The Sage 100 accounting system in your company is probably the most important software tool you use every day. Because your company relies on it for so much, it’s vital to ensure you prepare for year-end by taking a few steps to ready your company’s systems for the new year ahead. The following checklist can help you.
Sage 100 Accounting Year-End Checklist
The end of the year often finds the accounting department in the midst of a flurry of activity. There’s payroll to reconcile along with invoices and receivables. The list goes on and on. Fortunately, Sage 100 accounting provides an efficient way to get the work done (if you have the information handy!)
At the year’s end, however, you should still take specific steps to ensure the year closes on a good note. The following checklist can help you close out Sage 100 and ready it for the new year.
- Backup your data: Always backup your database before making any major changes or conduct a year-end close. Then, check to make sure your backup saved properly. This way, you can replace your data if necessary.
- Follow the module closing order: With Sage 100, it’s important to follow the module closing order as one module feeds into the next. Sage 100 support offers checklists for module closing that may come in handy.
- General Ledger: You can keep the general ledger open for as long as necessary. It won’t affect closing out the rest of the system.
- Close payroll: Even if your company is on a different fiscal year, you should close payroll out on the calendar year. Print W2 forms and double check payroll figures to ensure taxes are paid correctly.
- Reconcile bank and credit card statements: Reconcile final balances on all bank accounts and credit card statements. You should do this monthly but be sure to do so before closing out the year-end.
- Review the chart of accounts: Now is the time to review the current chart of accounts and make sure all of the categories make sense.
- Print important reports: Print off all important reports now. Print the income statement, balance sheet, and anything else your company deems important.
- Set up the new year: Set up next year’s systems as needed.
- Back up – again. Yes, again.
Other Important Year-End Tasks
The year end is also a great time to review all policies and procedures. Review internal controls and systems in place in the accounting department to prevent fraud and update them as necessary. If you have any new hires in the past several months, have they been trained on the procedures? If not, schedule training.
Run virus checks and scans on all systems and update or upgrade your anti-virus software. Check all programs for updates and install them as necessary.
Lastly, review with your team security protocols to protect valuable systems such as Sage 100 accounting. Although Sage has excellent security in place to prevent cyber-attacks, no system is completely safe. Talk to your team about simple methods to prevent cybercrimes such as not clicking on links in suspicious emails, not divulging passwords, etc.
These are just a few end-of-year steps to ensure a smooth transition in your Sage 100 accounting system. For Sage 100 support, contact Emerald TC. We offer Sage 100 support, implementation, training, and more. We’re a Sage Atlanta reseller and offer Sage 100, Sage 500 ERP, and Sage modules to complement and enhance your system for all your business needs. For more information, please contact us or call 678-456-6919.