The Ledger Lowdown: Before You Close Your Fiscal Year...

Jennifer Maroney — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 12:01:00 GMT

After your audit is complete, there are some things you need to do before actually closing the fiscal year. The process includes creating, printing, and comparing the Trial Balance, Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Statement of Activities, and the General Ledger reports. I recommend using a new default template for these reports. This will remove any VCO issues like missing or duplicate accounts. Here is how to run each of the reports:

Trial Balance:
1. On the General tab, select Balance as the Report Format.
2. Select <specific fiscal year> in the Date field and select the fiscal year you are closing.
3. On the Format tab, highlight Detail and mark the Show account category totals checkbox.
4. Click Preview and print the report.

Income Statement:
1. On the General tab, select the new default template and a level of 1.
2. Mark the Include accounts with no activity and Include inactive accounts checkboxes.
3. On the Columns tab, open the Actual column.
4. On the column screen, select the Date Range tab, <specific fiscal year> in the Date field, the fiscal year you are closing, and then click OK.
5. Click Preview and print the report.

Balance Sheet:
1. On the General tab, select the new default template and a level of 2.
2. Mark the Include accounts with no activity and Include inactive accounts checkboxes.
3. On the Columns tab, open the Actual column.
4. On the column screen, select the Date Range tab, <specific fiscal year> in the Date field, the fiscal year you are closing, the last fiscal period of your fiscal year, and then click OK.
5. On the Format tab, highlight Detail and mark the Print change in Net Assets checkbox.
6. Click Preview and print the report.

Statement of Activities:

On the General tab, select the new default template and a level of 1.
Mark the Include accounts with no activity and Include inactive accounts checkboxes.
On the Columns tab, open the Unrestricted column.
On the column screen, select the Date Range tab, <specific fiscal year> in the Date field, the fiscal year you are closing, and then click OK.
Repeat step 4 for the Temporarily Restricted, Restricted, and Total columns.
Click Preview and print the report.

General Ledger Report:
1. On the General tab, select the new default template.
2. Select <specific range> in the Date field and enter the day after the last day in the fiscal year you are closing. For example, if your fiscal year ends 6/30/2008, enter a start and end date of 7/1/2008.
3. On the Filters tab, change the Category filter from All to Include, select Net Assets, and click OK.
4. On the Format tab, highlight Detail, and mark the Include Grand Total checkbox.
5. Click Preview and print the report.

For all step-by-step instructions for the end-of-year process, review The Financial Edge End of Year Guide.

Talk to you soon.

The Ledger Lowdown: Time for a New Fiscal Year

Jennifer Maroney — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:47:00 GMT

As 2008 quickly comes to a close, make sure you are prepared for next year by creating your 2009 fiscal year today. This will ensure a smooth transition from one year to the next without interrupting data entry. Here's how:

In Configuration, click Fiscal Years and then New Fiscal Year.
Enter a unique fiscal year ID and a description.
Select the number of periods.
Manually enter the periods for your fiscal year or click:
- Copy From to copy periods from an existing fiscal year.
  1. Click Copy From.
  2. Select a fiscal year and click OK.
- Auto-Complete to automatically complete the periods based on the previous fiscal year.
Save and close the record.

Talk to you soon!

The Ledger : GL end-of-year

The Ledger Lowdown: Before You Close Your Fiscal Year...

The Ledger Lowdown: Time for a New Fiscal Year