This article outlines the process for closing a year end in Connected.
Things to do Prior to Closing a Year
When a user is preparing for a year end, there are are items that need to be completed prior to starting the final year end process.
Complete Reconciliations
Making sure reconciliations are completed is a key part to a year end going smoothly. Completing all bank reconciliations, verifying your Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable listings against control accounts, and making sure Inventory is reconciled against un-invoiced Purchase Orders are the main areas of focus.
Enter Year End Entries from the Auditor
To prepare for any year end processing it is important to verify all of your auditors entries have been entered and posted. Printing the Connected financials and ensuring they match your auditors is a good check and balance before closing the year.
Backup Data
Closing the Year is a permanent process and cannot be undone. Therefore, it is essential to back up your Connected data before beginning this process. Some helpful backup tips:
- A back up could be stored on a separate hard drive or flash drive with both an on-site and off-site copy available.
- We also recommend users include the words "year-end" in the file name so it is clear what the backup is.
- If you have a multi-segment Connected file, ensure that all segments are backed up or your backup will not be valid.
- Finally, the most important part of the backup process, is to verify that it works by logging into the backup file.
Backing up a Connected on Demand Data File
Note: This article is written for Connected on Demand users on version 10.1 or 10.2. It is not applicable when the Connected ODB Admin server software (macOS or PC Desktop) is being used.
How to Manually Back Up a Connected on Demand data file
Backing up a Connected Data File using the ODBA
The ODBA application allows users to make a spot backup of a Connected data file. Below are the instructions on how to create a manual backup:
How to Create a Manual Back Up File Using the ODBA Application
Close all Periods
To prepare for the actual process of closing the year, all periods within the fiscal year must be closed. A year end can't be processed without doing this. Although Connected allows you to close periods in the Inventory, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, and Job Costing modules, you will only need to close the periods in the General Ledger to close the year. Closing the periods in the GL will close everything in all other modules.
How to Close Accounting Periods in Connected
Print Reports in Hard Copy or PDF
Print your final year end reports to a hard copy or PDF. Reports such as Trial Balance, Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Customer Aged Listing, and Vendor Aged listing are some of the key reports. You may also want to consider printing sales and purchase histories as well.
Closing an Accounting Year
The process for closing a year in Connected can be found in this article: