New Features and Enhancements in Accounting Winter 2024

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

If you are upgrading from a previous version, see Upgrading to Accounting Winter 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 Winter 2024 requires the following Certinia packages to be installed in this order:

  1. Foundations Winter 2024
  2. Reporting Spring 2020

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

Mandatory Steps to Upgrade Payments Plus

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

Large Document Processing and Other Cash Entry Enhancements

We have introduced the following enhancements to cash entries.

Large Document Processing

We have improved the support for large documents by adding the ability to create cash entries with up to 9,980 lines using Lightning Experience. Previously it was not possible to add more than 250 lines to a cash entry. For more information, see Activating and Configuring Lightning Record Pages for Documents.

To help you control the maximum number of lines that can be added to a cash entry for both synchronous (immediate) posting and asynchronous (using Queueable Apex) posting, we have added new custom setting fields.

For synchronous (immediate) posting, you can now use the following Accounting Settings custom setting fields:

  • Intercompany CE Lines Threshold
  • Post Cash Entry Lines Threshold
  • Post CE Lines with Line Charges Sync

For asynchronous posting (using Queueable Apex), you can now use the following Document Line Volume Settings custom setting fields:

  • Cash Entry Batch Line Limit
  • Intercompany CE Batch Line Limit
  • Post CE Lines with Line Charges Async

To help you control the maximum number of cash entry lines that can be canceled both synchronously (immediately) and asynchronously (using Queueable Apex), we have added the following new custom setting fields:

  • Cash Entry Cancel Sync Line Limit to the Accounting Settings custom setting
  • Cash Entry Cancel Async Line Limit to the Document Line Volume Settings custom setting
Note:

Document Line Volume Settings is a protected custom setting. To adjust it, contact Customer Support.

For more information, see:

Multi-Company Mode

We have added the ability to create and process cash entries in multi-company mode when using Lightning Experience. In multi-company mode you do not need to change the current company when processing cash entries. For more information, see:

Mass Actions

We have added the following Lightning mass actions, which enable you to process your cash entries more efficiently:

  • Amend
  • Discard
  • Post

Amending Multiple Cash Entries

You can now update selected details on multiple cash entries in one go. It is no longer necessary to amend individual cash entries separately and the process automatically skips any documents with a status other than "Complete".

Note that once you have posted a cash entry and its status is "Complete", you can only amend the values on the editable fields. To update the editable fields on the selected cash entries, you can either enter new field values or clear the existing ones, and then apply the changes to the selected cash entries.

For more information, see Cash Entry Fields.

Discarding Multiple Cash Entries

You can now discard multiple cash entries in one go. It is no longer necessary to discard individual cash entries separately and the process automatically skips any cash entries with a status other than "In Progress".

For more information, see Discarding Cash Entries.

Posting Multiple Cash Entries

You can now post multiple cash entries belonging to the same company in one go. It is no longer necessary to post individual cash entries separately and the process automatically skips any cash entries with a status other than "In Progress".

For more information, see About Posting Cash Entries.

Cash Entry Extension Deprecation

The Cash Entry Extension has been deprecated and will be removed in a future release. This extension has provided an alternative user interface when creating, editing, and viewing cash entries. New users do not need to install the Cash Entry Extension.

If you have been using the Cash Entry Extension, from this release, you can stop using its fields and start using the following corresponding fields in Accounting:

  • Derive Account Dimensions
  • Derive Line Number
  • Derive Payment Method

You can use the Derive Account Dimensions and Derive Payment Method fields to derive the relevant information from the associated account or cash entry when creating cash entry lines. The Derive Line Number enables you to derive the line number from the highest existing line number on the associated cash entry and increment it by one.

To help you start using these fields without installing the Cash Entry Extension, we have added:

  1. A new Feature Console feature, Cash Entry Layout Update. This feature enables you to automatically add these new fields to the Cash Entry Line Item object.
  2. A new custom setting field, Stop Using Cash Entry Extension Package, to the Extension Settings custom setting. You can use this field to stop using the fields installed by the extension package and start using the corresponding fields in Accounting. We recommend that you only change this setting after advice from Certinia Customer Support.

For more information, see:

Finally, we have deprecated the fields installed by the Cash Entry Extension. For more information, see Deprecated Elements.

New Summary Total Fields

We have added the following summary total fields to the Cash Entry object:

  • Net Total
  • Total Bank Account Value
  • Total Cash Entry Value
  • Total Line Charges

These new fields display the sums of net values, bank account values, cash entry values, and line charges on cash entry line items.

In addition, we have enhanced the behavior of the following existing fields: Bank Account Value, Cash Entry Value, Line Charges, and Net Value. These fields are now updated when the cash entry is saved or posted, or when a total of 200 lines is added.

For more information, see Cash Entry Fields.

Background Posting Error Notifications

We have added support for notifications of unsuccessful cash entry background posting jobs. If an error occurs while posting cash entries in the background, the Background Posting Scheduler can now notify you of such errors via:

  • A Chatter post
  • An email message
  • A Salesforce task

This enables you to identify any background posting errors more easily so that you can correct them before trying to post the cash entries again.

