For anyone who is preparing to close their fiscal year in Dynamics GP by running the General Ledger Year End Close Routine, you might be aware of a few issues you can encounter.
One of the biggest ‘gotchas’ in the year end close process is a General Ledger account that is setup with the incorrect account type. There are methods for resolving this issue after the year end close routine has been run. Depending on your version of Dynamics GP, you can undo or reverse the year end close routine, fix the account type in the Account Maintenance window, and re-run the year end close routine. However, wouldn’t it be much better if you had a method to check for accounts that are setup incorrectly BEFORE you run the GL year end close routine?
SmartList is here to help
You can do this by creating two SmartList favorites in Dynamics GP. This example assumes that your Chart of Accounts follows the standard for Balance Sheet accounts numbered from 1XXX – 3XXX and Profit and Loss accounts numbered from 4XXX-8XXX. If this is true, here is a method for creating a SmartList favorite that will help you validate your account types prior to running the GL year end close.
NOTE: The steps to correct an account with the wrong posting type mentioned below can ONLY be used BEFORE you run your GL Year End Close routine in Dynamics GP.
In Dynamics GP, open SmartList and follow these steps:
- Expand the Financial folder.
- Expand the Accounts folder.
- Click the Columns button.
4. Click the Add button to add a few columns.
5.Select Created Date, Main Account Segment, and Typical Balance. You can multi-select by clicking one field, then when you find the next field, you want to add, hold down the Control Key and click the new field and then click OK in the Columns window shown below.
6.You can add as many columns as you like, but those I mentioned are good for validation of your accounts and any new accounts that might be added in the future. You can arrange the newly added columns by checking the box on one and then clicking the arrows to the right to move them up or down. Remember, the order they appear in this window from top to bottom will be from left to right on your SmartList. Click OK.
7.Now you will see a SmartList with the newly added columns which you can sort by and resize if needed. Next, click the Search button on the Toolbar.
8.In the Column Name field for Search Definition 1, choose ‘Main Account Segment’.
9.In the Filter, choose ‘is between’.
10.In the top Value box, type 1000.
11.In the bottom Value box, type 3999. Keep in mind that this example may be different for your Chart of Accounts, but this is for my standard COA with all Balance Sheet accounts starting with 1 in my main segment and P&L accounts starting with 4.
12.In the Column Name field for Search Definition 2, choose ‘Posting Type’.
13.In the Filter, choose ‘is equal to’.
14.In the Value, choose ‘Profit and Loss’.
15.Click OK to close the Search window.
Here are my results:
You can see that I have two accounts that were setup with the wrong posting type. These two accounts need to be changed to Balance Sheet accounts so that they keep their balances when I process the GL Year End Close routine. If I change them now, I won’t need to go through the tedious steps to fix them after the close is completed.
To change these accounts now, follow these steps:
- Double-click on the first account to open the Account Maintenance window in GP.
- Under the Posting Type section on the left side of the window, select Balance Sheet.
- Click Save.
- Close the Account Maintenance window.
- On your SmartList, click Refresh, you will see that account is no longer appearing as it is now setup with the correct Posting Type.
Follow the steps above for all accounts that are setup incorrectly as P&L accounts that should be Balance Sheet accounts.
To save this SmartList as a favorite, follow these steps:
- Click Favorites on the Toolbar.
- In the Name Field, give it a meaningful name such as: Accounts with P&L type s/b Balance Sheet
- Click Add | Add Favorite.
Once you have found and corrected all your accounts that are setup incorrectly as P&L and should have been Balance Sheet accounts, you can edit your SmartList by changing the Search criteria as follows:
You will also need to click Favorites, then change the name to: Accounts with Balance Sheet type s/b P&L and click Add | Add Favorite to save this as a separate SmartList favorite.
If you use Unit Accounts, you may also want to include one further search value with the Column Name of ‘Account Type’, the Filter ‘is equal to’, and the Value ‘Posting Account’. This will filter out any unit accounts for you.
Follow the same steps to correct any accounts that are setup incorrectly as Balance Sheet accounts and should be P&L accounts.
This should make for a smoother General Ledger Year End Close Routine.
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