GL Exports and Period Closures

This guide outlines how to export General Ledger (GL) transactions from ALIS and manage GL period closures as part of the monthly billing workflow. It highlights key considerations and reporting tools to support accurate reconciliation and financial reporting.

About GL Exports 

GL exports and period closures are part of the monthly billing process. Keep the following in mind:

• All transactions must be exported before period closure.
• Closing a period restricts your team from adding or editing charges on that period’s invoices.
• Credits and discounts become non-editable once their creation has been exported in a closed period, and cannot be unapplied once their application to an invoice has been exported in a closed period.

The GL Transactions page requires security role access and an active GL integration. Contact your Account Manager or the ALIS Customer Success Team for enablement assistance.

Available GL Export Types 

ALIS provides Generic .csv and Excel export files compatible with any ledger software. Dedicated export formats are also available for the following GL systems:

• QuickBooks Desktop/Online, Multiview, Netsuite, Sage 300 (formerly Timberline), Yardi
• Sage Intacct - Download an export file or use the API Integration, which automatically syncs ALIS data with Intacct nightly. See the Sage Intacct API Integration guide for details. To learn more about this integration, read this Sage Intacct API Integration guide. 
• American Health Tech (AHT) - Export as a .txt file.

For configuration assistance with any GL integration, contact your Account Manager or our ALIS Customer Success Team.

GL Integration Start Date

Users cannot perform billing activities that would generate GL transactions on dates prior to the community’s GL Integration Start Date, similar in behavior to posting to a closed period.

• Existing periods before the Integration Start Date retain their open/closed/restricted status but are hidden from the ALIS interface.
• Communities without a GL integration configured are unaffected; all periods remain accessible.

Export Transactions 

Follow these steps to export transaction data from ALIS:

1. Navigate to the GL Transactions page. 
2. Locate the period. On the GL Periods tab, all monthly periods are listed with their Open/Closed status.
3. Click the GL Txns button for the period you want to export.
4. Review each transaction before exporting. The View Transactions/Payments page displays the period’s transaction history. 
   • Preview Export: Click this button at the top right to download a preview file of all unexported transactions.
   • Transaction details: Click the down arrow to the right of a transaction row to see the account posting details.
5. Create the export file by selecting transactions using the checkbox at the top left (select all) or individual row checkboxes. 
6. Click Export Transactions and choose your file format: .CSV or Excel.
7. Once all transactions in a period have been exported, the page displays “There are no transactions” and the Hide Exported Transactions checkbox is automatically selected.

💡Tip (Sage Intacct): If using the Sage Intacct Integration and you need to export files for already-synced transactions, uncheck the Hide Exported Transactions and click Preview Export to download a .CSV of the synced transactions.

Download Transactions Export and Import into GL

Next, you need to download the export file and import it into your GL: 

1. From the View Transactions/Payments page, click the View Exports button. If you’ve navigated away, find downloads in the GL Transactions page → Exports tab.
2.  Click the Download button next to the export. If you exported multiple transaction groups within the same period, each will appear as a separate row.
3. Save the file. Save the .csv, Excel, or .txt file to your computer.
4. Import into your GL software. 

💡Tip: Clicking Delete removes the export from this page and returns the transactions to the period’s transactions page so they can be re-exported if needed. Exports can only be deleted before the period is closed.

Close Period (Single Community)

The Close Period button becomes available only after all transactions for the period have been exported and the period has ended. Your team can close the period completely or apply a Restricted Close. 

To close a period:

1. Navigate to GL Transactions → GL Periods tab.
   • Note: Open or restricted periods are highlighted in red as a visual indicator.
2. Click Close Period. In the confirmation modal, select a closure type:
   • Close Completely - Fully locks the period. No users can make changes.
   • Restricted Close (Recommended) - Limits edits to users with admin permissions. The system will display a warning before any changes are saved.
3. Click Submit to finalize. 

Close Through (Optional)

This option allows you to close multiple periods at once. This will close all periods from the GL Integration Start Date through your selected period in a single action. 

After closing a period

• Users will no longer be able to edit exported transactions within the closed period. 
• If Restricted Close is selected, only users with appropriate permissions can make changes, and system warnings will apply.

Restricted Close 

Restricted Close is a specialty setting that can be enabled for your GL integration. It is typically used to restrict team changes to a period’s transactions during the final days of the month, allowing time to prepare financial reporting due on the 1st.

How Restricted Close Works

• Closes the period for most users even if some transactions have not yet been exported.
• Prevents certain team members from making changes to the period’s transactions.
• Users with higher permissions (typically home office corporate accounting staff) can still make transactions during Restricted Close.

To enable Restricted Close, contact your Account Manager or the ALIS Customer Success Team.

Portfolio Period Status Overview (Multi-Community)

The Portfolio Period Status page provides a cross-community view of GL period statuses and enables bulk period closures. Access it via the Portfolio Period Status button on the GL Transactions page.

Overview Tab

Displays all communities the user has access to, along with:

• The period each community is closed through.
• Any blocking issues preventing a period close.

Bulk Close tab

Allows closing a single period across multiple communities simultaneously. 

To bulk close a period: 

1. Select the GL period (Month and Year) from the dropdown menu. 
2. Use the checkboxes to select communities.
3. Click the Bulk Close Period button. 

Note: Communities with blocking issues (e.g., open or pending transactions) will be skipped during a bulk close. Review the per-community status before confirming.

To unblock periods with "Open or pending txns," simply return to the GL Transactions page and export the transactions for that period, and then return to close the period. 

Reopen a Period 

Reopening a period allows charges, credits, and discounts to be edited again. Use with caution if financial reporting has already been finalized. 

To reopen a period, use the Reopen Period button at the top right of the GL Periods tab. 

1. Click the Reopen a Period button.
2. In the pop-up modal: 
   1. Select the period(s) to reopen from the dropdown menu.
   2. Select the reopen method (Restriced Open or Open Completely). 
3. Click Reopen.

The ability to close and reopen periods requires a specific security role permission. If you need assistance configuring security roles, contact your Account Manager or the ALIS Customer Success Team.

Reporting

The following reports support reconciliation and transaction review workflows:

Account Balances Report

Provides a sortable and exportable view of GL export data by account.

Access options:

• Navigate to Reports → Billing → Account Balances.

Or

• From GL Transactions → Exports tab:
  1. Click View to open the View Transactions/Payments page.
  2. Select Account Balances.
     • Note: You may need to deselect Hide Exported Transactions to enable access.

Transaction Details Report

Displays detailed transaction data within a selected invoice date range.

To use the report:

• Navigate to Reports → Billing.
• Select Transaction Details.
• Apply filters as needed.
• Click Refresh to generate results.

Related Articles:

• How to Close Periods
• Sage Intacct API Integration
• Credits
• Resident Refunds

For more assistance: 888.404.ALIS (2547)  |  support@go-alis.com