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Resources not creating GL entries for projects

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Posted on by Curator

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I have never understood why BC allows GL entries and project ledger entries for Items when consuming items on projects but does not allow the same with Resources. It only creates project ledger entries. At clients I have worked with have always stated that payroll journals are required to offset against the resources consumed on a project and surely its time that option is allowed on BC as a configuration. If items can post to the GL and to the project ledger entries then surely it should so the same for Resources. I don't really understand why this option is not available.

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Dynamics 365 Business Central

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YUN ZHU 103,656 Super User 2026 Season 2 on at

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Hi, This is because in standard design, Resource ≠ Employee Payroll.
You can submit this idea to Microsoft.
Missing a feature? Post or vote for ideas on: aka.ms/BCIdeas

Thanks
ZHU
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Yi Yong 2,803 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Hello,
Because Resource cost incurred to project cost only and there should not be any financial impact to our books.

The statement "payroll journals are required to offset against the resources consumed" is inaccurate.
Payroll are expenses, resources consumed definitely don't give company revenue, these two will never offset each other.
Even if you went ahead with customization, the entries will be Dr Resource Expense Cr Liabilities.
When payroll expenses come in, it will be Dr Payroll Expense Cr Bank.
Now, you have inflated your COGS by almost double.
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OussamaSabbouh 20,124 Super User 2026 Season 2 on at

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Hello Curator,
This is standard behavior by design: when you post Resource usage to a Project, Business Central creates Project Ledger Entries + Resource Ledger Entries, but no G/L Entry; Microsoft explicitly documents this. Items behave differently because they represent inventory value—project consumption creates Item Ledger/Value Entries and the inventory cost is subsequently transferred to the G/L through inventory costing. A Resource, however, represents labor/capacity usage and its project Unit Cost is primarily used for project costing and profitability; recording 8 hours does not itself prove that a payroll expense/liability has financially occurred, so Microsoft keeps payroll/accounting posting separate. There is currently no standard setup option to make Resource project usage automatically debit a project labor cost/WIP account and credit a payroll clearing account. If the requirement is only financial project cost, a G/L Account type can be used for project costs; if you need the same posting to create Resource Ledger + Project Ledger + G/L Entries, then an AL customization would be required. I agree this would be a useful configurable option for organizations that want payroll clearing tied directly to project resource consumption.
Regards,
Oussama Sabbouh
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Grigorios Mavrogeorgis 3,638 Super User 2026 Season 2 on at

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Hi, there is a logic behind it. An item sits on the balance sheet as inventory, so when you consume it on a project the value has to leave the inventory account, that's why you get G/L. A resource has no value in the G/L before usage. The real cost arrives through payroll or a purchase invoice, so BC only writes the resource ledger and project ledger entry.
Where resource cost does touch G/L is WIP. Look at the Project Posting Group, there is a Resource Costs Applied Account, used when you run Calculate WIP and Post WIP to G/L with the posting method per project ledger entry. It's a contra to the payroll expense more or less, so maybe close to what your clients ask.
Glad to help - follow up if anything is unclear.
► If this solved it, marking it verified helps others too.
Regards,
Grigorios Mavrogeorgis
Business Central Consultant & AL Developer
Work: Gmsoft Limited
Blog: insidebusinesscentral
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gregorymavrogeorgis
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Ben Baxter 7,274 Super User 2026 Season 2 on at

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I think Grigorios and Yi Yong's responses together explain the reasoning. Items have a stored G/L value, and upon consumption to a Project need to move the G/L value.

Resources do not have a stored G/L value, and are not always 1:1 to payroll. Most companies don't want the actual payroll cost hitting the Project either, as it exposes private information. Rather they have a shop rate (unit cost) per type of employee that hits the Project and can make it to the G/L via WIP posting.

You will also have a payroll expense (Gen. Journal entry) hit your G/L that would potentially duplicate the Project postings if the Resource cost hit the G/L as well.

BC also has a Project G/L Journal which does allow the transactions posted to go to the G/L, but I don't recommend you use this as you may want to think through the transactions in more detail based on these responses.

Best Regards,
Ben Baxter
Accent Software Inc
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Simon Kimani 213 on at

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Business Central Projects does not directly post resource costs to the G/L. Resource and labor costs recorded on projects are generally used for project costing, billing, and capacity tracking, while the actual financial cost of employees or technicians is typically posted separately through payroll. WIP can be used to recognize project costs in the G/L, but it may not fully meet requirements where resource costs need to be posted directly to financial accounts.
If resource costs need to be posted directly to the G/L from project activities, customization is required to extend the standard functionality. Acumens Advanced Projects extension addresses this requirement by allowing resource costs to be posted to the G/L, with the costs reflected in the configured COGS and Overhead Applied accounts.
To post resource cost to the G/L:
Configure COGS and the Overhead Applied Account in the General Posting Setup.
Create a project and add project task lines.
Update planning lines to be posted.
Create Project Journal lines.
Open and review created Project Journal lines. This will include the resources.
Post Project Journal lines.
Once posted, the resource cost will also be posted to the G/L account based on the general posting setup.

For more details: https://acumens.com/Blog/advanced-projects-business-central/#post-resource-cost-to-the-gl