You can enable or disable these notifications using the Chatter Notifications, Email Notifications and Generate BPS Email Notifications, and Task Notifications custom setting fields of the Accounting Settings custom setting.

For more information, see:

Payment Media Summary Lookup

We have added a new field, Payment Media Summary, to the Cash Entry object. This field provides a lookup to the payment media summary record associated with the cash entry, helping you track the payment records for which transactions are matched.

To use this field, you must add it manually to your page layouts of the Cash Entry object.

For more information, see Cash Entry Fields.

Matching Outstanding Balance using the Background Matching Scheduler

We have improved the Background Matching process to give you more control over the available outstanding balance on cash entry lines. Previously, when using the Background Matching Scheduler, and matching based on the invoice number, Accounting automatically matched any outstanding balance to other documents for the same account. Now, Accounting leaves the outstanding balance unmatched on the associated cash entry line instead of matching it automatically.

To achieve this, we have changed the default behavior of the Then Match Remaining By field on the Company object. Previously, this field defaulted to Outstanding Value - Highest First, even if no value was specified. Now, if no value is specified for this field, Accounting does not apply any secondary matching criteria.

For more information, see:

Vendor Payment Lightning Experience

We have introduced Vendor Payments in Lightning Experience. This provides an enhanced approach in the creation of payment proposals and electronic transactions within a few iterations.

Note:  
  • As Vendor Payment Lightning Experience has been implemented over several releases, we recommend you view About Vendor Payment Lightning for an overview of the functionality available.
  • For specific information on features and functionality introduced in previous releases, see the Accounting Spring 2023 and Accounting Summer 2023 documentation.

The following new functionality has been introduced in this release:

Accounting Playbook Enhancements

Playbook Task Template Due Date Update

We have changed the accounting playbook task due date calculation method. Instead of calculating the task due date from the playbook's start date, it is now calculated from the period end date. For example, if the selected playbook's period end date is June 30, 2023 and the value in the Calculate Due Date field is 3, the due date calculated for the generated task is July 3, 2023.

For more information, see:

Note:

If you already have accounting playbook task template records created in Summer 2023, you must update their calculate due date values. For more information, see Upgrading to Accounting Winter 2024.

New Features

We have added the following new features to the Accounting Playbooks functionality:

  • The approval process for playbook tasks. In this process, once the assignee has completed the task and marked it as Done, the approvers selected for the task by the playbook owner get notified. They review the completed task and mark it as approved. The approvers can view the assigned tasks list from the Accounting Playbook Task Approvers list view.
  • Remove and Replace Users action on the Period End Playbooks page. Playbook owners can now remove and replace other playbook owners, assignees, or approvers if they are not available for any reason.
  • Playbook Settings custom setting to manage various features of the playbook.
  • The Task Portfolio and the Task Portfolio Calendar tabs to the playbook record page, and the Task Template Portfolio tab to the playbook template record page.
  • Exclude Weekends and Exclude Public Holidays checkboxes on the Accounting Playbook Template and Accounting Playbook Task Template pages.

For more information, see:

Automation of Reversing Journals

We have enhanced journals to automatically create and post a reversing journal when you post the source journal. You can use this functionality by selecting the new Auto-Reverse field that we have added to journals.

This functionality is available for the following features:

  • Manual posting
  • Posting through mass actions
  • Background posting
  • Trigger posting using Datastream
Tip:

You can add the Auto-Reverse field to your list view on the journal home page. This enables you to view whether the Auto-Reverse field is selected for each journal record. For more information, see the Salesforce Help.

For more information, see:

Reversing Journal Number Lookup

We have also added the new Reversing Journal Number lookup to the Journal object. This enables you to access a reversing journal record from its source journal record.

For more information, see Journal Fields.

Collections Plus

The following enhancements have been made as part of the continuing improvements to Collections Plus.

Automated Collections Page

We have added a new tab, Send Customer Statements, to the Automated Collections page. You can use this tab to send customer statements using multi-company customer statement rules. You can review the statements that will be sent for a rule, exclude accounts from the statement process, review the statements that have been sent or excluded, and review any errors. You can filter the customer statement rules by company and rule.

For more information, see Automated Collections.

Logging Improvements

A number of changes have been made to improve the logging process and provide additional information to users.

New fields have been added to the Customer Statement and Customer Statement Log objects to support the new multi-company customer statement rules.

API Changes

The Accounting API has been updated to support sending customer statements for statement rules that have multiple companies assigned. Reminder rules and customer statement rules created using the single company process are no longer supported in the Accounting API. You must recreate those rules using the multi-company process to send reminders and statements using the Accounting API. For more information, see the "Accounting Winter 2024 Apex API Developers Reference" on Certinia Community.

Improved Optional Control for Auto-Creation of Sales Invoices or Sales Credit Notes from Billing Documents

In previous releases, you could use the Auto Create Sales Invoice or Credit Formula field to automate the creation of sales invoices from completed billing documents. However, after discarding the sales invoice, another sales invoice was automatically created.

