The Importance of Period End Processing
A recent email from a Sage 100 ERP client included the following comment “I know you will scold me for this but I have not closed any months." That comment inspired me to write an article about Period End Closing.
Do not be afraid!
There is only one module where performing a closing in advance of printing forms and reports is ill-advised and that is Payroll. But most clients create a company copy before closing quarter and year-end for Payroll or they use Aatrix “efiling and reporting”. The Aatrix program allows users to print payroll tax forms for prior closed periods and in the near future it will replace the need for printing standard report forms such as 941s and W-2s in Payroll during the current quarter.
So this article is not about Payroll. It is about Period End Closing for all the other modules. And for anyone who is interested, in order to be entirely accurate, I plagiarized the rest of this article from information provided by Sage Help in Version 2013. O My!
Using Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable as examples, here is what occurs during Period End Processing for those modules:
Accounts Payable Period End Processing
Use Period End Processing to automatically perform either period-end or year-end processing based on the period entered at the Current Period field in Accounts Payable Options.
Period End Processing allows you to close the current period and increment the accounting period to the next period. Period-end processing is usually performed at the end of each accounting period. Year-end processing takes place automatically when period-end processing is performed for the last period of the fiscal year.
Note Fields in Accounts Payable Options are used to determine the current accounting period and the number of years to retain vendor purchase history, check history, and 1099 payment history after year-end processing.
The following occurs during period-end or year-end:
- Temporary vendors with zero balances are automatically purged unless you selected to retain the temporary vendor in Vendor Maintenance.
- Check history information is cleared as of the period-ending date.
- Vendor electronic payment history is removed based on the number of years set up to retain electronic payment history in Accounts Payable Options.
- Vendor purchase history is removed based on the number of years set up to retain purchase history in Accounts Payable Options.
- Open invoices with zero balances are removed based on the number of days to retain paid invoices in Accounts Payable Options.
- If retaining invoice history, all current year invoice information is updated to the Last Year fields, and any invoice history with no current-year activity is removed based on options selected in Accounts Payable Options.
If you have not already printed period-end reports, you can do so during period-end processing. You can also select and print period-end reports without accessing Period End Processing by using Period End Report Selection.
Accounts Receivable Period End Processing
Use Period End Processing to automatically perform either period-end or year-end processing based on the period entered at the Current Period field in Accounts Receivable Options.
Period End Processing allows you to close the current period and increment the accounting period forward to the next period. Period-end processing is usually performed at the end of each accounting period. Year-end processing takes place automatically when period-end processing is performed for the last period of the fiscal year.
Note Fields in Accounts Receivable Options are used to determine the current accounting period and number of years to retain customer sales history, salesperson history, and cash receipts history after year-end processing.
The following occurs during period-end or year-end:
- Temporary customers with zero balances are automatically purged during period- and year-end processing unless you selected the Retain Temporary Customers Paid Invoices check box in Accounts Receivable Options.
- Monthly cash receipts history, customer sales history, and salesperson sales history is purged only during period year-end processing based on the selections made in the Years to Retain Cash Receipts History, Years to Retain Customer History, and Years to Retain Salesperson History fields in Accounts Receivable Options. For example, if the number of years to retain cash receipts history, customer sales history, and salesperson history is set to three years, sales and cash receipts history for the year 2010 will be purged when year-end processing is performed for the year 2012.
- Open invoices with zero balances are removed during period- and year-end processing based on the number of days entered in the Days to Retain Paid Invoices field in Accounts Receivable Options.
If you have not already printed period-end reports, you can do so during period-end processing. Alternately, you can select and print period-end reports without accessing Period End Processing by using Period End Report Selection.
Warning! Backing up your data is an important part of your daily and monthly procedures. Back up all Sage 100/MAS 90 data before proceeding.
If you have any question about running this or other procedures in Sage 100/MAS please contact Oasis Customer Support at 502-429-6902 x227.
