General Ledger > GL Period End

GL Period End

You use this program to maintain the integrity of data in your General Ledger module. It closes the current period (opening a new period for processing) and deletes ledger information no longer required in the system.

Toolbar

Field Description
Start Processing Processing begins according to the selections you have made.
Print Prints the information currently displayed in the Report pane.
Save Form Values This option is only enabled in Design mode (see Automation Design). Your selections are saved and applied when the program is run in automated mode.

Information

Field Description
Control details  
Current GL month Indicates the current month number of your General Ledger module.
Current GL year Indicates the current year of your General Ledger module.
Period end date Indicates the period end date for the current month as defined in the General Ledger Setup program.
Processing options  
Function
Field Description
Balance Ensures that the ledger details and history are in balance, and that the company control totals are in balance.
Period end only Opens up a new period for posting ledger transactions.
Period end and purge Opens up a new period for ledger posting and deletes information no longer required in the General Ledger module.
Year end only Processes the final period end of the year and opens the ledger for the new year.
Year end and purge Processes the final period end of the year (to open the ledger for the new year) and deletes information no longer required in the General Ledger module.
Purge only Deletes information no longer required in the General Ledger module according to how long you are retaining information (General Ledger Setup).
Balance options
Field Description
Balance current period Balances transactions for the current ledger period only.
Balance current year Balances transactions for the current ledger year.
Balance a prior year Balances transactions for a previous ledger year.
Prior year Indicates the prior ledger year for which you want to balance transactions.
Set expense and revenue accounts to zero Sets these accounts to zero and posts balances to the retained earnings account

defined against each ledger code (provided it is valid). Otherwise the retained earnings account defined in the General Ledger Integration program is used.

The alternative (if you don't enable this option) is to close your revenue and expense accounts manually before running the year end, using the GL Journal Entry program.

These accounts must be set to zero before you can run the Year end function.
Retained earnings GL code Indicates the ledger account to which the net income/loss amount for the year is posted.
Retained earnings GL description Indicates the description for the retained earnings ledger account.
Update GL analysis tables

Displays the Rebuild Analysis History window after processing a year end so that you can rebuild your General Ledger analysis history tables/files based on your existing General Ledger history and budget tables/files.

This only applies if you used the GL Structure Definition program to structure your General Ledger codes and you enabled the Section analysis required option within that program.

Otherwise you must manually rebuild the analysis history tables/files after completing the year end (see Rebuild Analysis History).
Automatically post GL journals

Posts sub-module journals for the new period automatically. All other journals must be posted into the new period manually.

Journals which are on hold or which contain a ledger code which is on hold are not posted.

Selecting this option can slow down the period or year end process if you run the GL Period End program late in the new month and many journals need to be posted for the new month.

If you do not enable this option, then you have to post sub-module journals for the new period manually using the GL Post Multiple Normal Journals program.
Clear accounts that should be zero

Select this to compare the local currency ledger codes with zero balances to the corresponding ledger codes in the alternate currency general ledgers.

If the ledger code in the alternate currency ledger is not zero, then a journal is created in the alternate currency ledger to reduce its balance to zero (to correspond to the zero balance in the local currency general ledger).

The other side of the journal is posted to the Gain/Loss account defined in the revaluation category of the ledger code (GL Revaluation Categories).

Ledger accounts defined as Gain/Loss accounts (GL Structure Definition), are ignored by this process.

This option is automatically enabled if you select the Year end only or the Year end and purge functions, and cannot be disabled.

This option is not available if you select the Purge only function.

Regardless of your selection here, alternate currency ledgers are processed when you run a Balance or Period end. However, if you enable this option then the normal balance or period end process is extended to include the process outlined above.
Date entry
Field Description
Use today's date Uses the current system date as the processing date.
Day of month Changes only the day in the Run date field for processing, leaving the month and year as currently displayed in the Run date field.
Manual entry Enter the entire run date you want to use as the processing date.
Run date

This defaults to the Company date.

For a Balance function, this is the date that is applied to any balancing corrections posted to the forced balance account.

For a Period end, this is the date that is used to update the period end date on the ledger control record as well as a posting date for any journals created through the reversing of provision journals.

