Operate a local ledger alongside a group ERP
A local ledger can provide country accounting and reporting while the group ERP manages operations. The arrangement works when both systems agree on the identity of each business event and the team can explain every difference between their balances.
This guide describes an operating method. It does not prescribe where a country's legal books must be held. Establish that requirement separately before assigning the systems' roles.
Assign ownership at document and balance level
Write down which system issues legal invoices, controls customer and supplier balances, values inventory and records statutory adjustments. Name a system owner and a finance owner for each responsibility.
The local system might hold complete transaction detail, or it might receive journals with supporting documents. Confirm that the chosen detail meets the actual reporting and audit requirements. A trial balance alone cannot reproduce invoice-level reports.
Choose one source for the entity's group consolidation package. Keep mirrored balances out of a second consolidation import. Differences between accounting frameworks need a documented bridge; duplicate entity imports need correction at the interface.
Define the interface contract
Every transferred record needs a stable source identifier, entity, posting date, document date, currency, account mapping and batch identifier. Include the original invoice reference and correction relationship where applicable. Preserve the source amount and exchange-rate basis rather than sending an unexplained converted total.
The receiving system must distinguish a new record from a retry. Keep a receipt containing the accepted source identifiers, rejected identifiers and reason codes. A transport success without an accounting result is an incomplete handoff.
If the product supports only file import, the same control applies. Store the file, its control totals, import result and operator approval together. A manual upload can be controlled; an undocumented upload cannot be reconciled reliably.
Keep mapping changes dated
Maintain a mapping version for the local-to-group chart of accounts and tax classifications. Apply an approved mapping to a defined period and retain earlier versions for historical reproduction.
Do not silently remap old entries when a group account changes. Decide whether the change affects future postings, comparative reporting or a correction of past results. Preserve that decision with the mapping record.
Reconcile a complete transaction
The following example uses hypothetical currency units and a fictional tax amount. It is an arithmetic illustration, not a tax-rate example. Both systems use the same currency and accounting basis to isolate interface behavior.
| Event | Debit | Credit | Customer balance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Invoice INV-104 | Receivable 120 | Revenue 100; tax payable 20 | 120 |
| Credit CR-12 referencing INV-104 | Revenue 10; tax payable 2 | Receivable 12 | 108 |
| Receipt PAY-88 | Bank 108 | Receivable 108 | 0 |
The accepted result in each ledger is revenue 90, tax payable 18, bank movement 108 and a zero customer balance. The two systems must also retain the same invoice-credit relationship.
Suppose the credit export fails but the receipt succeeds. The destination ledger shows revenue 100, tax payable 20 and a receivable of 12. The difference is explained by CR-12, not by an unexplained balancing journal. Transfer the missing credit using its original identifier and confirm that the retry cannot duplicate it.
If the credit was actually accepted but its acknowledgement was lost, query the destination before retrying. Treat an unknown result as unknown. Creating another credit to make the batch appear complete changes the business records.
Control local-only adjustments
Some local entries will not originate in operations, such as a statutory reclassification or an accountant's closing adjustment. Give those entries their own identifiers, approval records and reporting treatment.
Decide whether each adjustment belongs in the group ERP, a consolidation adjustment layer or only the local books. Record the reason. A local adjustment should never disappear merely because the next operational import overwrites a balance.
Close the period in an agreed order
- Stop or identify late operational postings for the closing period.
- Reconcile exported, accepted, rejected and unresolved records by identifier and amount.
- Compare receivables, payables, cash, inventory and tax control accounts.
- Approve local-only adjustments and the local-to-group reporting bridge.
- Produce the reporting package from the agreed source.
- Freeze the accepted files, mapping versions, approvals and reconciliation.
A reopened period needs the same controls. Preserve the previous submitted version and identify what changed, who approved it and whether any external filing requires correction.
Rehearse recovery and exit
Test a duplicate batch, a missing attachment, an unknown transmission result and a mapping rejection. Ask the team to retrieve a historical invoice and reproduce its reporting classification from the saved records.
For a product migration, confirm direction as well as format. Tripletex documents SAF-T import with mapping and post-import checks. That source does not by itself establish equivalent export support for the same versions. Tripletex SAF-T import.
Copyable interface and close worksheet
| Control | Required record |
|---|---|
| Authoritative document system | System, document type and legal numbering owner |
| Batch population | Entity, period, count and source identifier range |
| Financial totals | Debits, credits and control-account amounts |
| Mapping | Version, effective period and approver |
| Destination result | Accepted, rejected and unknown identifiers |
| Corrections | Original reference and correction owner |
| Local adjustments | Identifier, basis and group treatment |
| Close approval | Open differences, approved explanations and sign-off |
| Historical evidence | Documents, responses, mappings and reproducible reports |
Related: Parallel books, statutory accounts and group reporting, and replace an ERP while preserving tax history.
Worksheet: Operate a local ledger alongside a group ERP worksheet
Copy this worksheet for each case. It records decisions and evidence; it does not determine the tax or legal treatment.
Show the worksheet
Copy this worksheet for each country or entity decision.
Scope
- Legal entity:
- Country:
- Period covered:
Decisions
- Arrangement chosen:
- System owning legal invoices:
- System owning statutory reports:
- Interface owner:
Evidence to retain
- ☐ Product/edition documented
- ☐ Filing or export sample reviewed
- ☐ Acceptance criteria signed
Related on this site
- Country pages: key facts with sources
- E-invoicing matrix: country × ERP support
- All guides
Vendor documentation is cited only as an example of the level of evidence to ask for; it is not a recommendation or a ranking. This guide is general information, not tax or legal advice. Checked 2026-10-19.
Related: Glossary – abbreviations and terms used in these guides (SAF-T, Peppol, CTC, EN 16931, IFRS and more).
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