Back to Accounts Receivable Main Page

Navigating to Accounting Periods

Using Accounting Periods

Use Accounting Periods to: 
Navigate to Accounting Periods and explore existing records via the Summary page. Click on the link (name or number) of the record of your interest to enter the Data Entry page and have a better look of the available information. 
Use the Actions Menu to create a new (NEW)Accounting Periods, modify (EDIT) or delete (DELETE) an existing Accounting Periods. Use the PRINTOUTS link (if available) to extract or email to the customer information related to his Accounting Periods. Use the BACK link to go back to the summary page and CANCEL to cancel any unwanted changes made to the Accounting Periods. Click on ACTIONS to find out what other possibilities you have for Accounting Periods. Visit the Advanced section for a thorough description of each of the actions. 
Check out the attributes table below for a thorough explanation of the information kept for Accounting Periods. Check #validations&restrictions table to find out validations and restrictions applicable when working with Accounting Periods

SCREENSHOTAn Accounting Period is defined as the time frame in which Financial Transactions are posted. An Accounting Period in CRM.COM can cover either a month or a year (according to set up in Accounting Period Settings) and can be either 'Open' or 'Closed'.  However, only one Accounting Period can be 'Open' at a time and it will always be the latest one. 

The first Accounting Period is automatically created by the system on specifying Accounting Period Settings.   The following Accounting Periods are created once the current Accounting Period is closed (via Closing Period process). Once an Accounting Period is closed it cannot be reopened and no more Financial Transactions can be posted against it, as Financial Transactions can only be posted against 'Open' Accounting Periods and can only be related to a single Accounting Period. 

Before closing a Period, you have the option to find all Financial Transactions that have been created during the 'Open' period and have them posted so that they will be included in the period you are about to close. This is done via the Accounting Period Posting process.

A utility is available to identify and correct incorrect data, such as Financial Transactions with wrong Periods. It is recommended to execute the utility before closing the Period as any errors found while closing will interrupt the process.

The closing of an Accounting Period will also trigger the calculation of the account's Opening Balance which is used in the balance calculation. 

Image Added

Anchor
validations validations

Validations & Restrictions Table

Anchor
attributes attributes

Attributes Table

 An * indicates a field is mandatory

Anchor
posting posting

Posting Financial Transactions to include in Current Period

All Financial Transactions that should be included in the period must be posted before it closes, or will not be considered.

Draft Financial Transactions created within the time frame of a specific period can be accessed, selected and posted via the Accounting Period view of an 'Open' period.

1. Navigate to the Accounting Period screen
2. Search for the 'Open' Period and go to its data entry screen
3. Go to the Draft Transactions Section
   All the eligible transactions will be available
4. Select the ones you want to include by placing a check in the checkbox
5. Click on Actions > Post from the Actions menu

Image Added

Anchor
correcting correcting

Correcting data before closing an Accounting Period 

Once the transactions to be included in the period are posted, the Financial Transactions and Accounts Receivable which will be considered by the Closing process can be checked. This is done through the Accounting Period's Closing Validation Process which is responsible for retrieving and fixing incorrect information that affect an Accounting Period's Closing process. This incorrect information might be related to either Financial Transactions and/or Accounts Receivable and can be found in the table below.

It is not mandatory to execute the Accounting Period's Closing Validation Process before closing a period. However, if any errors are identified while closing the period the system will stop until the process is explicitly executed.

1. Navigate to the Accounting Period screen
2. Search for the 'Open' Period and go to its data entry screen
3. Click on Actions > Period Closing Corrections from the Actions menu
   The process will run and you will be notified once it is completed so that you can proceed to the closing of the period 

Anchor
validation_tbl validation_tbl

Accounting Period's Closing Validation Process

Anchor
closing closing

Closing an Accounting Period 

Given that Financial Transactions and Accounts Receivable are correct then you can proceed with closing the Accounting Period.

1. Navigate to the Accounting Period screen
2. Search for the 'Open' Period and go to its data entry screen
3. Click on Actions > Close Period from the Actions menu
   Image Added
   1. From the modal window select whether you would like to execute the process now or schedule it for some time in the future
   2. Click on Submit.  Once submitted, the process will run as scheduled. 
4. When the process is completed:
   1. The Accounting Period Totals tab is populated
   2. The Current Period is closed
   3. The period is copied on all Financial Transactions posted within this period
   4. A New Period is created
   5. The opening Balance of all Accounts Receivable is calculated