Month-End Closing Procedures

This section should be used as a guideline in reconciling the month-end General Ledger with the other Ledgers maintained by the accounting system.

The following reports should be printed and saved permanently for each fiscal period on the system. They should be printed after all transactions for the month have been entered.

G/L Trial Balance

Print a General Ledger Summary Trial Balance report for the fiscal period that is being closed. Make sure the general ledger is in balance by confirming that the total at the bottom of the ending beginning balance column is zero.

If You Are Out Of Balance...

If the ending balance total is not zero, this means the general ledger is out of balance. First check the total at the bottom of the beginning balance column. If it is the same non-zero number as the ending balance total, the out of balance situation began in a previous fiscal period. In this case it may be desirable to print Trial Balance listings for prior periods until the fiscal period where the out-of-balance condition began is found.

See
Reconciling Job Costs
Reconciling Accounts Payable
 Reconciling Accounts Receivable.

Financial Statement

Limit this report to the fiscal period that is being closed.

Subsidiary Schedule

Print all subsidiary accounts for the period. Any account which appears as a consolidated ‘Master’ account on the financial statement is broken down into ‘Subsidiary’ accounts. This shows the month to date and year to date totals for each account. The Master Account balances should match the trial balance totals.

General Ledger Detail Report

Print all accounts for the period. This shows all transactions for the specified fiscal period by account number. These balances should match the trial balance.

G/L Master Transaction File Listing

Limit this report to the range of reference numbers created since the last time the report was printed. This shows transactions in entry order and is where the General Ledger and Job cost Detail Reports get their information.

Other Monthly Processes

If Equipment Costing is used, make sure to zero the month to-date figures for all equipment. This is done through the Period End option on the Equipment Costing Menu.

Quarterly Processes

Back up data, then print the End of Quarter reports in Payroll.

Calendar Year End Processes

Back up data, then print End of Quarter reports and W-2s in the Payroll module. Then zero Quarter-to-Date and Year-to-Date totals in the employee records under the End-of-Quarter Reports option.

Back up data, then print 1099 forms from the Accounts Payable menu. After printing the forms, perform the Year-End Balance Transfer from the Print 1099s option.