You use this program to maintain the integrity of data in your General Ledger module. It closes the current period (opening a new period for processing) and deletes ledger information no longer required in the system.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Start Processing | Processing begins according to the selections you have made. |
| Prints the information currently displayed in the Report pane. | |
| Save Form Values | This option is only enabled in Design mode (Automation Design). Your selections are saved and applied when the
program is run in automated mode. Form values and defaults are applied at operator level. They are not saved at role or group level. |
| Field | Description | ||||||||||||||
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| Control details | |||||||||||||||
| Current GL month | Indicates the current month number of your General Ledger module. | ||||||||||||||
| Current GL year | Indicates the current year of your General Ledger module. | ||||||||||||||
| Period end date | Indicates the period end date for the current month as defined in the General Ledger Setup program. | ||||||||||||||
| Last date balance was run |
This indicates the date on which the Balance function was last run. |
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| Processing options | |||||||||||||||
| Function |
Indicate the processing function to perform. See also: Notes and warnings.
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| Balance options |
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| Prior year | Indicates the prior ledger year for which to balance transactions. | ||||||||||||||
| Include balance function |
This lets you choose whether you want to run the Balance function when you run a Month end or Year end function (i.e. it does not apply when processing the Balance or Purge only functions). This option is ticked automatically if the Last date balance was run field does not reflect today's date. This could have implications when using the Automation Design program where, for example, you don't want to run a Balance function before running another function. See also: Notes and warnings. |
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| Set expense and revenue accounts to zero | Sets these accounts to zero and posts balances to the
retained earnings account defined against each ledger code (provided it is valid). Otherwise the retained earnings account defined in the General Ledger Integration program is used. The alternative (if you don't enable this option) is to close your revenue and expense accounts manually before running the year end, using the GL Journal Entry program. These accounts must be set to zero before you can run the Year end function. |
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| Retained earnings GL code | Indicates the ledger account to which the net income/loss amount for the year is posted. | ||||||||||||||
| Retained earnings GL description | Indicates the description for the retained earnings ledger account. | ||||||||||||||
| Update GL analysis tables |
Displays the Rebuild Analysis History window after processing a year end so that you can rebuild your General Ledger analysis history tables/files based on your existing General Ledger history and budget tables/files. This only applies if you used the GL Structure Definition program to structure your General Ledger codes and you enabled the Section analysis required option within that program. Otherwise you must manually rebuild the analysis history tables/files after completing the year end (see Rebuild Analysis History). |
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| Automatically post GL journals |
This posts sub-module journals for the new period automatically if the Post general ledger journal option is enabled for the relevant sub-module (General Ledger Integration). All other journals must be posted into the new period manually. Journals which are on hold or which contain a ledger code which is on hold are not posted. Selecting this option can slow down the period or year end process if you run the GL Period End program late in the new month and many journals need to be posted for the new month. If you do not enable this option, then you have to post sub-module journals for the new period manually using the GL Post Multiple Normal Journals program. |
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| Clear accounts that should be zero |
Enable this to compare the local currency ledger codes with zero balances to the corresponding ledger codes in the alternate currency general ledgers. If the ledger code in the alternate currency ledger is not zero, then a journal is created in the alternate currency ledger to reduce its balance to zero (to correspond to the zero balance in the local currency general ledger). The other side of the journal is posted to the Gain/Loss account defined in the revaluation category of the ledger code (GL Revaluation Categories). Ledger accounts defined as Gain/Loss accounts (GL Structure Definition) are ignored by this process. This option is automatically enabled if you select the Year end only or the Year end and purge functions, and cannot be disabled. This option is not available if you select the Purge only function. Regardless of your selection here, alternate currency ledgers are processed when you run a Balance or Period end. However, if you enable this option then the normal balance or period end process is extended to include the process outlined above. |
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| Date entry |
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| Run date |
This defaults to the Company date. For a Balance function, this is the date that is applied to any balancing corrections posted to the forced balance account. For a Period end, this is the date that is used to update the period end date on the ledger control record as well as a posting date for any journals created through the reversing of provision journals. For a Year end, this is the date that is used to update the period end date on the ledger control record as well as a posting date for any journals created from the reversing of provision journals and the closing of revenue and expense accounts to the retained earnings account. |
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| Day of month | Indicate the day required for processing. Only the day of the Run date is changed to the day indicated here, leaving the month and year currently displayed. | ||||||||||||||
| Warning messages | |||||||||||||||
| Suppress warning messages |
When enabled, warning messages are ignored and do not cause the program to stop. When not enabled, processing stops and the warning messages are displayed in the Task Messages pane. |
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| After processing completed |
These options are displayed within programs that can be automated. They enable you to indicate the action you want to perform once processing is complete (see Automation Design). |
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| Purge details | These details relate only to the Purge function and are displayed for information purposes only. | ||||||||||||||
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If the new control totals do not balance (i.e. total to zero) a detail transaction is posted to the Forced balance account (General Ledger Integration) and a report line is printed.
