2.3.1 Closing Features

The Reports, General Ledger, Closing Registers selection displays a sub-menu from which you can run a closing register on any journal in the system. The closing register report lists the general ledger account posted to by each transaction in a given year and period. This report forms one half of the accountant's audit trail.

The Trial Balance report, accessed through Reports, General Ledger, displays the ending balances of all the general ledger accounts for a given year and period. This report is used, after running the Trial Close of Accounting Period process, to check that everything is in balance before proceeding with the Final Close of Accounting Period process.

NOTE: Trial Close of Accounting Period can be run daily and weekly. C/BOOKS allows interim financial reporting.

IMPORTANT: The Trial Close of Accounting periods must be run after all entries have been entered. Adjustments will not be included in any financial report until a Trial Close has been run.

The report Income and Balance Sheet, accessed through Reports, General Ledger, should also be run after the Trial Close of Accounting Period process and before the Final Close of Accounting Period process to check for accuracy. This report is formatted according to the formatting commands entered using Select, General Ledger,

Balance Sheet Format.

The Income with Budget Figures report, accessed through Reports, General Ledger, compares the current and year-to-date balances with the budgeted amounts for the period and the year-to-date for all the income statement accounts.

You can print an income statement for a particular department by running Reports, General Ledger, Departmental Income Statement.

The General Ledger report, accessed through Reports, General Ledger, shows changes to all general ledger accounts from beginning balance to new ending balance for a given year and period. The report summarizes the changes to any one account by journal. The General Ledger With Detail report, also run from Reports, General Ledger, lists each transaction that has changed the general ledger account by journal. These General Ledger reports combined with the Closing Registers reports make up the accountant's audit trail.

The Reports, General Ledger, Journal Registers sub-menu reports are similar to those fund under Closing Registers except that the journal activity is listed by transaction rather than by general ledger account.

The Final Close of Accounting Period process, found under the Closing menu, is run after the Trial Close of Accounting Period process has been run and the general ledger balances have been determined to be correct. This process makes entries in the General Journal to close out the revenue and expense accounts to retained earnings. Once the Final Close of Accounting Period process has been run, no transactions can be entered to the closed period.

The Reopen Closed Period process, also found under Closing, is used when an adjustment must be made to a closed period. This process opens the closed period so that activity can take place. Once the adjustment is made the Trial Close of Accounting Period and Final Close of Accounting Period processes should be rerun to close the period.