General Ledger Year End Procedures

1. Backup up all your data files and store them off-site or in a fireproof container for your security.
2. Run all your General Ledger reports, especially Audit Trail and file in a safe place for future reference.
3. If you are running your year end on a date different than the last date of the fiscal year, set the system date to the last day of the fiscal year and the period to 12 (or the last period of the year).
4. Select Close Year from the Year End menu.
5. Enter your company's Retained Earnings account number.  If you are unsure of the account number, use the Lookup tool to scroll through your chart of accounts.
6. Select OK to begin processing, or Cancel to exit without processing.
7. Then the software automatically processes the year end.

·        Your closing entries will be generated: debit revenue accounting, credit expense accounts, and credit (or debit if loss) retained earnings.

·        The fiscal calendar will advance.

·        Periods 1 - 12 will move to prior year activity.

8. After you're done, you should run and review the following reports:

·        Trial Balance for Balance Forward through Balance Forward -- to confirm that your balance forwards are correct

·        Audit Trail – to confirm that your Audit Trail entries are correct.