If an out-of-balance condition occurs, you will have to process a journal entry to set the forced balance account to zero before you can run either the Period end or Year end functions.
- Ledger codes defined as Statistical (General Ledger Codes) are not balanced.
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Period-to-date debits and credits, and the current balance for each account are recalculated from the detail transactions.
A report line is printed for each discrepancy found.
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The ledger control totals for asset, liability, capital, revenue and expense accounts are recalculated from the current balance.
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If the new control totals do not balance (add up to zero), then a detail transaction is posted to the Forced balance account in the ledger.
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A report line is printed if an out-of-balance condition is encountered, and the forced balance account is updated.
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The history for the current ledger year is recalculated from the detail transactions.
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When the opening balances for the year balance, the remainder of the year is balanced. For any periods that are out-of-balance, a correcting entry is made to the forced balance account to place the period(s) in balance. A debit/credit message is printed for each ledger period corrected.
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The next GL transaction number is corrected if it is found to be incorrect.
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A summary is printed for the opening balances for the year, followed by the current balance for each period in the year up to the current period. Each line prints the totals by account type and a net total which is zero when the period is in balance.
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If the opening balances for the year do not balance, a warning message is printed at the end of the summary of balances for the year. You must correct the closing balances for the previous ledger year so that they balance. Any closing balances you correct in the prior year are carried forward to the opening balances in the current ledger year (except revenue and expense accounts which have a zero opening balance).
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Period-to-date debits and credits, and the current balance for each account are recalculated from the detail transactions.
A report line is printed for each discrepancy found.
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Ledger control totals for asset, liability, capital, revenue and expense accounts are recalculated from the current balance.
If the new control totals do not balance (add up to zero), then a detail transaction is posted to the Forced balance account in the ledger.
A report line is printed if an out-of-balance condition is encountered, and the forced balance account is updated.
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The process aborts if any of the following is encountered:
- unposted ledger entries for the current period, or previous periods
- unposted journals for the current period, or previous periods
- unposted recurring journals for the current period
- journals on hold for the current period, or previous periods
- the forced balance account has a non-zero balance in any period of the year
- an account type is not defined against each ledger account (General Ledger Codes)
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The balance function is run without processing the detail transactions.
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The period-to-date debits and credits are set to zero for each ledger code and the current balance is copied to the opening balance for the new period.
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The General Ledger control record is updated as follows:
- the run date is moved to the period end date for the current period
- the current period number is incremented by 1
- the new period is set to a status of Open
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Zero balance sub-module journals are flagged as posted when sub-module journals are set to post automatically (General Ledger Integration).
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A normal journal is created for any provisional journals that have been posted to the now previous ledger period (if the General Ledger Setup option to reverse out provision journals at period/year end is enabled). The journal is created with a source of Reversing journals (RV) and posted to the ledger to reverse any provisional entries. Any GL Analysis entries that were attached to the original provisional journal are also reversed.
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Journals created for a future period cannot be posted until the General Ledger is in that future period. Therefore, a sub module journal with a period greater than the current GL period is not automatically posted, even if you select to post journals automatically for the module (General Ledger Integration).
