Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance General Ledger Training Course

Course overview

Finance teams depend on a reliable general ledger to produce timely close packs, traceable audit evidence, accurate statutory reporting, and management information that can be trusted. In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance, weak ledger design, inconsistent financial dimensions, poorly controlled journal processes, or misunderstood posting profiles can create reconciliation delays and reporting errors across legal entities. This course addresses the practical configuration and operational decisions that determine whether the general ledger supports control, analysis, and scalable growth.

Participants work through the General ledger capabilities in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance, from chart of accounts design and account structures to financial dimensions, journal controls, allocations, foreign currency processing, consolidation, and financial reporting. They learn how subledger activity reaches the ledger, how to investigate vouchers and balances, how to configure period-close controls, and how to build reporting structures that reflect management and statutory requirements. The emphasis is on making configuration choices that support real finance processes rather than simply navigating screens.

Teaching combines instructor demonstration with guided system exercises using realistic multi-entity finance scenarios. Participants configure a controlled ledger model, post and review journals, run allocations and consolidation activities, and produce a period-end reporting pack. They leave with a documented General Ledger configuration workbook, journal-control checklist, close-process workflow, and reporting design that can be adapted for their own Dynamics 365 Finance environment.

The course is particularly valuable for finance systems professionals, senior accountants, controllers, and implementation team members who already understand accounting fundamentals and need to administer, improve, or govern General ledger processes in Dynamics 365 Finance.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Configure a legal entity ledger, fiscal calendar, accounting currency, and ledger posting controls in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance
• Design a chart of accounts, main account categories, account structures, and advanced rules for controlled posting
• Build and maintain financial dimensions, dimension value sets, and financial dimension hierarchies for management analysis
• Create, validate, approve, post, reverse, and audit general journal entries using journal names and workflow controls
• Trace subledger-to-ledger postings through vouchers, accounting distributions, posting profiles, and transaction inquiries
• Execute allocation rules, recurring journals, accrual processing, and foreign currency revaluation for period-end activities
• Perform consolidation setup and produce consolidated balances across multiple legal entities and currencies
• Produce a documented general ledger configuration and month-end close pack using Financial Reporting and Excel outputs

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Finance Systems Managers — who own Dynamics 365 Finance configuration, controls, and finance-process improvements
• Financial Controllers — who need dependable ledger close, consolidation, and reporting across legal entities
• Senior Accountants — who prepare journals, reconciliations, accruals, and period-end financial information
• General Ledger Accountants — who administer daily posting, analysis, and close activities in Dynamics 365 Finance
• Dynamics 365 Finance Functional Consultants — who configure General ledger features for implementation or support projects
• Internal Audit and Financial Controls Professionals — who assess journal governance, traceability, and segregation-of-duties controls

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical accounting knowledge, including double-entry principles, journals, trial balances, accruals, account reconciliations, period close, and basic financial statement structure. Experience using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance, or a comparable ERP finance module, is strongly recommended; attendees should be comfortable navigating legal entities, lists, filters, and standard inquiry pages. Familiarity with Microsoft Excel is assumed for reviewing and exporting financial data. Programming, SQL, Power BI development, and prior system-implementation experience are not required. This is not a bookkeeping fundamentals course, so complete beginners should first gain accounting and ERP navigation experience.

Training methodology

The week is delivered through instructor-led configuration walkthroughs, short accounting-control briefings, and guided exercises in a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance training environment. Participants work with a multi-entity case organisation to configure ledger foundations, create dimensions and account structures, process journals, investigate posted vouchers, run allocations and currency revaluation, and prepare consolidated reporting. Group discussions test design choices against close, audit, and management-reporting requirements. On the final day, each participant completes an application plan and assembles a General Ledger configuration and close-control pack.

Course outline

Day 1: General ledger foundations and control architecture

• General ledger workspace, navigation, legal entities, and ledger inquiry tools
• Ledger setup, accounting currency, reporting currency, and accounting currency conversion
• Fiscal calendars, fiscal years, periods, and period status management
• Chart of accounts design principles and main account categorisation
• Main account types, normal balances, and financial statement implications
• Account structures and permitted financial dimension combinations
• Advanced rules for conditional dimension requirements and posting validation

Workshop: Configure a legal entity ledger, fiscal calendar, chart of accounts, account structure, and advanced rule set for a multi-department organisation.

Day 2: Financial dimensions, journals, and posting governance

• Financial dimension creation, activation, and dimension value maintenance
• Dimension value sets, default dimensions, and fixed financial dimensions
• Financial dimension hierarchies for reporting and organisational analysis
• Journal names, voucher series, number sequences, and journal control options
• General journal entry, validation, approval, posting, reversal, and correction
• Journal workflow configuration concepts and approval evidence
• Ledger account combinations, restricted values, and posting error resolution

Workshop: Build department, cost centre, project, and region dimensions, then create and route controlled accrual and correction journals for approval.

Day 3: Subledger integration and period-end accounting

• Subledger accounting flow and accounting distributions
• Posting profiles and the relationship between operational modules and the general ledger
• Voucher transactions, transaction origin, and drill-down investigation methods
• Recurring journals, recurring invoices, and automated periodic posting
• Ledger allocation rules, allocation bases, and allocation journal processing
• Accrual schemes and period-end accrual recognition
• Foreign currency revaluation for accounts payable, accounts receivable, and general ledger balances

Workshop: Investigate subledger vouchers, configure an overhead allocation rule, post a recurring accrual, and execute a foreign currency revaluation.

Day 4: Close management, consolidation, and financial reporting

• Financial period close workspace, task lists, role ownership, and close status monitoring
• Year-end close principles, retained earnings, and opening balance processing
• Consolidation legal entities, subsidiary mapping, and consolidation account setup
• Financial dimension and currency translation considerations in consolidation
• Consolidation process execution and consolidated trial balance review
• Financial Reporting row definitions, column definitions, and reporting trees
• Report drill-down, report security, Excel export, and distribution controls

Workshop: Create a period-close task list, consolidate two legal entities, and build a management profit-and-loss report with a reporting tree.

Day 5: Governance, troubleshooting, and workplace application

• General ledger security roles, duties, privileges, and segregation-of-duties considerations
• Audit trail review, database logging concepts, and document attachment practices
• Financial control framework for journals, master data, close, and reporting
• Trial balance reconciliation and unresolved balance investigation
• Common General ledger configuration defects and structured troubleshooting techniques
• General ledger data migration considerations, opening balances, and cutover validation
• Configuration documentation, test scripts, and operational handover standards

Workshop: Complete a capstone review of a flawed ledger scenario and produce a configuration workbook, control checklist, close workflow, and remediation plan.

Tools & standards covered

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance, Microsoft Excel, Financial Reporting for Dynamics 365 Finance, Electronic Reporting (ER)

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions