Month-End Checklist

The steps used to complete the Month-End Procedure are outlined in checklist form below. Print Month-End Checklist, on the Month-End Procedures menu, can be used to print a copy of this list and should be printed each month. By doing so, the checklist can be used each time the procedure is run and the steps can be checked off as completed. The checklist can be modified to add notes as necessary.

Month-End Preparation

  1. Print the Month-End Checklist. To do so, click Print Month-End Checklist from the Month-End Procedures menu. On the next screen, click on the document and click OK to print it. If necessary, you can change printers as well. Once you have printed the checklist, click Cancel to exit.
  1. Run Month-End In-Balance Checks. These options should be run just prior to Month-End to ensure that no system errors (power outages, etc.) have caused any transaction errors. If this procedure is run several days before Month-End, there will be time to contact the Support Department, if needed, to help you repair any balances before Month-End Closing. To run this program, click Month-End In-Balance Checks from the Month-End Procedures menu. Select All Balance Checks from the next menu. You can also run most of these balance checks through Night Utility Job System. It is highly recommended that you do so on a regular basis.
  1. Clean Up Aged Receivables. Run the Aged Receivables Report using a report mode of Balance to Month-End. Look for any clients that have debits and credits to be applied together. Scan for obvious debit items such as writeoffs or agency's and/or employee's insurance. Also look for any obvious errors, and make adjustments as necessary.
  1. Pack and Reindex All Files. Activity is frequently heavy the last days before Month-End closing. To ensure that the entire Month-End process goes smoothly, especially the printing of reports, you should pack and reindex all files prior to beginning. This can be accomplished by running the Database Maintenance program manually or as part of Night Utility Job System.
  1. Run the Cross-Reference Book of Business Report. The Cross Reference Book of Business Report takes a snapshot of the Premium field listed on the billing screen of policies. Those fields can change on a daily basis, so if you would like to be able to recreate the results later, you must run this report and set the Output Criteria to Run and Save Results. You need to do this each month before posting, possibly using several different sets of criteria, depending on what information you want to save. If not, the agency will not be able to compare future reports with this month's report.

    Caution:     You cannot recreate or use this month's results after posting unless the option to "Run and Save Results" is used.

Month-End Procedure

  1. Prior to Month-End, run a backup of all data. If your previous night’s backup was successful, that will be sufficient.
  1. Verify that all client transactions for the month to be closed have been recorded for the appropriate clients. No customer transactions should be entered once the final Close-Day procedure has been run.
  1. Run the Close-Day Procedure for the final day of the month.
  1. Make sure that there is ample paper and enough toner in the printer.
  1. Apply service charges to past due accounts if so desired. To do so, click Generate Service Charges on the Month-End Procedures menu. You are given an option to refine the service charges if desired. Accept and apply the service charges reviewed by clicking Accept Service Charges.
  1. Make any needed miscellaneous journal entries and cash account entries for items such as depreciation, bank service charges, interest, scheduled journal entries, etc.
  1. Initiate the Month-End Procedure to ensure that no activity is filed in the month to be closed. The system's default accounting month will be changed to the next month when the Month-End Procedure is initiated. If it becomes necessary, you will still be able to make entries into the month you are closing. A warning displays but you can proceed past it.
  1. Run the following reports through the Accounting Reports, Setup/Run options on the Month-End menu. Some of the reports are not necessary for certain accounting setups but should be run when balancing to the General Ledger. For more information on these reports, see the Month-End section in the TAM Help File. Detailed information for recommended criteria settings and report explanations are contained in the Help File:
  • Aged Receivables
  • Account Current Report
  • Producer Report
  • Broker Report
  • Miscellaneous Production Report
  • Adjustments – Producer
  • Adjustments – Company
  • Changes Report
  • Earned Commission Report
  • Status of Accounts
  • Income Statement
  • Balance Sheet
  • Trial Balance

If your agency intends to use Vouchers, run the Pending Vouchers Report as well.

After the necessary reports have been printed, continue the Month-End Procedure. If an out-of-balance situation is encountered, try to identify the errors. If you are unable to locate the errors or are unsure of how to correct them, be sure to have all of the reports listed above on hand when you call Support.
 
  1. Review the reports for accuracy. If any errors are found, make correcting entries. To do so, enter adjusting entries in the month you are currently closing. TAM displays the message: "Month is currently being closed, do you wish to reconsider?" Click No. After the correcting entry is made, rerun any month-end reports that were affected by the changes, including the Trial Balance.

  1. If this is your first month on the system, verify that the total of the MSC transactions (client opening balances) on the Miscellaneous Production Report equals the opening balance you entered in the accounts receivable account in the general ledger. To obtain the accounts receivable opening balance, run the Status of Accounts. These figures must agree. If they do not, check these reports against the reports you originally got the figures from to see if anything has been omitted, deleted, or changed, and adjust as necessary.
  1. Generate the Month-End Journal Entries. Click Generate J/Es for Current Month. View the entries for accuracy by clicking View Generated J/Es and comparing them to the reports generated earlier. Accept the entries if they are correct by clicking Accept Generated J/Es.
  1. Generate Month-End Client Statements for all clients. Click Statements on the Month-End Procedures menu. Before printing statements for the first time, you should access the Statement Format option and specify how you would like your statements to look and what information should be included on them. This needs to be done only once unless you decide to make changes to the formats. To print statements as part of Month-End, select the End-of-month run radio button. If you do not want to print statements, select the Create and save balance forwards radio button. This option will not print statements but will update client balance forward amounts. You can run statements at any time during the month through the option Not an end-of-month run.
  1. Post the Month-End Journal Entries. Click Post Journal Entries.
  1. Run the Trial Balance for the month just posted to ensure that no errors were encountered during posting. Since you should have run this earlier as part of your Month-End reports, you can run it to summary output this time just to see if there are any errors.
  1. Rerun accounting reports for the month just posted (Month-End Procedures menu, Accounting Reports, Run Accounting Reports). This is necessary only if you have made adjusting entries since the first time you ran reports and you need to rerun only the reports that were affected by the adjustments. Review for accuracy. It is all right to discard all previous copies of reports that are rerun.
  1. Run the complete Month-End system backup and store it off premises. The backup from the evening after you post is sufficient.
  1. Run as many reports as needed through the Management Reports, Setup/Run option on the Month-End menu.