Sub-module journals for the new period/year are created when you close a sub-module for a period and then process transactions for the new period. The journals for these transactions can only be posted to the General Ledger after the ledger is also closed for that period.
Sub-module journals for the new GL period/year are automatically posted by the GL Period End program if all of the following apply:
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the Post general ledger journal option is enabled (General Ledger Integration)
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the Authorization of sub module journals option is not enabled (General Ledger Setup)
If you require sub-module journals to be authorized, then you need to manually post these journals using the GL Journal Entry program.
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the Automatically post GL journals option (Information tab) is enabled.
If you did not select this option when running the period or year end, then you need to manually post these journals using the GL Journal Entry program.
![[Note]](images/note.png)
This only applies to sub-module journals. All other journals must be manually posted into the new year.
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A report is generated detailing the period-to-date debits, period-to-date credits, the net change and the period opening and closing balances per account type.
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The process aborts if any of the following is encountered:
- unposted ledger entries groups for the current period, or previous periods
- unposted journals for the current period, or previous periods
- unposted recurring journals for the current period
- journals on hold for the current period, or previous periods
- the forced balance account has a non-zero balance in any period of the year
- revenue or expense accounts with a non-zero balance (if you have not enabled the Set expense and revenue accounts to zero option)
- an account type is not defined against each ledger account (General Ledger Codes)
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When you use the GL Journal Entry program to process a journal into the previous year (after you have run the Year end function) the system updates the current year's opening balances for the affected accounts automatically and adjusts the retained earnings account(s) where applicable. It is therefore not necessary to manually adjust account balances in the current year for such journals.
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The balance function is run, without processing the detail transactions.
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A normal journal is created for any provisional journals that have been posted to the now previous ledger period (if the General Ledger Setup option to reverse out provision journals at period/year end is enabled). The journal is created with a source of Reversing journals (RV) and posted to the ledger to reverse any provisional entries. Any GL Analysis entries that were attached to the original provisional journal are also reversed.
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The period-to-date debits and credits for each ledger account are set to zero, and the current balance is copied to the opening balance.
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The General Ledger control record is updated as follows:
- the run date entered is moved to the period end date for the current period (your year end period)
- the current period number is incremented by 1
- the run date entered is moved to the period end date for the current period, which is now your closing period
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A Normal journal is created for each revenue or expense account that has a non-zero balance (if you enabled the option: Set expense and revenue accounts to zero).
Two journal entries are created - one sets the account balance to zero, and the other posts the balance to your Retained earnings account. The Normal Journal is created with a source of Year end closing and posted to the ledger, in your closing period.
If you are using 12 accounting periods then the clearing of the revenue and expense accounts is posted to period 13. If you are using 13 accounting periods then the clearing of the revenue and expense accounts is posted to period 14.
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The General Ledger control record is updated as follows:
- the current year number is incremented by 1
- the current period number is set to 1
- the current year's next journal number, next entries group number, period end dates and open/closed flags are moved to the previous year
- next year's next journal number and next entries group number are moved to the current year, then reset to 1
- the current years period end dates are set to zero
- the first period of the new year (which is now the current period) is set to a status of Open, the remaining periods in the new year are set to Closed
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Journals created for a future period cannot be posted until the General Ledger is in that future period. Therefore, a sub module journal with a period greater than the current GL period is not automatically posted, even if you select to post journals automatically for the module (General Ledger Integration).
Sub-module journals for the new period/year are created when you close a sub-module for a period and then process transactions for the new period. The journals for these transactions can only be posted to the General Ledger after the ledger is also closed for that period.
Sub-module journals for the new GL period/year are automatically posted by the GL Period End program if all of the following apply:
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the Post general ledger journal option is enabled (General Ledger Integration)
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the Authorization of sub module journals option is not enabled (General Ledger Setup)
If you require sub-module journals to be authorized, then you need to manually post these journals using the GL Journal Entry program.
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the Automatically post GL journals option (Information tab) is enabled.
If you did not select this option when running the period or year end, then you need to manually post these journals using the GL Journal Entry program.
