transactions from relevant sources.
- Automated GL entries to the pre-defined books or to multiple books simultaneously.
- Rule-based journal entry approval workflow.
- Scheduled recurring and reversing entries.
- Automated generation of closing entries (monthly, yearly).
GL structure management
- Chart of accounts (COA) with customizable dimensions (regions, subsidiaries, product lines, cost centers, etc.).
- User-defined hierarchy of GL accounts and sub-accounts.
- Rule-based transaction classification and GL coding by account (asset, liability, equity, revenue, expenses, etc.).
- Configurable subledgers, control accounts for subledgers, GL account segments, and more.
Multi-entity accounting
- Real-time consolidation of financial transactions across multiple business entities (company branches, subsidiaries, etc.).
- Configurable entity hierarchies.
- User-defined financial close periods for entity-specific accounting calendars.
- Rule-based elimination of intercompany financial transactions when generating consolidated financial reports.
Multi-currency accounting
- Recording and tracking GL entries in multiple currencies.
- Assigning book-specific functional currencies.
- Automated conversion of foreign currency amounts in GL entries to the user-defined functional currency.
- Revaluation of accounts recorded in a foreign currency when calculating GL balances in a functional currency.
- Calculating unrealized gains and losses from foreign currency transactions.
- Automated conversion of GL balance amounts in a functional currency to the subsidiary-specific foreign currency when generating subsidiary reports.
GL balance management
- Calculating and tracking total debit and credit amounts, GL balances (by period, account, COA dimension, etc.).
- Automated consolidation of the account balances across multiple business entities.
- Rule-based re-allocation of the accumulated corporate account balance to the subsidiary/branch account balances.
Reconciliation
- Automatically matching GL data on financial transactions with data in bank statements and subledgers.
- Automated removal of duplicate financial transaction records.
- Defining the outstanding transactions.
- Alerts to accountants on reconciliation discrepancies.
Financial reporting
- Drill-down financial reports (by period, COA dimension, consolidated reports, etc.), including trial balance, balance sheet, profit and loss statement, cash flow statement, tax summary, and more.
- Customizable report templates.
- Configurable reporting periods for various entities.
- Creating comparative financial reports.
Choose a General Ledger Solution that Best Suits Your Needs
There are many general ledger solutions on the market that differ in the scope of capabilities, customization options, and usability. Below, ScienceSoft compares the leading off-the-shelf GL products and a custom system to help you make an informed choice in favor of a particular solution.
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FlexiLedger |
Acumatica General Ledger |
OSAS General Ledger by Aptean |
A custom general ledger system |
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Basic general ledger features
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Automated GL entries, GL data reconciliation, and financial reporting. Real-time tracking of GL balances across accounts. Multi-entity accounting. Multi-book accounting. Multi-currency accounting. |
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Advanced financial reporting
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Comprehensive BI capabilities. Advanced report visualization techniques. Multi-language support for international GL reporting. In-built report template editor. |
Requires integration with FlexiBI, a separately licensed Flexi’s product. |
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Business-specific functionality
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The ability to expand the solution’s core capabilities to meet a company’s unique business needs. |
Restricted to OOTB Flexi plugins and extensions. |
Restricted to third-party add-ons available at Acumatica Marketplace. |
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Non-restricted and can be introduced on demand. |
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Customization
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The ability to adjust the solution’s existing capabilities and remove unnecessary features. |
Limited capabilities. |
Limited capabilities. |
Limited capabilities. |
Unlimited capabilities. |
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Integrations
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The ability to connect the solution to other business-critical systems to leverage instant data sharing with no manual involvement. |
Native: with Flexi products. Via API: with popular software products. |
Native: with Acumatica products. Via API: with software products offered by Acumatica’s partners. |
Native: with Aptean products. |
Seamless connection to all required business solutions (including legacy software) and third-party systems. |
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Security
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Based on ScienceSoft’s expert assessment. Main criteria: the type of deployment and the type of cloud – public, private, or hybrid (for cloud deployment); basic cybersecurity mechanisms (data encryption, role-based access control, user authentication); advanced data protection capabilities (e.g., AI-powered fraud detection, immutable recordkeeping of GL data); compliance with global security standards. |
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Regulatory compliance
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Ability to meet the relevant local, industry-specific, and corporate data protection standards and accounting regulations. |
Compliance with global data security standards and accounting regulations. |
Compliance with global data security standards and accounting regulations. |
Compliance with global accounting regulations. |
Compliance with all required global, local, and industry-specific regulations. |
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Ease of use
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Based on ScienceSoft’s expert assessment. Main criteria: UX and UI complexity, convenience, and customization options; learning curve. |
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Pricing (for 4 users/3 years)
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Upon request to the vendor. Expect to pay initial setup fees + configuration, customization and integration fees + licensing fees that depend on the number of software users. |
$64,000–$104,000+, depending on the required functionality and the type of deployment. Additional fees: initial setup fees + integration fees + customization fees ($2,000–$7,000+) + data migration fees (>$10,000 for large enterprises) + cloud fees + maintenance fees. |
Upon request to the vendor. The TCO components are initial setup fees + configuration, customization and integration fees + licensing fees that depend on the number of software users. |
Upfront investments in custom development around $140,000–$400,000. Unlimited number of users. No additional fees. |
Should You Opt for a Custom General Ledger System?
Answer a few simple questions and find out whether you should opt for a custom-made solution.
Do you need a GL system with specific features like record validation based on custom rules or AI-powered fraud detection?
Do you need a general ledger solution providing compliance with the local regulations in the regions your company operates?
Do you need to integrate the general ledger accounting system with multiple back-office systems or legacy tools?
