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[Keith Lee]

This is our first year-end closing for Microsoft Dynamics GP. The modules we use are AR, AP, and Financial. I plan on closing the 2016 fiscal and calendar year for the AR and AP modules by the end of the first week of January 2017. I will not be closing the GL (Financial) module until around March 1, 2017. After we close the 2016 AR and AP module and start creating new batches (we use the post through feature in the AR and AP modules) for 2017 will that have any impact on the 2016 Financial module since it will still be open? Our 2017 fiscal periods are already set up in GP. So can I open the January 2017 fiscal period for AR, AP and Financial after I close the AR and AP modules and will these 2017 AR and AP batches be recorded to the 2017 Financial module? Thank you for your help in this matter.

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Keith Lee
Director of Financial Reporting
Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Co.
Lake Zurich IL
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[Shari Bruno]

Hi Keith,

On January 1, 2017, transactions will automatically post to 2017 if that period is open, even if 2016 is still open.  To post transactions to 2016 the posting date has to be changed to a 2016 date.  Whether 2016 is open or closed the 2017 transactions will have no impact on 2016.  The only way to impact 2016 is to back post.  For that reason I would suggest keeping 2016 open until you are sure you will not need to post transactions to that year.

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Shari Bruno
Accounts Payable Specialist
Bible League International
Crete, IL
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[Bill Schulz]

I agree with Shari. One comment I will add is that if you do not close the GL, your Balance Sheet beginning balances will not carry over. So when you do a Summary Inquiry, for example, you will only see current year activity without reflecting the balance from the prior year. So it is a little harder to manage your Jan and Feb activity.

You can close the GL and still post entries to the most recently closed year. When you are predominantly done with 2016, you could close the year, and still post entries to 2016 for Audit Adjustments or late entries. The system will automatically create year end closing entries (transferring Income and Expense accounts to Retained Earnings, rolling Balance Sheet account totals over to the new year) for these transactions at the time you post to a closed year.

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Bill Schulz
Turnkey Technologies, Inc.
St. Louis MO
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[Bert Green]

There is an ISV out there called Alba Spectrum that has a product that will carry over the balance sheet numbers until you close the period. It is called Balance Brought Forward. It only works in GP, does not extend to MR or FRx.

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Bert Green
GP Developer/GP Administrator
Berger Transfer & Storage, Inc.
Saint Paul MN
GP2015/MR CU11
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[Martha Machado]

Closing the G/L as a “soft close” for December is a good idea. Otherwise your balance sheet accounts won’t update the beginning balance for 2017, which makes it hard when you’re trying to look anything up. Now, if you think about it any company needs to have 2 years open for a certain amount of time, so for this reason GP lets you post to the most recent closed year. The only thing you lose by closing 2016 is you won’t be able to post to 2015.

After you close, when you do post adjustments to 2016, GP will automatically create an extra journal entry to close any P&L accounts to Retained Earnings. Easy peasy.

Always remember you can post to open years and the most recent closed year.

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Martha Machado
CPA / Consultant
CPA Projects
Pompano Beach FL
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[Bill Marshall]

My technical suggestion is to not run the process logged in as ‘sa’. This could make the process slow if you have any ISV app with a trigger on the GL20000 or GL3000 tables.  Here’s a KB article which was meant for our product but could apply on anyone: http://support.mc2software.com/kb/Knowledgebase%20Articles/Year-End%20Close%20with%20AIT.aspx

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Bill Marshall
President
mc²
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