Year-End Procedures

The Year-End procedure automatically runs after posting the last month of your fiscal year. This procedure zeroes out the income and expense accounts and places the net profit (or loss) in Retained Earnings. To close your year, follow the normal Month-End procedure with a few extra steps, detailed below.

  1. Install the Latest Updates
  2. Scan all Databases
  3. Run a Year-End Balance Sheet or Income Statement
  4. Begin New Year without Posting Final Month-End
  5. Make Adjustments after Posting the Final Month End
  6. Additional Year-End Procedures
  7. Balance Sheet Problems

A. Install the Latest Updates

Before running Year-End, visit the Updates page and install all current updates for your TAM version.

B. Scan all Databases

Scan all databases two to three days before running Year-End. This allows adequate time to correct any potential problems. You can run Scan Databases manually through the DBMAINT utility. If you receive a Shifted Data Report as a result of running this utility, fax the report to Support at 708-534-1937.

Notes

  1. Shifted "N" and "P" records should correct themselves; you do not need to contact Support. For more information about the Scan Databases utility, see the Database Maintenance Utility (DBMAINT.EXE) document.
  2. If you ran Night Utility Job System the night before doing Year-End and it already scanned the databases, you do not need to run another scan.

C. Run a Year-End Balance Sheet or Income Statement

The option to print Year-End journal entries displays when you post the last month of the fiscal year. To run a Year-End Balance Sheet, follow the procedure below:

  1. Access Reports.
  2. For the Report Type, select Reports - General Ledger. For the Report Choice, select Balance Sheet.
  3. On the Criteria tab, click Ask and Run. When the Accounting Month window displays, select Year-End.

Note: When running the Year-End Balance Sheet, the following message displays in a red box: "Reminder: 00 Year-End Procedure must have been run in order for values to be correct." This is not an error message. It is a warning message that displays regardless of whether or not you ran the Year-End Procedure. An Income Statement for the last month of your fiscal year includes the Year-End Net Profit/Loss figure. You can run a "Full Year" Income Statement as well.

D. Begin the New Year without Posting Final Month-End

Follow these steps to begin working in the new fiscal year without posting the last month of the current fiscal year:

  1. Initiate Month-End at the end of the calendar month in the last month of the fiscal year.

    Although Year-End is normally run at the end of the month, you can also run it before the 31st or after the 31st. You can run Close-Day for the missed dates. After initiating the month, remember that all activities (including installments processed and voids done) file in the new accounting month. If these items should file in the previous month, take necessary precautions, such as voiding and processing installments before changing the month in Close-Day in the Signon menu or when initiating Month-End. If you change the month without initiating Month-End, remember to replicate the Chart of Accounts in Utilities, Accounting, Chart of Accounts Utilities, Replicate Chart of Accounts.
  2. Begin working in the new fiscal year. All general ledger accounts show a zero opening balance until the last month of the fiscal year is posted. Also, the Balance Receivables report shows a Year-to-Date difference until the balance for Accounts Receivable is brought forward by posting the last month of the fiscal year.

E. Make Adjustments after Posting the Final Month-End

Follow these steps if the last month of the fiscal year has been posted and you need to make Year-End adjustments:

  1. Backpost the adjustments.
    1. Access Accounting > Journal Entries > Backpost Adjustments.
    2. Enter the backpost journal entry.
    Note: For entries affecting multiple cash accounts, you must make separate backpost entries.
  2. Rerun the Balance Sheet, Income Statement, and Status of Accounts for months affected during you fiscal year (present and past).

    Note: If there is a problem with these figures, contact Accounting Support at 1-800-999-6512 for assistance running the Rebuild General Ledger Balances utility to correct this problem.

F. Additional Year-End Procedures

  1. Prevent a Retained Earnings Not Defined error during Year-End by checking the Retained Earnings account setup in Utilities, Accounting, Account Maintenance, Enter/Revise Chart of Accounts. The account should be set for All agencies and to Allow in GL entry. Also, check Accounting, Account Maintenance, Enter/View Required Accounts to make sure that the account that you believe is the Retained Earnings account is the same account set up as Retained Earnings in the required accounts.
  2. Run a successful Night Utility Job System that includes packing and reindexing; scan all databases before closing the month.
  3. Enter writeoffs. If you need to enter writeoffs after closing the month, enter the writeoff in the current month, reverse the Journal Entry on the Accounts Receivable account in the current month, and backpost the Journal Entry to reflect the adjustment in Accounts Receivable. This should be the complete opposite of the entry, reversing it in the current month. Run a Miscellaneous Production report for JE1 and JE2 transactions to get the exact amounts for the journal entries.
  4. Check your client accounts for accuracy. Make any corrections or changes before you start the Month-End process. After closing the month, you cannot adjust the client accounts in the prior month.
  5. Run an Aged Accounts Receivable Report at the end of your fiscal year, if desired. The Aged Receivables report cannot be recreated to balance back to a prior month. It must be run as of the current date to match the GL. You cannot run these reports on June 15th and match May 31st. If you want to get a report to balance as of May 31st, the reports must be run on that day. For more information, refer to the Aged Receivables Report Balancing to the GL document.
  6. Verify that you have a printed copy of the Balance Sheet and Income Statement on file for at least the last month of the fiscal year or, if desired, each month of the fiscal year you just closed.
  7. Run a Year-End backup and store the tape in your archives after posting the last month of your fiscal year.
  8. If you receive any duplicate account errors when you post the year, contact Accounting Support for assistance.
  9. To print additional copies of the Year-End Journal Entries or to reprint copies of the Year-End journal entries, follow the steps below:

    Log Viewer

    1. Access Utilities > System Administrative > Log Viewer.
    2. Click File > Open.
    3. Choose the TAM drive.
    4. Open the TAM folder, open the SAV folder, and open the YEAREND folder.
    5. Change Files of Type from Text Files to All Files.
    6. Choose the YRENDA5.1 file and select Open.

      Note:       A5 represents the closed year 2005 and 1 represents the number of the closed agency.
    7. Click File > Print (or the Printer icon) to print the displayed file.

    Dos Prompt

    1. Click Start > Programs > Accessories > Notepad. Notepad opens.
    2. Click File > Open.
    3. Click the Files of type dropdown box and select All Files.
    4. Click the Look in dropdown box and select the TAM drive. (For example, select the F: drive if TAM is on F.)
    5. Open the TAM folder.
    6. Open the SAV folder.
    7. Open the YEAREND folder. This lists the existing Year-End Journal Entry files.
    8. Find the desired file by looking at the file names. For example, the file YRENDA5.1 indicates a year of 2005 and an agency of 1.
    9. Open the correct file for the desired year and agency.
    10. Click File > Print.
    11. Click File > Exit to close Notepad.
    Note: If you reprint these journal entries after making backpost adjustments for Year-End, this report only shows postings from when you closed your year. If you need updated figures (including any adjustments that you made), run an Income Statement report and that shows figures, including any adjustments.

G. Balance Sheet Problems

If you run the Balance Sheet for the last month of your fiscal year and think that the figures are incorrect, run a Status of Accounts Report for the same month and compare it to the Balance Sheet. If the two totals match, the problem is not with the Balance Sheet Report; the problem possibly lies with an entry in one of your accounts. Is the Balance Sheet in balance (total assets= total liabilities + net worth)? If not, run the Balance Sheet backwards until you find an in-balance month. Track down the incorrect or missing entry and contact Accounting Support for assistance.

If the Status of Accounts Report balance does not match the account balances on your Balance Sheet for the last month of your fiscal year, contact Accounting Support for assistance.