Tips for a Smooth Year-End in Sage Intacct

With the end of 2020 quickly approaching, we’ve compiled a checklist to help your accounting team efficiently and painlessly maneuver through year-end and prepare for the New Year ahead with Sage Intacct! Read on for our 11 tips for a smooth year-end.

1. Reconcile external systems

The first step starts outside of Sage Intacct and that is: reviewing all external systems. Review your CRM, expense software, Bill.com, and any other external system to verify all transactions through 12/31 have synced successfully to Sage Intacct. Check for sync errors or missing transactions.

2. Record all subledger transactions

Now that all external system transactions have been recorded, record other subledger transactions such as AP bills, adjustments, AR invoices, payments received, Fixed Assets module depreciation entries, and prepaid module entries.

3. Transactions in limbo

After the final missing subledger transactions have been posted, check for transactions before 12/31 that may be “in limbo”. This includes drafts, recurring transactions that have failed, or transactions awaiting approval. Below are a few helpful tips on how to check for each.

Draft transactions – all transaction list views can expose the “state” field as a column. This field can then be used to filter on a state of “Draft”. If not already exposed learn how to create custom views here.

Recurring transaction failures – recurring transactions may unexpectedly fail when a change is made to the system, like a dimension requirement being added to an account, a dimension record being inactivated, or a new smart rule being enforced. Sage Intacct makes it easy to monitor failures. Each module with the capability to set up transactions on a schedule has a recurring transaction status report. Thus, making it simple to not only identify any failures but also retry the offending transaction. Below is an example of a recurring transaction status report from the accounts payable module.

Transactions awaiting approval – check for any journal entries, AP bills, AP payments, purchasing transactions, or employee time/expense awaiting approval. Similar to draft transactions, a list view can easily expose transactions with a state of “submitted” or “partially approved”. 

4. Close subledgers

Sage Intacct allows for closing subledgers independently. This allows for locking the Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Cash Management, and/or Time & Expense subledgers while still having the ability to record month-end journal entries which often come later. Please note, closing a subledger will also close co-dependent modules. Meaning, closing the AP module closes Purchasing, and closing AR closes Order Entry.

5. Reconcile subledgers to the general ledger

Once subledgers are closed, we can reconcile them to the general ledger. Using the AP module as an example, below are steps for reconciling your AP module to your AP account.

1. Run the Vendor Aging report as of 12/31/2020 and note the total.
2. Run the General Ledger report as of 12/31/2020 for your Accounts Payable account.
3. Check that the GL AP balance matches the vendor aging report.

Manual journal entries recorded to your AP account is one common reason for variances. Avoid this in the future by enabling the new “disallow direct posting” checkbox on your GL Account setup.

For additional help identifying likely causes of discrepancies please reach out to your CLA Sage Intacct team!

6. Post month-end journal entries

Month-end journal entries include accruals, allocations, depreciation, payroll, multi-currency revaluation entries, and any memorized transactions. There are a number of ways to automate month-end journal entries that are worth evaluating:

• Importing journal entries – learn more about best practices with Sage Intacct imports from this blog post
• Creating Memorized transactions
• Utilizing Dynamic Allocations to automate your month-end allocations

For assistance with any of the above, or advice on best practices around automating month-end journal entries please reach out to us!

7. Reconcile bank accounts and credit cards

Once month-end journal entries are posted, our next step is to reconcile bank and credit card accounts. For a review on reconciling bank accounts visit Intacct’s help center which walks through the process in detail. Also, in case you missed it, in an effort to move towards a continuous close Intacct has released bank and credit card feeds available for no additional subscription cost. Find our blog on how to enable this feature here or reach out to your CLA Sage Intacct team for assistance! 

8. Run financial reports and trial balance

Following the above steps allows for providing one of the most important strategic tools for an organization, financial statements.  They provide an overview of the company’s financial health and perhaps, even more importantly, serve as a vital tool for planning the company’s future. For tips on report writing in Intacct please review this blog.

9. Close the general ledger

Once reports have been run, closing the general ledger ensures you can finalize your financials.

Closing through Month Ended December 2020 in the below screenshot will close the Virginia entity for all periods between 1/1/2020 – 12/31/2020. If you have been closing monthly, which is recommended, your “Close company books from” date is likely to be 12/1/2020.

10. 1099 preparations

Now that 2020 is closed, we can prepare for the next quickly approaching deadline: 1099’s. Below are a few links to prior blog posts that cover not only the new form 1099-NEC but also general tips, tricks, and frequently asked questions.

• Learn how to update Vendors for the new form 1099-NEC and reclassify balances.
• Read our tips for preparing for 1099’s with Sage Intacct.
• Or read 1099 Frequently Asked Questions from our support team.
• Also, be sure to order your 1099 forms, if printing in-house. You can order Sage Intacct supported forms (and checks) here.

11. Add reporting periods (if needed)

Last, but not least, prepare your reporting periods. With a new year, often reporting periods for budgeting, reporting, and closing periods have not yet been created. This blog post will have your 2021 reporting periods ready with just a few clicks.

What’s next?

Year-end, unlike the rest of 2020, doesn’t have to be unprecedented with a clear checklist (hey! we almost managed a whole post without using that word!). Many of these reports, list views, and tasks can easily be added to a month or year-end close dashboard for an even faster close. Reach out to your CLA Sage Intacct team with any questions! Happy New Year!

The post Tips for a Smooth Year-End in Sage Intacct appeared first on Sage Blog.