For a Year end, this is the date that is used to update the period end date on the ledger control record as well as a posting date for any journals created from the reversing of provision journals and the closing of revenue and expense accounts to the retained earnings account.
Day of month Indicate the day required for processing. Only the day of the Run date is changed to the day indicated here, leaving the month and year currently displayed.
Warning messages  
Suppress warning messages

Prevents warning messages from being displayed. This is only applicable when running the program automatically without operator intervention (Automation Design).
After processing completed These options are displayed within programs that can be automated. They enable you to indicate the action you want to perform once processing is complete (see Automation Design).
Purge details These details relate only to the Purge function and are displayed for information purposes only.

Balance

Balance considerations

  • If the new control totals do not balance (i.e. total to zero) a detail transaction is posted to the forced balance account (General Ledger Integration) and a report line is printed.

    If an out-of-balance condition occurs, you will have to process a journal entry to set the forced balance account to zero before you can run either the Period end or Year end functions.

  • Ledger codes defined as Statistical (General Ledger Codes) are not balanced.

Processing sequence

Balance current period

  1. Period-to-date debits and credits, and the current balance for each account are recalculated from the detail transactions.

    A report line is printed for each discrepancy found.

  2. The ledger control totals for asset, liability, capital, revenue and expense accounts are recalculated from the current balance.

  3. If the new control totals do not balance (add up to zero), then a detail transaction is posted to the Forced balance account in the ledger.

  4. A report line is printed if an out-of-balance condition is encountered, and the forced balance account is updated.

Balance current year

  1. The history for the current ledger year is recalculated from the detail transactions.

  2. When the opening balances for the year balance, the remainder of the year is balanced. For any periods that are out-of-balance, a correcting entry is made to the forced balance account to place the period(s) in balance. A debit/credit message is printed for each ledger period corrected.

  3. The next GL transaction number is corrected if it is found to be incorrect.

  4. A summary is printed for the opening balances for the year, followed by the current balance for each period in the year up to the current period. Each line prints the totals by account type and a net total which is zero when the period is in balance.

  5. If the opening balances for the year do not balance, a warning message is printed at the end of the summary of balances for the year. You must correct the closing balances for the previous ledger year so that they balance. Any closing balances you correct in the prior year are carried forward to the opening balances in the current ledger year (except revenue and expense accounts which have a zero opening balance).

Balance prior year

  1. Period-to-date debits and credits, and the current balance for each account are recalculated from the detail transactions.

    A report line is printed for each discrepancy found.

  2. Ledger control totals for asset, liability, capital, revenue and expense accounts are recalculated from the current balance.

    If the new control totals do not balance (add up to zero), then a detail transaction is posted to the Forced balance account in the ledger.

    A report line is printed if an out-of-balance condition is encountered, and the forced balance account is updated.

Period end

Period end considerations

  • The process aborts if any of the following is encountered:

    • unposted ledger entries for the current period, or previous periods
    • unposted journals for the current period, or previous periods
    • unposted recurring journals for the current period
    • journals on hold for the current period, or previous periods
    • the forced balance account has a non-zero balance in any period of the year
    • an account type is not defined against each ledger account (General Ledger Codes)

Processing sequence

  1. The balance function is run without processing the detail transactions.

  2. The period-to-date debits and credits are set to zero for each ledger code and the current balance is copied to the opening balance for the new period.

  3. The General Ledger control record is updated as follows:

    • the run date is moved to the period end date for the current period
    • the current period number is incremented by 1
    • the new period is set to a status of Open

  4. Zero balance sub-module journals are flagged as posted when sub-module journals are set to post automatically (General Ledger Integration).

  5. A normal journal is created for any provisional journals that have been posted to the now previous ledger period (if the General Ledger Setup setup option to reverse out provision journals at period/year end is enabled). The journal is created with a source of Reversing journals (RV) and posted to the ledger to reverse any provisional entries. Any GL Analysis entries that were attached to the original provisional journal are also reversed.

  6. Journals created for a future period cannot be posted until the General Ledger is in that future period. Therefore, a sub module journal with a period greater than the current GL period is not automatically posted, even if you select to post journals automatically for the module (General Ledger Integration).

    Sub-module journals for the new period/year are created when you close a sub-module for a period and then process transactions for the new period. The journals for these transactions can only be posted to the General Ledger after the ledger is also closed for that period.

    Sub-module journals for the new GL period/year are automatically posted by the GL Period End program if all of the following apply:

    • the Post GL journal option is enabled (General Ledger Integration)

    • the Authorization of sub module journals before posting required option is not enabled (General Ledger Setup)

      If you require sub-module journals to be authorized, then you need to manually post these journals using the GL Journal Entry program.