Do you operate in a strictly regulated industry (e.g., healthcare, public sector) and need a solution providing advanced financial data security?
Do you need a GL solution with various interfaces for different roles in the accounting team?
Do you plan to evolve the solution with new functional and non-functional capabilities in order to adjust it to changing business and legal requirements?
Do you have large teams involved in GL accounting processes and look to avoid the software fees associated with the per-user subscription model?
Please tell us a bit more about your needs
Answer at least 3 questions to get results.
You can go with off-the-shelf general ledger software
Looks like market-available GL solutions are a viable option to meet your accounting needs. Turn to ScienceSoft if you need help with choosing the optimal ready-made GL tools, their implementation, customization, or integration with your existing corporate systems.
You definitely should consider custom development
A tailor-made general ledger solution will help you reap the unique benefits that market-available GL software cannot offer. Turn to ScienceSoft to get the detailed assessment of a custom GL system’s feasibility for your business situation.
Custom general ledger software is your best choice
Looks like market-available GL tools don’t fit your specific business requirements and won’t be able to provide the expected operational and economic feasibility. Turn to ScienceSoft to get a consultation on custom GL software development and receive cost and ROI estimates
Essential Integrations for the General Ledger System
GL software integration with the relevant corporate solutions helps eliminate double data entry across disparate systems and ensures seamless recording, reconciliation, and reporting of financial transactions. ScienceSoft suggests establishing the following integrations:
- Accounts receivable management solution - importing data on the amounts paid and due by customers, realized gains and losses from foreign currency transactions from the A/R solution to GL software to create accurate records in asset and revenue accounts.
- Accounts payable management solution - importing data on the amounts paid and due by a company, including payable tax amounts, realized gains and losses from foreign currency transactions from the A/P solution to GL software to create accurate records in liability and expense accounts.
- Asset management system - importing data on original costs, depreciation, the current value of fixed assets, and associated revenues and expenses from the asset management system to GL software to create accurate records in asset, revenue and expense accounts.
- Inventory management system - importing data on inventory transactions (including intercompany inventory transfers) and current inventory values from the inventory management system to GL software to create accurate records in asset accounts.
- Payroll software - importing data on employee salaries, overtime, bonuses, commissions, deductions, and payroll taxes from payroll software to GL software to create accurate records in liability and expense accounts.
- Treasury software - importing data on financial transactions under operating, investing and financing activities from treasury software to general ledger software to create accurate records in asset, liability, and equity accounts.
- Financial planning and analysis software - exporting financial data from GL software to financial planning and analysis software for accurate financial performance analysis, financial forecasting and planning.
- Bank accounts - importing data on cash transactions for a specified period from bank accounts to GL software for faster reconciliation.
Factors that Drive ROI for the General Ledger System
ScienceSoft’s consultants have defined important factors, which if covered, help bring the customer additional value across general ledger processes.
End-to-end automation
To eliminate time-consuming, error-prone manual efforts across all GL maintenance stages, from financial transactions aggregation and structured recording to reconciliation and generating financial statements.
Real-time FX rate feeds
To accurately record and track multi-currency financial transactions.
Easy-to-use APIs
To streamline integration of general ledger software with relevant business-critical systems to ensure quick and error-free import of financial data.
Explore ScienceSoft's Accounting Success Stories
How to Develop General Ledger Software
General ledger software development requires an accurate action plan to ensure smooth project flow and prevent financial and technology risks. Below, ScienceSoft describes key project steps to provide you with a general idea on how your custom general ledger software development process may look.
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Business needs analysis and requirements engineering for the custom GL system.
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Introducing the feature set, architecture design, and tech stack for general ledger software.
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Project planning: deliverables, KPIs, schedule, budget, etc.
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Custom GL software development.
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Quality assurance and achieving regulatory compliance.
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Accounting data migration (from spreadsheets or a previously used GL tool).
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Software integration with the required internal and third-party systems.
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User training.
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Continuous support and evolution of the GL solution (optional).
General Ledger System Implementation Costs
Average costs for building a custom general ledger system vary between $140,000 and $400,000, depending on the solution complexity.
Want to understand the cost of your GL accounting system?
Annual ROI for a custom general ledger system may reach up to 220%. An average payback period for such a solution is around 7 months.
Benefits of a Custom General Ledger System
Implementation of the General Ledger System with ScienceSoft
In financial software development since 2007, ScienceSoft helps enterprises build effective general ledger solutions.
General ledger system consulting
- Analysis of enterprise-wide general ledger needs.
- Suggesting optimal features, architecture, and tech stack for the GL solution to ensure it will bring the required improvement of operational efficiency.
- Preparing an integration plan (with A/R and A/P management solutions, asset management system, payroll software, etc.).
- Advisory on security and compliance.
- Implementation cost & time estimates, expected ROI calculation.
General ledger system implementation
- General ledger needs analysis.
- General ledger solution conceptualization.
- Architecture design.
- General ledger software development.
- Integrating the solution with the relevant systems (A/R and A/P management solutions, asset management system, payroll software, etc.).
- Quality assurance.
- User training.
- Continuous support and evolution (if required).
What makes ScienceSoft different
We achieve project success no matter what
ScienceSoft does not pass mere project administration off as project management, which, unfortunately, often happens on the market. We practice real project management, achieving project success for our clients no matter what.
About ScienceSoft
ScienceSoft is a global IT consulting and software development company headquartered in McKinney, Texas. Since 2007, we help enterprises build effective general ledger systems tailored to their needs. Being ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certified, we apply a mature quality management system and guarantee our clients’ data security. If you are interested in developing a reliable general ledger solution, feel free to turn to ScienceSoft’s team.