At the end of an accounting period, or at the end of the fiscal year, you must close the period or year. Closing calculates the net profit or loss for the period or year, updates balances, and creates historical information. Closing General Ledger also allows you to remove voided journal entries and old historical records.

 

At the end of the accounting period, closing the period ensures the year to date and period to date totals for the accounts remain current. When you close a period, current balances from expense and income accounts are accumulated in the net income account, and the expense and income statement account current balances are set to zero. Thus, the net income account contains the total net income for the period. The period to date balances for all accounts are also set to zero.

 

To Do Prior to Closing GL

•Primary financial reports should be generated like the GL Journal Register.

•The General Ledger files should be backed up prior to closing the year.

• Run a full set of entrée system system backups.

 

Access

entrée V3 Use menu path: System > Closing > Close Period > go to the Close General Ledger - Period 01 section of the window.

 

entrée V4 SQL Go to the System ribbon menu > Closing options.

 

Warning Messages

When you first open the Close Period window, a series of tests are performed to verify that General Ledger is in the correct state prior to closing. Various warning messages will be displayed and the problems must be resolved before the closing will run successfully. Some common warnings are listed below.

 

•"All entries must be posted before continuing with the close."

If any non-voided entries exist on the unposted entry file, you will receive this warning, which will prevent you from closing the period. Click No to stop the closing and fix the unposted entry file.

 

 

•"You are about to close period 12 into period 13. Any auto reversing entries will go into period 13. If your intent is to close the year rather than the period, you may select Period and Year instead of Period. Continue?"

If the period you are closing is period 12, you are warned, and allowed to cancel closing the period by clicking the "No" button. This allows you to close the year instead of the period.

 

•"To close period 13 you must do a Period and Year closing."

If the period you are closing is period 13, you will receive a warning, which will prevent you from closing the period.

 

•You are warned if you have requested deletion of history entries, where the message displayed depends upon which one of the three history deletion options you have selected. In this case, the second option, prior to the beginning of the closing period, was selected.

 

•You are warned if you have performed a release to General Ledger from Accounts Payable without updating General Ledger.

 

•A message reminds you that the printer must be ready to print the GL Journal Register report.