Description

A core benefit of SoftLedger is the quick, but regimented process to close down accounting periods. Closing down relatively soon after the end of each monthly period is best practice, as the close will prevent entries from being made in the future during the month closed, allow for revaluing of foreign currency balances, and improve application performance. In general, having timely closes is advisable for getting the best use out of SoftLedger, as well as keeping auditors happy when reviewing processes and controls.

Be sure to see the Accounting Years and Periods for a functional overview of how the Admin>Accounting Periods module works.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• When is it time to close the books?
• Close Process
  • Create Accounting Years
  • Add the necessary Ledger Accounts for the close
  • Confirm all activity has been added and posted
  • Confirm Cost Basis and Journal Processes are completed
  • Review Reports to confirm balances are as expected
  • Close the tasks in the Accounting Periods module

When is it time to close the books?

Generally, best practice is to complete this within a couple weeks of the last day of the close period (e.g. by February 14th for a January month close). Additionally, closes need to be done in chronological order, meaning the oldest period needs to be closed first. The timing and processes will vary per operation, but the important thing to note is that once you close an accounting period, you can reopen the accounting period again if any changes or adjustments need to be made, before then closing once again.

Close Process

Create Accounting Years

Add the necessary fiscal accounting years to cover the range of your transactions. For example, if the first transaction in the system is March 18th, 2021, and the fiscal years for the company are January through December, the first accounting year added would be from Year Start Date January 1st, 2021, and then subsequently adding Year Start Date January 1st, 2022.

Add the necessary Ledger Accounts for the close

Before closing ANY periods, there are some system level Ledger Accounts that need to be set to avoid errors. Set the below accounts in the Settings>Account section under the Financial Close sub section:

1. Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income
2. Other Comprehensive Income Account
3. Retained Earnings Account
4. Foreign Currency Gain/Loss Account

You can set the first 3 Ledger Accounts under Settings>Accounts, and the Foreign Currency Gain/Loss Account under the Location details, available under Financial>Locations. 

The Foreign Currency Gain/Loss Account can be different for each Location, while the Retained Earnings and Other Comprehensive Income Accounts must be the same across the system.

For more information on these system level default Ledger Accounts, be sure to review the Cumulative Translation Adjustment support article.

Confirm all activity has been added and posted

Users close their books after they have created and posted all different documents in their system. This would mean that for the closing month, all Journal Entries, Bills, Invoices, SOs, POs, Crypto Transactions, Payments, etc. have been created and then in the Posted, Approved, Issued, etc. statuses.

Note: A good check is to review the Journal Report and filter for the Posted Date for the month being closed, as well as Journal Status: Draft to determine if there are any Journals that still remain to be posted.

In addition, users review their Bills, Invoices, and Payments to confirm that all activity in the period has been approved. Most commonly, users may forget that they need to approve payments either paid in AP or received in AR under the Cash Management>Pay Bills>Payments module and/or the Cash Management>Receive Cash>Payments module.

Confirm Cost Basis and Journal Processes are completed

If using the Crypto and/or Inventory modules, check the Crypto Transactions or Inventory Stock Adjustments page to confirm that Cost Basis has completed through the end date of the month to be closed. For Crypto, also confirm that the Build Journals process has completed through the end of the period as well.

For example, if closing the period August 1-31 2020, the below message indicates that cost basis has not completed through 08/31/2020, meaning the Crypto module could not be closed.

Review Reports to confirm balances are as expected

The reports to view will change for each customer based on their activity, but in general, checking the below reports to confirm they look as expected is a good practice:

• Balance Sheet
• Income Statement
• Trial Balance
• General Ledger Summary
• Aging Reports (AP & AR)
• Reconcile
• Crypto Coins page as of end date of period
• Stock page

Close the tasks in the Accounting Periods module

Once all the above has been completed and confirmed, the tasks for each module in the Accounting Periods section under Admin can be closed for the reviewed period. 

An open period will look like this:

And a closed period will look like this:

Note: After clicking the lock icon to close each task, the system will check to see if there are any draft status documents for the period in that module, and restrict users from closing if so.

For further questions or support regarding the expedited and controlled control process in SoftLedger, be sure to reach out to your Customer Success Manager, or reach the team at support@softledger.com.