Often
it is not possible to complete the year end before you are required to produce
entries in the next year. Version 6 introduced the concept of "soft"
month ends and the ability to print AR & AP sub ledger trial balances at a
previous date, therefore it is quite simple to deal with this situation. Soft
month ends result from the ability of the GL to retrieve the transactions from
the sub ledgers into different fiscal periods based on the date of the
transaction. If the transaction date falls outside of the fiscal year as shown
on the GL company profile fiscal period calendar, that transaction is assigned
to fiscal period 99 which means that it will not be posted in the GL but will
be placed in an "error" batch.
There
are several decisions that have to be made before the best method of handling
the year end can be made.
First,
do you use the statistical information in the AR, AP? If you do not, there is
no difficulty in entering some of this year's transactions before closing last
year. It is always possible to go back and edit the statistics if that is
desired. Option 1 may be OK.
Second,
how long will it be before you have all the year end entries? If you expect to
be closed off before the end of the first fiscal period, you may not see a
necessity to run 2 GL's. If you post to the GL on a daily basis, you may still
wish to run a present year and a last year GL concurrently.
Third,
do you wish to have all of last year's entries posted to last year's GL so that
it is fully complete and you can run a complete GL
listing of all accounts? Any last year entries that are only posted to previous
year in the current GL obviously won't show on last
year's GL listing - last year's totals in the current GL will be changed as will
the opening balances for this year. This means that you will have to take a
backup of two GL's to obtain a complete record of last year's GL. Also many clients want to have a complete last year's GL
available because their accountants can use this GL to perform their work. This
requires running a present year GL and a last year GL concurrently.
Below
is a list of options. Assume a December fiscal year end and that the data is in
C:\ASP\DATA.
Single
GL, statistical information not used, IC closed for 1997 or not used.
1.1
In AP and AR continue as usual entering Dec and Jan transactions in the same
batch if desired. Do the year end function in AP and AR whenever desired, but
DO NOT do Dec period end until all Dec transactions have been recorded. Once
you have run Dec period end, you may not be able to print a report to reconcile
the sub ledger to the GL.
1.2
In the GL do the year end function to close 1997 whenever desired.
(a)
If you retrieve the above batches prior to closing 1997, the Dec transactions
will show fiscal 12 and the Jan transactions fiscal 99. Post the batches to the
current year and all fiscal 99 entries will appear in an error batch. Print
this error batch to ensure that it contains only January transactions, archive
(3.1.4.Archive) and (3.1) delete it. It will be retrieved (3.1.4. Create
Recurring Batch) and posted to fiscal I in the current year after the 97 year
is closed.
(b)
If you retrieve the above batches after closing 1997, the December transactions
will show fiscal 99 and January transactions will show fiscal 1. Post the
batches to the current year and all fiscal 99 entries will appear in an error
batch. Edit the error batch, change fiscal to 12, and post it to previous year.
To
run 1997 and 1998 GL's concurrently, statistics not used, and IC closed for
1997 or not used.
2.1
When ready to close 1997, go to start list, hit 'insert', type 'z.1997 GL' and
set path to '\ASP\DATA\1997', use the same extension as current GL.
2.2
At DOS make a copy of the existing GL by typing: xcopy
C:\ASP\DATA\GL*.XXX C:\ASP\DATA\1997\*.* where xxx is the extension of your
data files.
2.3
Start ACCPAC and go into the 1997 GL. Go to housekeeping, edit company profile and add 'Dec/97 Year End' to the company name. This
will ensure that you know which GL you are in and also all reports printed from
this GL will be properly identified.
2.4
Go into the current GL and perform the year end close. This is now the 1998 GL
and all sub ledgers are attached to it. All entries MUST be posted in this GL -
1997 entries are posted to the previous year and 1998 entries posted to the
current year.
(a)
When you retrieve batches from AP and AR, the Dec transactions will show fiscal
99 and Jan transactions will show fiscal 1. Post the batches to the current
year and all fiscal 99 entries will appear in an error batch. Print this error
batch to ensure it contains only 1997 entries, change the fiscal period to 12,
archive it, and post to previous year.
(b)
The 1997 entries must be archived before being posted to previous year fiscal
12 in the 1998 GL otherwise they cannot be retrieved into the 1997 GL and you
must then manually re-enter them. They are posted to the current year fiscal 12
in the 1997 GL.
2.5
The 1997 GL is located in a subdirectory below the current GL so that normally
network rights will not be a problem. Also your backup
command can usually be set to back up all subdirectories below the current GL.
Normally you would not have two data bases on your network or stand alone
computer with the same extension, however the GL can only retrieve archived
batches with the same extension. When the 1997 GL is fully complete, change the
extension to Y97 - make sure the start list is also changed.
2.6
Be sure this 1997 GL is backed up regularly during the period that you are
making entries to it and that data integrity checks are done regularly.
2.7
Always check to see that both GL's are in balance with each other. If you have
comparative financial statements simply run these for fiscal 12 in both GL's.
The 1997 current figures should be identical to the 1998 comparatives. If you don't run comparative statements and don't wish to modify
the specifications, a quick check can be made by comparing the opening retained
earnings in the 1998 GL with the closing figure in the 1997 GL. Print a trial
balance in the 1997 GL, add the total of the income accounts (on the last page
of trial balance) to the retained earnings and this figure should agree to 1998
opening retained earnings. In the 1998 GL this figure is on the bottom of the
add/modify GL accounts screen (1.1).
Same
as Option 2 except you want the 1998 GL to contain only 1998 entries (no 1997
entries posted to prior year).
3.1
Follow the same procedure as in option 2 above but in item 2.4 above be sure to
archive ALL batches before posting. Use the convention that batches to be
posted to 1997 are archived in the 7000 range and batches to be posted to 1998
are in the 8000 range. This makes it much easier when it comes to retrieving
the batches.
3.2
After the 1997 GL has all entries in it, rename the current GL to extension OLD
(for old), copy the 1997 GL to C:\ASP\DATA, close it, then retrieve all of the
1998 entries into it, post to the current year and continue on throughout the
year.
4.1
It is not possible to do the above with version 5 without a lot of extra work
because it does not have soft month end capabilities nor reporting at any date
other than the current one. Also the current version
of IC gives reports only at the current date.
4.2
There are other options that can be used with AR and AP such as entering the
next year's entries in batches AFTER CLOSING THE YEAR. These entries are then
posted after the GL has been closed and retrieved into next year's GL.
I.O.S. Consulting Group Inc., 7774 Wansford Drive, Delta, BC, V4C
7S9 (604) 878-0467