In this topic we will examine Accounting Periods and more specifically the end of the Sales Ledger accounting period, the steps to be taken then, and the ramifications of the period end throughout the Autoline.
At the end of your accounting period a number of tasks must be performed.
Some of these affect ageing of transactions and posting to the Nominal Ledger. Others are concerned with keeping your transaction records up-to-date.
In Autoline accounting periods are set in the System parameters of the Nominal Ledger. This option allows for a wide range of choices for weekly and monthly periods. It allows separate period lengths to be set for the Nominal Ledger and for VAT accounting. This is a critical area of your system set-up and if you are in any doubt with regard to the set-up you should consult Autoline support personnel.
As a matter of standard accounting practice, the Sales Ledger period is often closed before the period is closed for the Nominal Ledger. The Sales Ledger software supports this practice.
The Display current period option on the Sales Ledger Main menu displays the current periods for all of the accounting ledgers along with the VAT Current period. For each ledger's period, a start and end date for the current period along with the start and end date of the current accounting year.
The number of the current period and the current accounting are also shown. In addition for the Sales and Purchase Ledgers this form carries identification information regarding the previous period closed.
This form also provides Exit and Help buttons.
Click the Exit button to return to the main Sales Ledger menu.
Click the Help button to access the online help provided.
The End current period option performs the tasks which ensure the correct alignment of periods between the Sales Ledger and the Nominal Ledger at period ends. This option should be used with caution and ideally will only be made available to a designated system supervisor. It performs a variety of critical tasks. It can be found in the Miscellaneous options menu in the Sales Ledger Main menu.
Warning: This is an exclusive access option. If there are other users in the Sales Ledger company for which you are trying to advance the period Autoline will not allow you to continue.
Firstly, it changes the current period dates on the system controls to the next financial period start and end dates. If the end of the financial year is dated, then the year start and end dates are also changed.
Secondly, it removes values from the period-to-date figures on each Sales Ledger account relating to the period being closed. If the end of year is detected then the year-to-date figures are also treated in the same way and, if appropriate, copies the year-to-date figures into the ATD fields (if these are being used for previous year only values).
Thirdly, if the optional facility to keep an account balance history is being used, a number of other changes will be made. In the first place, the following details in the currency of the account are transferred to the history file.
The period-to-date turnover.
The total balance outstanding.
The number of items outstanding.
The average age of the debt in days.
The history file contains thirteen rolling periods, showing the last period's figures and the previous twelve periods. At each period end the oldest period will be lost and the latest period will be inserted.
Finally, if no movement has been detected on an account, then the counter for periods unused will be incremented by one.
This option also displays the same form as described in the Accounting Periods help file except that it has a Continue button under the ledger who's period you are closing.
Tip: Click the Continue button to close the current period and move into the next period.
For all inputs to the Sales Ledger, the system checks the posting date against the period date in the Sales Ledger system controls. It will not permit retrospective posting dates but will warn the user that the posting date will be set to the start date of the current period.
The VAT analysis uses the posting date and so will maintain the cut-off at the Sales Ledger period end. In this way, the VAT analysis balances with the Nominal Ledger.
Note: The Sales Ledger period end routine must be run before the equivalent Nominal Ledger period is closed.