We have deprecated the formula field and have introduced a new Auto Create Sales Invoice or Credit Note checkbox field. You can use the new checkbox field for automation. The field is selected by default. When a sales invoice or credit note is created, the checkbox field is automatically deselected using return mappings. This ensures that, if the original sales invoice is discarded, another one is not automatically created. For more information, see Billing Document Fields.

Automated Cash Matching for Inbound Customer Payment Refunds via Asperato

We have improved the process of refunding inbound customer payments made via Asperato for both sales invoices and billing documents. Now, whenever you use the Refund feature of Asperato Connector and the refund stage of the Asperato refund is "Refunded to customer", Accounting automatically creates a cash entry of the "Refund" type. When refunding a full payment for multiple invoices, Accounting automatically creates multiple cash entries of the "Refund" type, one per invoice. Previously, after refunding customers using Asperato Connector, users had to create the associated cash entries in Accounting manually.

In addition, to help you easily identify Asperato refunds associated with cash entry records, we have added a new field, Asperato Refund, to the Cash Entry object in Accounting. This field is populated if a customer payment refund via Asperato is successful.

To help you resolve any errors that might occur while using the Refund feature, Asperato Connector now creates payment worker records whenever a customer payment refund via Asperato is unsuccessful. Such records are created for each unsuccessful refund as follows:

  • If the payment is for a single sales invoice or billing document, a single payment worker is created.
  • If the payment is for multiple sales invoices or billing documents, multiple payment workers are created, one per invoice or document, with their respective amounts.

In addition, to help you easily identify Asperato refunds associated with payment worker records, we have added a new field, Asperato Refund, to the Payment Worker object. This field is populated if a customer payment refund via Asperato is unsuccessful.

Finally, you can now receive email notifications for both successful and unsuccessful customer payment refunds via Asperato. These notifications contain useful information about the status of your refunds, such as:

  • Number of successful and unsuccessful refunds
  • Number of cash entries created and posted for successful refunds
  • Further information on troubleshooting unsuccessful refunds

For more information, see:

Cash Entry Compliance with French Audit File Requirements

We have enhanced Payments Plus and Vendor Payments to automatically populate the Description field of the cash entries generated during these processes. The description includes details of the payment that the cash entry is created for. This enables you to:

  • Identify the payment that relates to each cash entry.
  • Comply with the French audit file (FEC) requirement for a description to be present on all documents.

Line Items Grid Improvements

To improve the user experience, we have added hyperlinks to lookup fields in the line item grids of the following pages:

  • Journal
  • Payable Credit Note
  • Payable Invoice
  • Sales Credit Note
  • Sales Invoice

You can now click the contents of a lookup field to open its detail page in a new tab. This enables you to view and edit the information specified on "In Progress" documents more easily.

For more information, see:

Swiss QR Code Support in ACC Documents Feature

Prior to this release, you had to create the Swiss_Structured_Reference_Type and the Swiss_QR_Reference fields manually to set the QR reference. For more information, see Printing with Conga Batch from Accounting

In this release, we have provided the Swiss QR code support in sales invoices by introducing the Swiss Structured Reference Type and the Swiss QR Reference fields in the Sales Invoice object.

The Swiss QR Code Support in ACC Documents feature in the Feature Console enables the user to map the values from the manually created Swiss QR code fields to the new fields in sales invoices.

For more information, see:

Payments Plus

We have introduced the following enhancements to Payments Plus.

Sending Notifications from a Custom Email Address

A new field, Organization Wide Email Address, has been added to the FDN Background Posting Settings custom setting, so that you can specify an org-wide email address to be used to send notifications from the following processes:

  • Post & Match Payment
  • Create Payment Media
  • Void Payment
  • Discard Payment
  • Remove Payment Plus Account

This field replaces the custom field that had to be created in previous releases. For more information, see Setting up Payments Plus.

Note:

If you have already created a custom field for notifications in a previous version of Accounting, you can still use that field. The background processes will use the new field first and then, if the field is blank, use the custom field.

Language Support for Place On Hold and Release Buttons

We have improved the language support for the Place On Hold and Release for Payment buttons. These buttons now display correctly on payable invoices if you use languages other than English.

Allocations in Lightning Experience

In our upcoming releases, we have plans to introduce Allocations in Lightning. For this particular release, when creating an allocation rule in Sencha, you might encounter a Record Type selection window. This has no effect on the Sencha version. For now, simply ignore this step and click Next to proceed with the usual process.

We have also renamed the Statistical Basis object to Allocation Basis and the Statistical Bases tab to Allocation Bases tab. A new Include Disabled Dimensions checkbox is also added to the Allocation Rule and Allocation Basis objects. This change will be visible in Sencha but will be relevant once the Lightning version is available. For more information, see Allocation Basis Fields.

Certinia Help Is Now Available from help.certinia.com

You can now access the Certinia Help and Technical Reference from help.certinia.com.

We have updated all the Help links included in Accounting Winter 2024. For more information, see Certinia Help URL.

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 - Winter 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.