KB-352 — Accounting Traceability¶

Version: 1.0
Status: Approved
Author: BLACK ERP Engineering
Category: Technical Accounting Certification

Purpose¶

This document describes the complete accounting traceability of ADempiere.

Its objective is to explain how a business transaction becomes an accounting entry, following the entire execution path from the business document through the Accounting Engine until the accounting information is permanently stored inside FACT_ACCT and later consumed by financial reports.

Unlike KB-212, which explains the Accounting Engine architecture, this document focuses on traceability, allowing consultants and developers to understand exactly where accounting information is generated, persisted and later consumed.

End-to-End Accounting Traceability¶

Every accounting transaction follows exactly the same lifecycle.

Business Process

        │

        ▼

Business Document

        │

        ▼

Document Engine

        │

        ▼

Doc_*

        │

        ▼

createFacts()

        │

        ▼

Fact

        │

        ▼

FactLine

        │

        ▼

FACT_ACCT

        │

        ▼

Accounting Information Window

        │

        ▼

General Ledger

        │

        ▼

Trial Balance

        │

        ▼

Financial Statements

This flow represents the complete accounting lifecycle inside ADempiere.

Stage 1 — Business Document¶

Everything begins with an operational document.

Examples:

Purchase Invoice
Sales Invoice
Material Receipt
Customer Shipment
Payment
Allocation
Journal Entry
Inventory Adjustment

At this stage, no accounting has yet been generated.

Stage 2 — Document Engine¶

When the document is completed, the Document Engine determines whether the document is account-controlled.

If accounting is required, the engine invokes the appropriate accounting class.

Examples:

Business Document	Accounting Class
Purchase Invoice	Doc_Invoice
Sales Invoice	Doc_Invoice
Payment	Doc_Payment
Allocation	Doc_AllocationHdr
Material Receipt	Doc_InOut

Stage 3 — createFacts()¶

Every accounting class implements the createFacts() method.

This method contains the accounting rules for the document.

Responsibilities include:

Resolve accounts
Calculate debit amounts
Calculate credit amounts
Determine accounting dimensions
Build Fact objects

At this point, accounting still exists only in memory.

Stage 4 — Fact¶

The Fact object represents a complete accounting entry.

One Fact corresponds to one accounting document.

Example:

Purchase Invoice

Fact

    │

    ├── FactLine

    ├── FactLine

    └── FactLine

Stage 5 — FactLine¶

Each FactLine represents a single accounting movement.

Typical information stored in a FactLine includes:

Account
Debit
Credit
Product
Business Partner
Project
Organization

FactLines still exist only in memory.

Stage 6 — FACT_ACCT¶

After all FactLines are created, the Posting Engine persists them into FACT_ACCT.

At this moment, accounting becomes permanent.

Every FactLine becomes one row inside FACT_ACCT.

FactLine

↓

FACT_ACCT Row

This is the point where accounting officially exists inside the ERP.

Stage 7 — Accounting Information¶

The Accounting Information window does not calculate accounting.

Instead, it queries FACT_ACCT and displays previously stored accounting entries.

Therefore:

Accounting Information

=

FACT_ACCT

No accounting logic is executed when opening this window.

Stage 8 — Financial Reports¶

Financial reports also consume FACT_ACCT.

Examples include:

General Ledger
Trial Balance
Balance Sheet
Income Statement

All reports originate from the same accounting repository.

Purchase Example¶

Purchase Invoice

↓

Doc_Invoice

↓

createFacts()

↓

FACT_ACCT

↓

Accounting Information

↓

General Ledger

↓

Trial Balance

Sales Example¶

Sales Invoice

↓

Doc_Invoice

↓

createFacts()

↓

FACT_ACCT

↓

Accounting Information

↓

Financial Statements

Payment Example¶

Payment

↓

Doc_Payment

↓

createFacts()

↓

FACT_ACCT

↓

Bank Reports

Allocation Example¶

Allocation

↓

Doc_AllocationHdr

↓

createFacts()

↓

FACT_ACCT

↓

VAT Reclassification

Technical Traceability¶

During BLACK ERP certification the following path was successfully validated.

Purchase Invoice

↓

119.001 VAT Pending Payment

↓

FACT_ACCT

↓

Payment Allocation

↓

118.001 VAT Paid

Exactly the same validation was performed for Sales.

Customer Invoice

↓

209.001 VAT Not Collected

↓

FACT_ACCT

↓

Allocation

↓

208.001 VAT Collected

This confirms that VAT Cash Basis accounting is not only visible in the ERP interface but also permanently stored inside FACT_ACCT.

Traceability Matrix¶

Layer	Evidence
Business Process	Purchase / Sales Cycle
Business Document	Invoice / Payment / Allocation
Accounting Class	Doc_*
Accounting Engine	createFacts()
Memory Objects	Fact / FactLine
Database	FACT_ACCT
ERP Window	Accounting Information
Financial Reports	GL / Trial Balance / Financial Statements

Relationship with Other KB Documents¶

KB	Description
KB-212	Accounting Engine Architecture
KB-350	Technical Accounting Certification Framework
KB-351	FACT_ACCT Anatomy
KB-353	SQL Validation Guide
KB-354	Cash Basis VAT Validation
KB-355	Accounting Audit Procedures

Conclusion¶

Accounting traceability provides complete visibility over the lifecycle of every accounting transaction generated by ADempiere.

Understanding this execution path enables consultants, developers and auditors to identify accounting issues, validate postings and demonstrate accounting integrity from the originating business document to the final financial reports.