    • the Automatically post GL journals option (Information tab) is enabled.

      If you did not select this option when running the period or year end, then you need to manually post these journals using the GL Journal Entry program.

    [Note]

    This only applies to sub-module journals. All other journals must be manually posted into the new year.

  7. A report is generated detailing the period-to-date debits, period-to-date credits, the net change and the period opening and closing balances per account type.

Year end

Year end considerations

  • The process aborts if any of the following is encountered:

    • unposted ledger entries groups for the current period, or previous periods
    • unposted journals for the current period, or previous periods
    • unposted recurring journals for the current period
    • journals on hold for the current period, or previous periods
    • the forced balance account has a non-zero balance in any period of the year
    • revenue or expense accounts with a non-zero balance (if you have not enabled the Set expense and revenue accounts to zero option)
    • an account type is not defined against each ledger account (General Ledger Codes)

  • When you use the GL Journal Entry program to process a journal into the previous year (after you have run the Year end function) the system updates the current year's opening balances for the affected accounts automatically and adjusts the retained earnings account(s) where applicable. It is therefore not necessary to manually adjust account balances in the current year for such journals.

Processing sequence

  1. The balance function is run, without processing the detail transactions.

  2. A normal journal is created for any provisional journals that have been posted to the now previous ledger period (if the General Ledger Setup setup option to reverse out provision journals at period/year end is enabled). The journal is created with a source of Reversing journals (RV) and posted to the ledger to reverse any provisional entries. Any GL Analysis entries that were attached to the original provisional journal are also reversed.

  3. The period-to-date debits and credits for each ledger account are set to zero, and the current balance is copied to the opening balance.

  4. The General Ledger control record is updated as follows:

    • the run date entered is moved to the period end date for the current period (your year end period)
    • the current period number is incremented by 1
    • the run date entered is moved to the period end date for the current period, which is now your closing period

  5. A Normal journal is created for each revenue or expense account that has a non-zero balance (if you enabled the option: Set expense and revenue accounts to zero).

    Two journal entries are created - one sets the account balance to zero, and the other posts the balance to your Retained earnings account. The Normal Journal is created with a source of Year end closing and posted to the ledger, in your closing period.

    If you are using 12 accounting periods then the clearing of the revenue and expense accounts is posted to period 13. If you are using 13 accounting periods then the clearing of the revenue and expense accounts is posted to period 14.

  6. The General Ledger control record is updated as follows:

    • the current year number is incremented by 1
    • the current period number is set to 1
    • the current year's next journal number, next entries group number, period end dates and open/closed flags are moved to the previous year
    • next year's next journal number and next entries group number are moved to the current year, then reset to 1
    • the current years period end dates are set to zero
    • the first period of the new year (which is now the current period) is set to a status of Open, the remaining periods in the new year are set to Closed

  7. Journals created for a future period cannot be posted until the General Ledger is in that future period. Therefore, a sub module journal with a period greater than the current GL period is not automatically posted, even if you select to post journals automatically for the module (General Ledger Integration).

    Sub-module journals for the new period/year are created when you close a sub-module for a period and then process transactions for the new period. The journals for these transactions can only be posted to the General Ledger after the ledger is also closed for that period.

    Sub-module journals for the new GL period/year are automatically posted by the GL Period End program if all of the following apply:

    • the Post GL journal option is enabled (General Ledger Integration)

    • the Authorization of sub module journals before posting required option is not enabled (General Ledger Setup)

      If you require sub-module journals to be authorized, then you need to manually post these journals using the GL Journal Entry program.

    • the Automatically post GL journals option (Information tab) is enabled.

      If you did not select this option when running the period or year end, then you need to manually post these journals using the GL Journal Entry program.

    [Note]

    This only applies to sub-module journals. All other journals must be manually posted into the new year.

  8. New history is created for your new ledger year for each ledger code.

  9. The number of details count for the current year for each ledger code is moved to the details count for the previous year and the count for the current year is set to zero.

  10. Budgets defined against your ledger codes are affected by the year end process according to your selection at the Budget processing at year end option (General Ledger Setup). Budgets defined for next year and any alternate budgets are unaffected by the year end process (i.e. they remain intact).

