AL G/L Scenarios

Overview

AL G/L Scenarios adds parallel, scenario-filtered general ledgers to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. Documents and journals can post into a complete scenario ledger - G/L entries, VAT, customer and vendor entries with due dates - that runs alongside the official books without touching them, and the chart of accounts shows a second balance next to the standard one.

Business Central keeps a single set of books: no way to simulate a posting, to hold an accrual-basis management view during the year, or to run parallel ledgers the way a posting layer does in larger ERPs. Accountants fall back to spreadsheets, off the ledger and hard to reconcile. AL G/L Scenarios closes that gap by running the full accounting round inside the scenario while the official ledgers stay exactly as they were. It extends standard Business Central and composes over the free AppLibra base (AL Message Passing).

Key features

• Unlimited scenarios, two types. A Simulation scenario posts only into the scenario ledgers - what-if invoices and journals that leave no trace in the official books. A Management scenario mirrors every standard G/L posting and adds its own period-end adjustments.
• Full posting round in the scenario. Sales, purchase and general-journal posting run the complete accounting round into the scenario only when the document or line carries one. The scenario gets the complete round; the real posted document is still created and shared; the item ledger is never written.
• Dual balance on the chart of accounts. Scenario columns (Net Change, Balance, Debit/Credit and currency variants) sit next to the standard ones, filtered by scenario, with an editable Scenario Filter (GLS) to compare another scenario on the fly.
• Management accruals and deferrals. An accrual worksheet posts accrued costs or revenues into a scenario with an automatic reversal in the next period; Defer in Scenario spreads a flat cost from a posted purchase invoice over its competence months - inside the scenario only.
• Re-runnable initialization. A report fills a Management scenario with a copy of the existing standard G/L; it is idempotent, so already-reflected entries are skipped and it can be run again at any time.
• Standard preview, navigation and reports. Posting preview opens as Posting Preview (GLS), Find Entries lists the scenario entries, and the standard financial reports (trial balances, comparative balances, G/L register, receivables-payables) run on the scenario ledgers. Italian localization included.

Business benefits

• Simulate before you commit. Post a what-if invoice or journal into a scenario and read its impact on the chart of accounts, with the official books untouched.
• A management, accrual-basis view during the year. Keep period-end accruals and deferrals off the statutory ledger, in a scenario that mirrors the official G/L and reconciles to it by construction.
• Two balances side by side. The chart of accounts shows the statutory balance and the scenario balance next to each other, with drill-down that separates the mirrored entries from the adjustments.
• The official books stay clean. Every scenario posting runs the full accounting round into parallel ledgers; the statutory G/L, VAT and party ledgers are never modified, and the posted document is still standard.

Typical scenarios

• What-if invoicing. Simulate a purchase or sales invoice and see the P&L and balance impact before deciding, with no trace in the official ledger.
• Monthly management close. Reflect the statutory G/L into a management scenario, add accruals for costs received but not yet invoiced, and defer a flat annual fee over its months - all off the statutory books.
• Pro-forma reporting. Run the standard trial balance and comparative reports on a scenario to produce an accrual-basis or pro-forma picture inside Business Central.

What makes it different

• A real parallel ledger, not a report. The scenario carries genuine G/L, VAT and party entries with due dates, posted through the full accounting round - not a spreadsheet or an analysis view bolted on top.
• Two scenario models, one design. Simulation (only the scenario) and Management (the statutory books mirrored plus adjustments) cover what-if and management accounting with the same objects.
• Reconciled by construction. A management scenario is the statutory balance plus its adjustments, and the drill-down shows exactly which is which.
• The official books are inviolate. A posting layer style that Business Central lacks natively, without a second system and without dirtying the statutory accounting.