In our recent blog, A first look at Business Central 2022 wave 1 updates, we took an overview approach to the 2022 wave 1 plan and looked at all the new or updated features that would most affect the user experience of Business Central. This time we are bringing in the focus and looking at what the team here at TVision Technology are calling their “Top 12 Finance Features” of this most recent Business Central update (April 2022).

1. Blocking deletion of G/L accounts

In first place of our Top 12 Finance Features is this extra safeguard that Microsoft have introduced against accidental deletion of G/L accounts. To help ensure that users don’t delete an account that has entries within the period where they must be kept, you can now specify the start date of the period for which your country requires you to store financial data. This is done in the Check G/L Acc. Deletion After field on the General Ledger Setup page.

To further safeguard accounts from accidentally being deleted, Microsoft have also added the Block Deletion of G/L Accounts toggle to the General Ledger Setup page. If the toggle is turned on, Business Central will prevent users from deleting accounts that have entries after the date that is specified (in the Check G/L Acc. Deletion After field). If you must delete these accounts, you can turn off the Block Deletion of G/L Accounts toggle.

2. Two-digit year equates to 1950-2049 range

With 2022 release wave 1, users who enter a two-digit year in Business Central online will have the input render automatically to the 1950-2049 date range. In previous releases, the default behaviour was to follow the Windows settings, which would differ depending on the operating system.

3. Auto-accept transactions for intercompany journals

Intercompany postings make accounting for two or more companies an easier task for a centralised finance department. Microsoft has now added an automated general journal acceptance which will remove several manual steps in the intercompany accounting process. Business Central now has a new Intercompany Setup page where you can specify where received intercompany journal transactions should be created.

4. Allow the sell-to and bill-to customers to be different for jobs

With this improvement to Business Central’s Jobs functionality, Microsoft has added support for projects where the party that receives a service is different from the party that pays the bill. On the Jobs page, they have added Sell-to and Ship-to field groups. Existing jobs will be updated automatically, and these new fields will inherit values from the respective fields in the Bill-to group that was already available.

5. Bank Account Statement report

The Bank Account Statement report on the posted bank reconciliations has now been modified to show a more detailed snapshot of the bank information at the time when the bank reconciliation was posted. The addition of new fields: G/L Balance, Outstanding Payments, and Cheques, make it easier to validate and audit.

6. Block VAT and General Posting Setups

To support businesses in getting up and running more quickly, Business Central will now show users notifications if they are missing general ledger (G/L) accounts in posting groups or posting setups, such as the VAT/Tax Posting Setup page or the General Posting Setup page. User can turn this functionality on or off using the G/L accounts missing in posting group or setup notification in the My Notifications page.

7. Change default company bank account on sales and service documents

Users can now set default bank accounts for companies, and for individual currencies, by choosing Use as Default for Currency on the Bank Account page. When an order processor creates a sales document, the default bank account is automatically assigned based on currency specified in the Company Bank Account Code field.

8. Consolidating customer and vendor balances

A company that you do business with might be both a customer and a vendor. To avoid making unnecessary payments or receipts and save on transaction fees, Business Central now allows users to consolidate the customer and vendor balances (as long as the company is set up as both customer and vendor on their contact card).

9. More control over deferrals posting

This new functionality lets users automatically defer revenues and expenses over a specified schedule and multiple accounting periods. This will give accountants more control over when people post deferrals. Users can now define periods during which they allow users to post deferrals on the G/L Setup page.

10. Create bank deposits

In this update, Microsoft has added the ability to post bank deposits as a single lump sum. This improvement will make bank reconciliations much easier. However, on the bank deposit page there are also deposit lines in which the detail about the individual deposited items, such as cheques from customers, cash sales revenue, or refunds from vendors, is added.

11. Bulk releasing and reopening documents

When users finish working on a batch of documents, this new functionality allows them to release all or some of them to the next stage in the process all in one go. , Or if required they can be reopened  for further processing. When multiple documents are released or reopened, a confirmation will show the number of documents that have been selected and the number that remain unchanged.

12. Support inventory pick and warehouse pick operations for Jobs

Businesses can now enable warehouse activities for jobs to ensure an effective flow through the warehouse and to organise and maintain inventory. This improvement is enabled on the Feature Management page by switching on the Feature Update: Enable inventory and warehouse pick from Jobs. Once it is enabled, the Create Inventory Pick and Create Warehouse Pick actions are available on the Job Card.

Watch our webinar

To find out more about these Top 12 Finance Features watch our on-demand webinar, What’s New in Business Central – April 2022 update.

How can TVision help you?

TVision is one of the largest and most experienced providers of Business Central and NAV in the UK. If you want to know more about Microsoft Business Central and how it can help improve your business processes, please feel free to contact us to arrange a demo. If you are already using Business Central but would like better support and advice than you are currently receiving, please contact us for an informal, no-strings attached chat on what TVision could do for you.