FAQ #: 78
What order should I close out the month in?

There is not really a specific order for closing the month when it comes to which modules should be closed first. Each individual module has it's own checklist which lists the programs to run to close out that module, but there is not a specific order for closing out modules.

All closing should be completed afer the invoice register has been run for the last day of the month, but before the invoice register is run for the first day of the new month. For some users, this will always be the first business day of the new month, other users may wish to close on the 26th of the month, running a month from the 26th thru the 25th. However your months run, you always need to make sure that you have processed all invoices for the month and the invoice register has been run for those invoices before you close the month.

The Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Inventory, and Sales Analysis modules then need to be closed. These modules do not allow for "date ranges" when closing, so the month is simply closed out on the date that it is run. This is why it is important to be closed at the end of one month, prior to beginning a new month. The General Ledger module, however, is date based. The month can be left open as long as necessary in the General Ledger. This is often necessary, especially at year-end, when you are waiting for year-end adjusting entries from the accountants. When you run the month-end programs for general ledger, you are asked to enter a full date range for closing and only transactions within that date range are closed.

There are often questions regarding Accounts Payable. Most users process invoices daily, and have all of the customer-side work completed at month-end. But, they have invoices remaining to be posted for the month in A/P. It is OK to leave Accounts Payable open. But, realize that as you enter A/P invoice, the Month-to-Date history for the vendor is being updated. If you are entering more than one month's invoices at a time, then all of that history will be closed into the same month when you do run the month-end programs. This only really affects the purchases amounts for the vendor. But, the purchases amounts can be important for certain automatic purchasing parameters. If it is necessary to leave the A/P side open to finish posting invoices, you probably should not enter any A/P invoices for the new month until you have finished closing out the month. The main exception to this rule is at year-end, when you can go ahead and start entering invoices for the new year and have them posted to a "temporary" category, based on an A/P configuration option.