Clients can set up a General Ledger for each entity using Global Payroll. For each entity, we will need to establish a Chart of Accounts and create a template for the General Ledger which will record the different settings including the account code mappings against each G2N item in the report. Once the initial set up is complete, clients will be able to export General Ledger Journal Reports that accurately reflect the transactions that have occurred via Global Payroll.

Note: Global Payroll must be active for the entity to set up a GP General Ledger. 

Please follow these steps if payroll has not yet been processed. If the client needs to create a General Ledger after payroll is processed, please refer to the General Ledger Fast Set Up article for more information.

To set up the General Ledger template, we must first establish a Chart of Accounts. 
The Chart of Accounts (COA) is a full list of the asset, income, and expense accounts that will be used to fund different G2N items/item categories for payroll. Clients will assign each G2N item an account code and import the data into Deel. The account codes will direct payroll to withdraw the cost of specified payroll items from the specified accounts assigned.

 

In this article:

Generate Chart of Accounts
Create General Ledger Template
Generating GL Journal Reports 
Regenerate GL Journal Reports 
Error Validations for GL Journal Mapping Upload
FAQ

Generate Chart of Accounts

✅ Step 1 – Import/Add Chart of Accounts 

Select the Payroll icon and go to the Global Payroll tab. Select an entity from the list. 

Scroll down to the “General Ledger” Section. Select Add under “Chart of Accounts”

 

 

✅ Step 2 – Select a method for adding the Chart of Accounts

Clients will have the option to manually add an Individual Account’s details, Use a CSV to Bulk Add Chart of Accounts, or Duplicate the Chart of Accounts from another entity. 

[ACCORDION] Add an individual Item

[ACCORDION] Bulk Add COA items

 

[ACCORDION] Duplicate the Chart of Accounts from another entity

Select Duplicate the Chart of Accounts from another entity. Click Continue
Select the Entity that the chart will be copied from
Select the account(s) that will be  duplicated into this entity.
Select to Keep Existing Accounts in the entity or Overwrite them with the charts that will be copied. Click Done to submit.

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Create General Ledger Template

Once the Chart of Accounts has been established, we will create a template for this entity’s General Ledger. The settings from the GL Template will be applied to GL Journal Reports that can be exported from the Deel platform. Clients can personalize the GL Journal reports generated via Deel by adding GL Dimensions and User Defined Fields.

✅ Step 1 – Add a General Ledger Template

Select the Payroll icon and go to the Global Payroll tab. Select an entity from the list. 

Scroll down to the General Ledger section. Select Add under Templates.
 

 

✅ Step 2 – Name the GL Template

Enter a name that will be used to identify this GL Template record. Select Continue.

✅ Step 3 – Define Consolidation Settings 

Define the Consolidation Settings by selecting By Entity, By Dimension, or By Employee. 

- By Entity: 
Choose this option if further segmentation of GL transactions is not needed. Clients will simply use the Account Codes assigned in the Chart of Accounts (COA) to generate the GL. 

- By Dimension: 
Choose this option to slice and dice the data into smaller segments based on employee groupings. 
 

- By Employee: 
Choose this option to slice and dice the data into smaller segments based on specific employee(s). 

 

[ACCORDION] Add a Dimension 

Select Add to create a custom dimension.



List of fields found in the Job Information section that can be used as dimensions:

- Division

- Department

- Job Title

- Cost Center

- Employment Type

- Location

- Custom Fields (See Note below)

 

Note: If more fields are needed, Custom Fields may be created and selected as Dimensions here. (See Usage of Dimensions for more information)

Select a Dimension from the dropdown menu. To customize the way the dimension appears in the GL Journal Reports, enter the desired Label name. 

Toggle Show Dimension in GL Report?

• If toggled to ON, Dimension will visibly aggregate transaction lines on GL based on these employee “groupings”
• If toggles to OFF, Dimension will only be used to assign appropriate GL Accounts to G2N items based on employee “groupings”

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✅ Step 4 – Define Additional GL Settings 

Set Posting Date, File Generation Format, and (optional) User Defined Fields.  Select Continue

✅ Step 5 –(Optional) Add User Defined Fields

To include User Defined Fields, Select Add 

Enter a Column Label, Value ("Fixed String" or "Concatenation of Strings"), and the String. 

- Fixed String: 
Allows to create columns in GL report that are static in nature

- Concatenation of Strings: 
Creates a column that includes multiple data points by appending one string to the end of another string. Ex - {{String name}} + {{Payroll Cycle MM/YYYY}} = Journal Cycle 10 10/2023

Select Add to create a user defined field. Repeat the process to add all of the User Defined Fields needed. 

Select Continue

 

✅ Step 6 – Set the Column Order

Drag and Drop to place the template columns in desired order from left to right.  Select Continue

Note: Position 1 = Left most column in GL Report
 

 

✅ Step 7 – Download and Fill the GL Mapping Template

 

The template will include the G2N items which may be used for this specific entity. Clients may specify different dimension values and debit credit accounts to use for each G2N item in this document.

