Results for “gl_balances”

AI-generated from documented ETRM metadata — verify critical details on the linked pages.

Overview

GL_BALANCES is the core balances table in the Oracle General Ledger (GL) module of Oracle E-Business Suite, owned by the GL schema. It stores account balances for both detail and summary accounts, holding the period-end and period-activity figures that underpin financial reporting, trial balances, and consolidation across the ledger. In release 12.1.1 and 12.2.2 the table is documented with 37 columns and a composite primary key, GL_BALANCES_PK. Each row represents the balance of a single account combination, in a specified currency, for a specific accounting period, under a defined actual/budget/encumbrance context.

From a heuristic Data Vault modeling perspective, GL_BALANCES is best classified as a link object. It does not represent an independent business entity so much as the intersection of several hubs — Ledger, Code Combination, Currency, and Period — enriched with a set of measure columns (the debit, credit, and average-balance amounts). This classification is a modeling suggestion derived from its heavily referential structure rather than a documented attribute.

Key Information Stored

The composite primary key GL_BALANCES_PK comprises LEDGER_ID, CODE_COMBINATION_ID, CURRENCY_CODE, PERIOD_NAME, ACTUAL_FLAG, BUDGET_VERSION_ID, ENCUMBRANCE_TYPE_ID, and TRANSLATED_FLAG. These columns collectively define a unique balance record and serve as the de facto business key; there is no separate single-column surrogate. The most consequential columns are:

• LEDGER_ID — identifies the ledger the balance belongs to.
• CODE_COMBINATION_ID — the accounting flexfield combination whose balance is stored.
• CURRENCY_CODE — currency of the entered amounts.
• PERIOD_NAME — the accounting period.
• ACTUAL_FLAG — distinguishes actual, budget, and encumbrance balances ('A', 'B', 'E').
• BUDGET_VERSION_ID — populated for budget balances.
• ENCUMBRANCE_TYPE_ID — populated for encumbrance balances.
• TRANSLATED_FLAG — indicates whether the row holds translated amounts.
• PERIOD_NET_DR / PERIOD_NET_CR — period activity debits and credits.
• BEGIN_BALANCE_DR / BEGIN_BALANCE_CR — opening balances for the period.
• PERIOD_TO_DATE_ADB / YEAR_TO_DATE_ADB — average daily balances.
• QUARTER_TO_DATE_DR / QUARTER_TO_DATE_CR — quarter activity totals.
• PROJECT_TO_DATE_DR / PROJECT_TO_DATE_CR — project-to-date activity.
• PERIOD_TYPE, PERIOD_YEAR, PERIOD_NUM — period classification and sequencing.

The _BEQ suffixed columns hold the equivalent balances in the ledger's reporting currency, supporting translation reporting.

Common Use Cases and Queries

The most frequent use of GL_BALANCES is financial reporting. A representative trial-balance query for a given ledger and period is:

• SELECT code_combination_id, SUM(begin_balance_dr - begin_balance_cr), SUM(period_net_dr - period_net_cr) FROM gl_balances WHERE ledger_id = :ledger AND period_name = :period AND actual_flag = 'A' AND translated_flag = 'N' GROUP BY code_combination_id;

Other scenarios include comparing actual versus budget by filtering ACTUAL_FLAG and BUDGET_VERSION_ID, retrieving average daily balances for cash-flow analysis, and drilling from a summary template into detail via TEMPLATE_ID. Reporting tools such as FSG and the GL standard reports read this table directly. Because GL_BALANCES is volatile and large, queries should always filter on LEDGER_ID, PERIOD_NAME, and ACTUAL_FLAG to leverage the primary key and avoid full scans.

Related Objects

Referential integrity links GL_BALANCES to several master tables through documented foreign keys:

• GL_CODE_COMBINATIONS — joined on CODE_COMBINATION_ID; supplies the account segment values.
• GL_BUDGET_VERSIONS — joined on BUDGET_VERSION_ID for budget balances.
• GL_ENCUMBRANCE_TYPES — joined on ENCUMBRANCE_TYPE_ID for encumbrance balances.
• GL_PERIOD_TYPES — joined on PERIOD_TYPE for period classification.
• GL_SUMMARY_TEMPLATES — joined on TEMPLATE_ID; drives summary account rollups.
• FND_CURRENCIES — joined on CURRENCY_CODE for currency definitions.
• GL_LEDGERS — referenced via LEDGER_ID, the owning ledger entity.

These relationships confirm GL_BALANCES as the central intersection of ledger, account, currency, and period dimensions, making it the primary source for balance enquiry and financial statement generation within Oracle General Ledger.