This only applies to sub-module journals. All other journals must be manually posted into the new year.
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New history is created for your new ledger year for each ledger code.
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The number of details count for the current year for each ledger code is moved to the details count for the previous year and the count for the current year is set to zero.
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Budgets defined against your ledger codes are affected by the year end process according to the budget related options enabled in the General Ledger Setup program. Budgets defined for next year and any alternate budgets are unaffected by the year end process (i.e. they remain intact).
Budget processing at year end options Implication Retain current year budgets Budgets are unaffected by the year end process (i.e. the budgets defined for the current year remain the budgets for the current year after the year end has been processed). Zeroise current year budgets Budgets defined for the current year are set to zero (i.e. no budgets are defined for the new year and these will have to be entered manually). Copy next year budgets to current year Budgets defined for the next year are copied to the current year. If the budget for next year is not defined, then the current year budgets remains intact. Copy next year budgets to current year Budgets defined for next year and any alternate budgets are unaffected by the year end process (i.e. they remain intact). -
Completed transactions are deleted if you enabled the General Ledger Setup option to retain completed transactions (this option retains them only for the current year up to the year end).
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The budget for the first period of the new year is increased by any outstanding uncommitted value (i.e. the uncommitted costs are carried forward from the previous year into the new year) if you are using commitment accounting and enabled the General Ledger Setup option to add to the budget at year end.
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A report is generated detailing the year-to-date debits, year-to-date credits, the net change and the year opening and closing balances per account type.
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Files are not processed if the number of years or periods for which you are retaining them is set to 99 (i.e. indefinite).
The minimum length of time that information must be retained on file is one year (summary history of balances and detail transaction history) and one period (posted/cancelled journals, expired recurring journals and posted/cancelled group entries).
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Any unposted GL analysis records older than two years are deleted (e.g. these are entries where you entered a General Ledger journal and added analysis entries, but then cancelled the journal).
A cut-off period and year is established according to the length of time you are retaining records (General Ledger Setup).
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Balance history and alternate currency history for the current company is deleted if the ledger year against the history record is earlier than the calculated cut-off year.
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Detail transaction history and alternate currency detail for the current company is deleted if the ledger year against the history record is earlier than the calculated cut-off year.
GL Analysis entries associated with the deleted transactions are also removed.
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Journals are deleted if they are in a status of posted or cancelled and the posting period and year is before the cut-off period and year.
Notes associated with the deleted journals are also removed.
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Expired recurring journals with an expiry period and year earlier than the cut-off period and year are deleted. Notes associated with the deleted journals are also removed.
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Posted and cancelled group entries are deleted if the ledger posting year and period against the group entry is earlier than the calculated cut-off month and year.
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It is strongly recommended that you take a backup of your data before processing a Month end, a Year end or a Purge.
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To prevent data imbalances occurring, it is advisable to either process a Balance function immediately before processing any Month end or Year end function, or to enable the Include balance function option when processing any Month end or Year end function.
The following warning message is displayed if the current date is not the same as the date displayed in the Last date balance was run field: Imbalances may occur if you continue as the 'Balance' function has not been run today. Do you wish to continue?
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You cannot run this program when the Forced balance account is not defined (General Ledger Integration).
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If you are retaining detail transaction history indefinitely (General Ledger Setup) then you cannot select the Period end and purge, Year end and purge or Purge only options.
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The Year end and purge and Year end only options are only displayed if your General Ledger module is in the final month of your financial year.
Electronic Signatures provide security access, transaction logging and event triggering. This enables you to increase control over your system changes.
Access to the following eSignature transactions within this program can be restricted at Operator, Group, Role or Company level. You configure this using the eSignature Setup program.
| eSignature Transaction | Description |
|---|---|
| GL Period-end performed |
Controls access to the Period-end processing functions in the GL Period End program. |
| GL Year-end performed |
Controls access to the Year-end functions in the GL Period End program. |
| GL Purge performed |
Controls access to the Purge processing options in the GL Period End program. |
| GL Balance function performed |
Controls access to the Balance processing option in the GL Period End program. |