Multi-company Accounting System with Automated Inter-company Balancing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing multi-company accounting systems require manual entry of inter-company 'Due To/Due From' transactions, lack the ability to handle accounts from different companies on a single invoice or voucher, and have inadequate security access controls, making them inefficient and burdensome for accounting in multi-company environments.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method and system that allows for automatic generation of inter-company 'Due To/Due From' entries and supports multi-company transactions by using a hierarchical tree view for financial reporting, enabling specification of Natural Account Segments and Business Segments, and providing advanced security features for access control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual entry of inter-company 'Due To/Due From' transactions is required, then each company can be kept in balance, but the accounting workload and time consumption increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables self-service automation where the accounting system automatically generates and posts inter-company balancing entries without requiring manual accountant intervention. The system self-monitors company balances and performs necessary adjustments autonomously, eliminating the time-consuming manual entry process while maintaining balance accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The manual mechanical process of accountants entering inter-company transactions is replaced by an automated electronic system that uses algorithms to monitor, detect, and post balancing entries. The system substitutes human manual operations with automated computational processes that track company balances and generate necessary journal entries automatically.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a single invoice or voucher is restricted to one company's accounts only, then company separation is maintained, but the ability to handle multi-company transactions is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The invoice structure is segmented into multiple account lines, where each line can be associated with a different company. This segmentation allows a single invoice to distribute transactions across multiple companies while maintaining clear separation and tracking for each company's portion, enabling versatile multi-company transactions without excessive structural complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The invoice system is designed with multi-functionality to handle both single-company and multi-company transactions within the same document structure. The universal invoice template can accommodate varying numbers of companies and account types, making it adaptable to different transaction scenarios without requiring separate specialized forms for each case.
3Reliability
If various levels of secured access are provided to different users, then security is improved, but system access control complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Security access control is applied with local quality by assigning specific permission levels to different users and user roles based on their needs. Different users have different levels of access to various functions, companies, and data within the system, allowing tailored security control for each user while maintaining overall system security without requiring a uniformly complex access structure for all users.
Data Source
AI summary
In at least one embodiment of the present invention, a computer implemented method of financial reporting using a multi-company accounting system is provided. The method comprises specifying at least one distinct Natural Account Segment per report line of a plurality of report lines of the financial report via input from an interface user into the multi-company accounting system to define a report setup. The Natural Account Segment defines a specific type of one of an asset, liability, owner equity, revenue and expense account. The report lines are arranged into a tree view with the multi-company accounting system. The tree view defines a hierarchical format for the financial report and is displayable on a display of a computer arrangement.