Search Tips
Pgm: PRELPER – Perform Preliminary Close; standard Treeview path: General Ledger > Period End > Perform Preliminary Close
Preliminary close is an optional procedure that allows the user to close a period while still allowing the posting of transactions to the period. The transactions that are subsequently posted are then tracked to see the changes affecting the account balances.
This procedure is most useful to those companies who post interdepartmental transactions (although preliminary period close may be used by anyone who requires it). Consider the situation where one department has closed its’ period, and another is still posting into that period; the second department then runs an interdepartmental transaction which alters the first departments balances. If preliminary period close has been run on the first department, finding the new transactions is simple - simply run the Preliminary Transaction report, and the system will show the transactions which have been posted after the Preliminary Period Close screen has been run.
This procedure will not affect the current period setting. Only the Final Period Close screen will update the current period to the next period in the fiscal year. However, once the Preliminary Period Close screen has been run on a period, warning messages will appear when a transaction is entered against that period.
When ready to perform the preliminary close, follow the steps listed below.
Post All Outstanding Batches for the Department
Ensure all outstanding batches for the period have been entered and posted. Verify that this has been done both for batches originating in the General Ledger module and for those from the sub-ledger screens.
Print the Trial Balance Report
The Trial Balance Report is designed to facilitate the balancing of the General Ledger by showing the total debits and credits for each account for the period specified.
Post Any Correcting Transactions
If a problem is found, enter the correcting entries and post the batch.
Run the Preliminary Close
The Preliminary Period Close screen will update the selected department by increasing the current period on the department file by one. It will not affect the company's current period. It will also cause a warning message to be displayed on the Transaction Entry screen each time a transaction is entered for a department with a date of record in the period for which the Preliminary Period Close screen was run. All transactions entered into the period will appear on the GL Report after preliminary close.
Enter the company and department to preliminary close then use the [Close Period] button to start the process.
NOTE: If the 'Validate Transaction Date Against Department Current Period' checkbox in the GL Control File is unchecked, an alert will display with the following confirmation message: "GL Transaction Entry will NOT validate for Closed period for department field. Do you want to continue?". For more information, refer to the GL Control File section in General Ledger - Local Tables.
Print the GL Posted After Preliminary Close Report
This report can be printed at any time after the preliminary close and before the final close to show all transactions that were posted to this period after the preliminary period close was completed.