Santa Claus isn’t the only one checking a list at this time of year. Consider me the Grinch reminding, you that year-end is just around the corner, and it is time to review your year-end task list.

Your year-end task list and notes are the most important documents for your year-end close.  It’s where you record what went well and what didn’t in prior closes. It’s where you note what information / reports that you need to gather for management/auditors/investors.

Here are a few items for your year-end close list:

Do you have a current test copy of your system to test the close?

A fresh copy of the production environment is not just for closes. It is a great place to run through a test close, try “what if” scenarios as well as the place to train new hires.

Have you reconciled your suspense account?

This can be easily forgotten. Transactions are coded to the suspense account when an account code hasn’t been defined or is invalid for an automatic journal line. Journal entries lines can be manually coded there too. How do I know what this suspense account is you ask? It is the Default account on Line 2 on the Miscellaneous accounts tab under Setup, Organizational structure, Chart of accounts.

Have your recurring tasks been running successfully?

Recurring task management (GESABA) is where recurring tasks are setup. Query management (AREQUETE) contains a grid which displays the recurring tasks run and their status. Look for Error and Aborted statuses as well as those in Standby. You don’t want to miss an invoice post or Accounting Interface run from your numbers. For more details: Are your recurring tasks recurring? 

Accounting task should have Journals on hold and Matching values equal to zero. Check here to ensure that transactions have posted to the general ledger and matching completed. For assistance with suspending matching transactions, see In search of suspended matching transactions .

Have you closed all the fiscal periods for the current year and opened the first period for the new year? Don’t wait until the last minute in case there are any issues.

The Cloper Report is the pre-closing verification report that will highlight any issues preventing you from closing. The most frequent error is journals that are still in the temporary status. The volume of lines for that error can make the close process seem quite overwhelming. Clean up the journals in temp status first by running the Final validation (CPTVAL). Then, tackle any remaining errors. For assistance, see Sage X3: Clearing common Cloper anomalies .

The Cloper report has a section at the end where you may have the messages “Sign by Default Credit - Balance total Debit balance” or “Sign by Default Debit - Balance total Credit balance.” Investigate the activity on these accounts to ensure if the balance should be a credit or debit, it is. You may have some miscodings that requires correction.

Do you have multiple companies that make opening and closing a pain? To assist you there are the functions Multi-company period closing (FUNPMCCL) and Multi-company period opening (TRTPERMC) See the blogs:  Introducing: Multi-company period closing (FUNPMCCL)!  and Saving time with Multi-company period opening (TRTPERMC)

Don’t panic periods and fiscal years can be reopened with Reopen period (OPNPER) and Reopen fiscal year (OPNFIY). Note: Periods can only be reopened one month at a time. If you open too many periods, refer to Open too many fiscal periods?

Do you have Fixed assets?

Don’t forget fixed assets at year end. For help with the steps, check out the blog: What is required when closing the fiscal year in Fixed assets? 

Have you reviewed 1099s for 2023?

Do your BP Suppliers have the correct default 1099 form and boxes selected? Do the invoices reflect the appropriate 1099 forms and boxes? The deadline for filing isn’t that long after the calendar year end.

For the latest on the new efiling requirements, review the blog Psst! Want the latest scoop on the Sage X3 2023 1099s? 

Let’s look at some additional year-end resources:

• Sage X3 Year-end Center on the Community Hub with links to common errors and their resolutions.
• Sage X3 knowledgebase
• Ghosts of Year-end Closes Past, Present and Yet to Come Here is a previous nag, I mean blog about year- end.
• Have you gone through year-end training yet? Head over to Sage University and the anytime learning class X3 - Sage X3 - Accounting Manager: Current and Month-End Processing & Closing

I hope this helps your year-end go smoothly!

Take care my X3 friends. Stay safe!