Sandy Cameron, a ten-year veteran of our Support Staff, brings the article for this newsletter to you. Her knowledge of TRAMS and accounting quickly made her a valuable member of our staff as our accounting specialist. Armed with an upbeat approach to life and a winning personality, she is liked and respected by staff and customers alike. Sandy's personal motto, "Just put one foot in front of the other and you'll get where you want to go," serves her well in sorting out many accounting challenges.

We trust you will find these suggestions for year-end helpful.

Year End Closing by Sandy Cameron, CTC

So, it’s time to balance and close the year-end. Not to worry - you’re a TRAMS Back Office subscriber! The simplicity of closing and balancing the year is directly related to how current and accurate you are in balancing your month end. If you have been balancing every month up to the end of the year, then you are almost done.

The following is a list of the TRAMS functions that need to be finished before you hand over complete information to your outside accountant to easily complete your tax return.

• Reconcile all ARC/BSP reports using the ARC/BSP settlement function, listed under the Payments menu.
• Reconcile all bank accounts to the bank statements, using the bank reconciliation function listed under the Payments menu.
• Create the End of Period journal entry listed under GENERAL LEDGER/END OF PERIOD, up to the last day of your fiscal year. Run the four core reports or the management summary listed under REPORTS/CORE up to the last day of the year. Compare the ending balances on these reports to the TRIAL BALANCE as of the same day. Make sure that the amounts that appear on the four core reports agree with the trial balance figure for the same accounts (i.e., Client Balances should agree with account # 1100.) If this is in order, then you are ready for the accountant.

The following is a list of reports and information that you want to give to your accountant.

• Print the Trial Balance as of the last day of your fiscal year.
• Print the Check Register for the last month of the fiscal year, with the reconciliation set to ALL.
• Print remaining Core Reports (Client Balances, Vendor Balances, ARC/BSP balances) for the end of the year so your accountant can see that your detail proves your general ledger figures for these accounts.
• Print a list of expenses that you have set up to be paid in the New Year if you are using the operating payable function.
  
  Select REPORTS/PAYMENTS/OPERATING PAYABLE. Select a Date Entered using a date range for when these payables were created. Select a Date Payable using a date range for when these items should be paid and select Payable Status. This will give you Status as PAID and TO BE PAID. This will give you the list of payables that have already been paid in the new period, are still open to be paid in the new period and should agree with your operating payable account listed on your Trial Balance. If you are not using the payable function, then a manual list of expenses incurred in the current year that will not be paid until the following year will suffice. (i.e., Credit Card charges, Telephone etc.)
  
  
• Enter your accountant’s adjusting journal entries. You are now in the final steps. Your accountant may give you a few year-end adjusting journal entries. These usually include an adjustment for depreciation on fixed assets, such as furniture and fixtures and they may also want to record certain expenses differently in order to maximize your tax credit. To enter your accountant’s adjusting journal entries, select GENERAL LEDGER/JOURNAL ENTRY. Enter the activity date as the last day of your fiscal year and remark it as year-end adjustments per your accountant. Please pay attention to Core Report accounts. If you were in balance when you gave your accountant your figures, there should be no reason to enter adjusting journal entries that effect Bank Accounts, Client Balances, Vendor Balances or ARC/BSP Balances.
• Post to the last day of the year. Select GENERAL LEDGER/POSTING and enter the last day of the year. This locks in your final figures and is necessary for TRAMS to perform the year-end function. Select GENERAL LEDGER/YEAR END and enter the year-end date. When the journal entry appears click OKAY.
• Print a year-end Balance Sheet, by going to REPORTS/GENERAL LEDGER/BALANCE SHEET using the last day of the year and file this with your year-end reports.

Congratulations…you have done it!