Batch
What It Is
A batch gives a business unit a recognizable collection of accounting documents to work on together. Staff use it to see what has arrived, decide when intake is finished and follow the collection into the ledger. Its identity continues through those stages, so the same record connects document preparation, posting progress and later review. The collection can be created by a person or maintained through recurring configuration. Recurrence describes how batches are supplied; it does not introduce another kind of accounting object.
What It Is Not
A batch does not replace an invoice, payment or other source document. Those documents retain their own meaning and their own editing experience. A batch also does not mean that its documents have already affected the ledger. Posting supplies that accounting result. A fiscal system batch has the same broad identity but belongs to the period-close process, rather than ordinary staff intake. A recurring configuration is a standing arrangement for supplying batches, rather than the batch in which a particular document is recorded.
How It Is Used
A preparer starts with a business unit, a date and a useful name. During collection, the batch page gives staff a view of its documents and live totals. Staff can finish intake manually, or scheduling can retire the current collection and supply its replacement. Assignment settings help documents reach a recurring collection without a person choosing a batch for every transaction. Posting responsibility then shifts attention from gathering documents to resolving configuration, checking readiness and completing the accounting work.
The batch remains useful after posting. Its detail connects the original collection to posting history and ledger entries. If posting fails, staff can use the recorded reasons to find the missing prerequisite and coordinate a retry. If a posted collection needs correction, an administrator follows the recovery workflow. Period-close protections still govern what can change. These different responsibilities belong to connected capabilities rather than to a single unrestricted editing operation.
Its Facets
Identity combines a readable name and optional code with ownership and accounting date. Status describes progress through collection, retirement and posting. Type distinguishes ordinary transactions, migrated history and fiscal system work. Totals describe the collection now, while posted statistics describe the accounting result recorded at posting. Locks supply deliberate protection alongside lifecycle restrictions. Dependencies connect the collection to source documents in other batches, and errors explain a failed attempt.
Recurring facets describe schedule, templates, activation, current-batch selection and run history. Assignment facets describe a default and ordered matching criteria. Attention facets connect a waiting collection to posting responsibility and its deadline. Together these facets let staff understand both a single batch and the continuing flow that supplies the next one.
How It Relates
Posting turns eligible batch documents into accounting records and retains the history of that work. Subledger entries make the resulting debits and credits readable. Revenue recognition schedules carry deferred amounts forward to later fiscal closes. The batch links these objects to the business unit and collection that produced them, without owning product configuration or document issuance.
What It Could Become
The product should make readiness easier to assess before staff submit accounting work. It should also make a recurring run’s result and the current intake collection easy to distinguish when a prior batch remains protected. These recommendations need product decisions and acceptance evidence before they become commitments.