Last week, we took a look at how to perform a Year End in Accounts Payable. This week, we shine a spotlight on how to complete a Year End in Accounts Receivable.
For AR, Year End begins in Period Processing after a good back up has been performed.
Next we will create a new calendar year by going into Common Services then Fiscal Calendar where we will add a New Year.
After creating a New Year, we need to make sure that all transactions in AR should be posted before Year End is started so this should be checked like we did in AP. Then lock all the future fiscal periods except the first one, to prevent any accidental postings.
When that is done, we want to be sure that all transactions have been posted. To check, open the Batch List for each transaction type and select to not show posted and deleted batches. Ideally, you want to see this screen blank as this shows that all batches have been posted or deleted.
If you see a batch listed here, simply post it or delete it.
We will then print and clear all posting journals like the ones for Invoice, Receipt, Adjustment and Refund.
After printing and clearing all posting journals, we will then want to ensure that all users are out of the AR module and the OE module because of its tight integration. You can check this by going to LanPak users.
Now we can start an AR Year End.
The first icon when starting to complete a AR Year End is the Create Write-Off batch, which is found when you navigate to A/R Periodic Processing.
The Create Write-off Batch is used so Sage 300 ERP can create a batch of adjustment transactions to write off the outstanding or overdue transaction or balances specified. First specify the run date and the Year End period then the type of write-off (either outstanding or overdue transaction/balance or retainage). Note the date, days outstanding and account type (balance forward or open item).
As with AP, we recommend that you clear history. Before clearing history, it is recommended to print any reports of data that you want to clear because after this process is complete the data is no longer available for inquiry or reporting. Options include:
- Fully paid documents
- Customer comments
- Printed Posting Journals Through Posting Seq. No.
- Posting Errors Through Seq. No.
- Deleted and Posted Batches Through Batch
- Statement Data Through
A warning pops letting you know that you will not be able to drill down to these batches from General Ledge or view them from the Batch List Windows.
Last option within Clear History is to clear statement data through a specified date. When printing AR statements, data is retained to allow statements to be reprinted. This option clears that data so these statements cannot be reprinted again.
After all desired history has been cleared from the system, the next step is to delete inactive records then you can Clear Statistics.
Please note that creating Write-Off Batches, clearing history and statistics are not mandatory to complete a Year End.
When you click on Year End, a pop-up appears giving you the following options:
- Reset all batch numbers – sets to 1. Doing this removes all transaction history thus all drill down capabilities
- Clear activity statistics (moves this year’s stats to last year’s stats and sets YTD totals for New Year to zero. Sets largest invoice/balance this year to zero). if selected Clear Invoices Paid and days to Pay Counter – resets to zero: total invoices paid, and total days to pay field in vendor activity statistics tab found in the vendors form.
- Clear recurring charge year to date statistics set to zero
You cannot proceed with Year End without selecting one of these options. Before proceeding, make sure you do a good backup. However, it is important to note that once you select any of these options, there is no undo button.
Here is a simple checklist to follow when completing your AR Year End:
- Clear sales tax tracking information that you no longer need.
- Clear history and statistics that you no longer need.
- Run Year End to reset batch numbers, clear activity statistics, recurring charge amounts, invoices paid and Days To Pay counter.
- Print the Customer List and customer statistics reports to verify the transfer of data to the previous fiscal year.
Our final blog post in the series will be on General Ledger Year End procedures. So look out for that in the coming weeks.
Have you any Year End tips for Accounts Receivable you want to share? Sound off in the comments.