Note: It is required that ALL of the columns in the exported template to be filled in entirely.

 

✅ Step 8 – Drag & Drop or Browse and Upload filled GL Mapping template. Select Continue

Note: The platform will flag any issues found within the uploaded file. Download the CSV with Errors to review and resolve the issues. Once all of the issues have been addressed, try to upload the data again. See Error Validations for GL Journal Mapping Upload below for more information.  

 

✅ Step 9 – Review Details and Select Create

The GL template settings that were created will be saved in Deel under Global Payroll Tab > General Ledger

Clients can review and edit a template by selecting its name in the General Ledger Template List. 

 

Generating GL Journal Reports 

Once the client has completed their GL Template, GL Journal Reports can be generated via Deel. 

✅ Step 1 – Initiate GL Report for Payroll Cycle 

Select the Payroll icon and go to the Global Payroll tab. 

Select an Entity followed by the Payroll Tab.   

Note: Ensure that the page is set to the payroll cycle that the client wants to generate a report for.  

Under Payroll Documents, select After Approval
 Under General Ledger, select Generate

 

✅ Step 2 – Define Report Details 

Select the Journal Template that will be used to format this report. Select Continue 

 

✅ Step 3 – Define G2N Mapping

The G2N Mapping for the report will pull from the GL template that was selected. 
Review the mapping details. Clients may edit and add entries to the G2N mapping from this screen. 
 

To Edit existing G2N items: 

Scroll to the right within the table to access the Actions Column. Select to Edit  

Edit the details of the G2N items for GL mapping as needed. Select Save

To Add a new G2N item:

Select Add Item 

Enter G2N item mapping details and Save 

 

✅ Step 4 – Review Changes & Create Report

Select Submit to generate the report 

 

✅ Step 5 - Access GL Journal Reports 

Return to the entity's Payroll Tab. Under After Approval > General Ledger > Select Download
 

The GL Journal Report CSV file will download in the browser. Select to open the downloaded file to review the GL Journal Report.  

 

Regenerate GL Journal Reports 

After generating a GL Journal report, clients may need to make changes to the final document. They can select to regenerate the report from Global Payroll at any time. This will allow clients to review the entire GL creation process from the beginning of this payroll cycle. 

Deel keeps a log of all GL reports generated. Clients will be able to review the original report as well as the updated version that replaces it when the GL Report is regenerated. 

✅ Step 1 - Select to Regenerate General Ledger

Return to the entity's Payroll tab. Select After Approval 

Under General Ledger, select the Actions icon (three dots to the right of download) to access the menu. 

Select Regenerate General Ledger

 

✅ Step 2 - Complete the steps to generate GL Report 

Complete all of the steps for Generating GL Journal Reports as prompted, making changes as needed. 

In Step 3: Review Changes, clients will confirm GL creation to create an updated version of the GL report for this payroll cycle. 

Check the box to confirm. Then, select Submit. 

 

✅ Step 3 - Download Regenerated GL Report 

Once the updated GL has been generated, it can be downloaded right away.

Return to the entity's Payroll Tab. Under After Approval > General Ledger > Select Download

 

Error Validations for GL Journal Mapping Upload

When uploading the General Ledger Mapping template, the platform will flag any issues found within the uploaded file. (See “✅ Step 6 – Download and Fill the GL Mapping Template" in section above) Download the CSV with Errors to review and resolve the issues. Once all of the issues have been addressed, clients can try to upload the data again.

✅ Step 1 – Download CSV with Errors

Select Export CSV with Errors to download a copy of the file with an additional Error column.  

Each row with an error will describe the issue and what is needed to resolve it.  

 

✅ Step 2 – Update the document as needed to address each error 

[ACCORDION] Error Example

Error states "Credit Amount and Debit Account are required" 
The credit Account Field for this row is blank. Fill in the missing information to resolve. 
 

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See How To Handle General Ledger (GL) Errors for more information on the types of errors clients may encounter and how they can be resolved. 

✅ Step 3 – Remove Error column 

Once all of the issues have been addressed, delete the error column only. Save the updated file.

✅ Step 4 – Re-Upload corrected mapping CSV 

Next, use the Reupload CSV option to upload the revised mapping file. Select Continue 



Note: If the revised file upload is flagged for errors as well, repeat the previous steps until the file can upload without any errors. 

 

✅ Step 5 – Review Details and Submit

GL template settings will be saved in Deel under Global Payroll Tab > General Ledger

 

FAQ 

[ACCORDION] What happens to the original GL report if the client regenerates one on the same payroll cycle? 

Deel keeps a history of every GL report generated. Each time the report is regenerated, the latest one becomes available for download under the entity's payroll tab.

Clients can access and download historic GL reports in the payroll cycle under After Approval >  General Ledger > Action Menu (Three Dots icon)

Select View Details 

Select to Download any GL versions in the history to review