Fiscal Year Closing Procedures
In addition to your regular period-end procedures, complete these steps before closing the fiscal year.
1. Reconciliations
You should complete all reconciliations listed in Closing the Accounting Period. It is particularly important to reconcile the project ledger to the General Ledger (see steps 2 and 3 below). Otherwise, contract-to-date costs will not be correct on the project reports when project balances are rolled forward.
2. Run the Compare Project Ledger to General Ledger Utility
The Compare Project Ledger to General Ledger utility compares amounts in the GL_POST_SUM tables to those in the PROJ_SUM table. The Compute Burden Cost process updates the project ledger with amounts from the general ledger. If post amounts to the general ledger after you run the Compute Burden Cost process, the PROJ_SUM table will not contain the new data unless you run the Compute Burden Cost process again. The PROJ_SUM table determines what is rolled forward to the new year during the fiscal year closing process. The PROJ_SUM table amounts must be correct when the roll-forward occurs. This Compare Project Ledger to General Ledger utility can help account for differences.
3. Run the Display Invalid Pools in Project Ledger Utility
The View Invalid Pools in Project Ledger screen compares the ALLOC_APPLIC table to the PROJ_BURD_SUM table. The ALLOC_APPLIC table contains a map of the current pool structure. This utility reviews that structure and determines if any amounts are improperly burdened in the PROJ_BURD_SUM table. Because the PROJ_BURD_SUM table is rolled forward to the next fiscal year and becomes the basis for contract-to-date information, the PROJ_BURD_SUM table amounts must be correct when the roll-forward occurs. If this utility identifies a problem, run the Repair Invalid Pools in Project Ledger utility to correct the problem.
4. Backups
Perform a complete backup of the database and the applications before you roll any of the balances forward. Keep this backup until you are sure that the roll-forward process was successful.
5. Print the Trial Balance
Print a Trial Balance report, so you can compare the ending balances this year to the beginning balances of the new year after you roll balances forward.
6. Print General Ledger Detail Reports
Print any General Ledger Detail reports for which you need printed copies for your files. Although you can run these reports at any time, it is recommended that you run a preliminary report before you roll balances forward.
7. Update General Ledger Beginning Balances
Use the Update General Ledger Beginning Balances process to roll the balances forward based on the account type of the accounts. For each account with an account type of Asset, Liability, or Stockholders' Equity, the process rolls its balance forward as the beginning balance for the next fiscal year. If you have multiple companies set up in your Costpoint database, run the Update General Ledger Beginning Balances process separately for each company.
8. Compare Beginning Trial Balance to Ending Trial Balance from Previous Year
Print a Trial Balance report for the first period of the new fiscal year and compare that report to the Trial Balance you printed in step 5 to make sure that your roll-forward has gone as planned. Do this immediately after you roll the balances forward, so that you can make corrections and repeat the process, if necessary, before continuing with the closing process. You may want to consider also running a balance sheet for comparison with the previous year's balance sheet.
9. Retained Earnings Presentation
If you use a Current Year Retained Earnings account, zero out the beginning balance for that account and add that amount to the balance of the Prior Year Retained Earnings account. Use the Manage Non-Project Beginning Balances screen to update these balances. This step enables you to show the correct income or loss for the new fiscal year on the Current Year Retained Earnings line on financial statements.
10. Run the Assign Account Function Codes Utility
Each row in the project ledger has an account function code that indicates how to treat that cost. The Assign Account Function Codes utility ensures that each row in the project ledger has an account function code and that the code is correct. If the account function code is not correct, the project balances will not roll forward properly.
11. Roll Forward Project Balances
Run the Update Project Prior Year History process. This process inserts information from the PROJ_SUM and PROJ_BURD_SUM tables into the PSR_PY_SUM and PSR_PY_BURD_SUM tables. These costs then form the basis for the contract-to-date costs. If you completed all of the preceding steps, the balances that come forward should be correct.
12. Run the Update Project Status Report Table Process and the Update Other Project Report Tables Process for the New Year
Run the Update Project Status Report Table process and the Update Other Project Report Tables process after the year-end closing to create a reference. You will use these figures in step 13.
13. Compare Project Status Reports and Revenue Summaries
Compare the "contract-to-date" columns on the Project Status Reports and Revenue Summaries that you generated at the end of the prior fiscal year to the "prior year" columns on the current year's Project Status Reports and Revenue Summaries. If the amounts are different, try running the Assign Account Function Codes utility again (step 10) to make sure that all accounts have codes. If you do that, you must also repeat step 11 to roll the project balances forward again.