    Budget processing at year end options Implication
    Retain current year budgets Budgets are unaffected by the year end process (i.e. the budgets defined for the current year remain the budgets for the current year after the year end has been processed).
    Zeroise current year budgets Budgets defined for the current year are set to zero (i.e. no budgets are defined for the new year and these will have to be entered manually).
    Copy next year budgets to current year Budgets defined for the next year are copied to the current year. If the budget for next year is not defined, then the current year budgets remains intact.
    Copy next year budgets to current year Budgets defined for next year and any alternate budgets are unaffected by the year end process (i.e. they remain intact).

  11. Completed transactions are deleted if you enabled the General Ledger Setup setup option to retain completed transactions (this option retains them only for the current year up to the year end).

  12. The budget for the first period of the new year is increased by any outstanding uncommitted value (i.e. the uncommitted costs are carried forward from the previous year into the new year) if you are using commitment accounting and enabled the General Ledger Setup setup option to add to the budget at year end.

  13. A report is generated detailing the year-to-date debits, year-to-date credits, the net change and the year opening and closing balances per account type.

Purge

Purge considerations

  • Files are not processed if the number of years or periods for which you are retaining them is set to 99 (i.e. indefinite).

    The minimum length of time that information must be retained on file is one year (summary history of balances and detail transaction history) and one period (posted/cancelled journals, expired recurring journals and posted/cancelled group entries).

  • Any unposted GL analysis records older than two years are deleted (e.g. these are entries where you entered a General Ledger journal and added analysis entries, but then cancelled the journal).

Processing sequence

A cut-off period and year is established according to the length of time you are retaining records (General Ledger Setup).

  1. Balance history and alternate currency history for the current company is deleted if the ledger year against the history record is earlier than the calculated cut-off year.

  2. Detail transaction history and alternate currency detail for the current company is deleted if the ledger year against the history record is earlier than the calculated cut-off year.

    GL Analysis entries associated with the deleted transactions are also removed.

  3. Journals are deleted if they are in a status of posted or cancelled and the posting period and year is before the cut-off period and year.

    Notes associated with the deleted journals are also removed.

  4. Expired recurring journals with an expiry period and year earlier than the cut-off period and year are deleted. Notes associated with the deleted journals are also removed.

  5. Posted and cancelled group entries are deleted if the ledger posting year and period against the group entry is earlier than the calculated cut-off month and year.

Notes and warnings

Restrictions and limits

  • You cannot run this program when the forced balance account is not defined (General Ledger Integration).

  • If you are retaining detail transaction history indefinitely (General Ledger Setup) then cannot select the Period end and purge, Year end and purge or Purge only options.

  • If your General Ledger module is not in the final month of your financial year then you cannot select the Year end and purge or Year end only options.

eSignature considerations

Electronic Signatures provide security access, transaction logging and event triggering. This enables you to increase control over your system changes.

Access to the following eSignature transactions within this program can be restricted at Operator, Group, Role or Company level. You configure this using the Electronic Signatures program.

eSignature Transaction Description
GL Period-end performed

Controls access to the Period-end processing functions in the GL Period End program.
GL Year-end performed

Controls access to the Year-end functions in the GL Period End program.
GL Purge performed

Controls access to the Purge processing options in the GL Period End program.
GL Balance function performed

Controls access to the Balance processing option in the GL Period End program.

Hints and tips

Backup considerations

  • We recommend that you back up your data before commencing processing.

Application Help Pane

Application Help Panes provide step-by-step instructions for various functions within the program, including a brief overview of what the program does, what setup options are required and how to personalize the program. The intention is that the pane provides information that is uncluttered and easy to navigate.

You can embed an Application Help Pane:

  • in the main SYSPRO menu

  • in any program with panes, if not using roles

  • when adding a role layout in Design Mode.

Inserting Application Help

You would typically follow this procedure to display help for the current program in a customized pane that can be pinned to the program window.

Information includes step-by-step instructions for the various functions available within the program, including a brief overview of what the program does, what setup options are required and how to personalize the program.

  1. Open the program for which you want to insert application help into a customized pane.

    This functionality is only available for a program that has panes.

  2. Right-click any form field.

    You can also click the triangle menu icon that appears in the title area of a pane.

  3. Select Insert Application Help from the context-sensitive menu.

    The application help appears in a pane within your program. You can reposition the pane using the docking stickers or pin it to the program window.

Removing the Application Help pane

If you no longer want to display application help in a pane for your current program, you can simply remove it.

  1. Select the Close icon in the right-hand corner of the application help pane.

  2. Confirm that you want to delete the pane.