Crush Your Year-End Close With These 7 Simple Tips

It’s December, and you know what that means! Year-End Close. Closing out the year in Dynamics GP can be a very stressful time for any business. There are so many details you need to keep in mind during the process. Fortunately, many articles and blogs are available to provide you with helpful information on closing each module. You can easily find those on the Microsoft support website. The purpose of this blog is to provide you with some general, helpful information when it comes to the year-end close process.

Tip #1

It’s important you plan out the year-end close and familiarize yourself with the process. You need to think ahead and know the order in which you need to close each module, what steps you need to follow, and approximately how much time you need to accomplish each closing. Remember, your users should be out of the system when performing the close so it’s essential to know how it will affect them. Planning your year-end close will help you have a successful close. Without planning, some of those smaller details can be overlooked, which can then derail your process.

Tip #2

Post everything you can in all modules. The less open transactions you need to deal with, the better off you are during the close process. Not to mention, you want to make sure transactions are posted to the proper year. Be sure to wait to post transactions in the new year until you have closed the year for that module.

After you have posted the transactions, doing a soft close of your periods is really helpful to prevent posting to those periods when the module has been closed. The only exception is General Ledger (GL). You can enter transactions in GL for the new year before you have closed the current year.

Tip #3

When you are ready to start closing your modules, have all users log out of Dynamics GP, and then make a full backup of your system. Make a new backup before each module you close. This way, you have something to go back to should anything happen during the close process.

Tip #4

As you start closing your modules, be sure you are using the helpful information Dynamics GP support provides when it comes to the order in which you should close the modules and the module-specific information they offer. For example, remember you need to install the latest year-end update for Payroll prior to running the first payroll run of the new year (i.e. 2021) but also wait to install the latest update until after the last pay run of the previous year (i.e. 2020). The Microsoft Support website is your best reference.

Tip #5

When closing a module, be sure to let the process run. It may look as though the process has hung, especially when it comes to General Ledger. Rather than closing Dynamics GP, leave it be and it will most likely finish. It’s very common for General Ledger to appear as though it is hanging but it’s still processing behind the scenes.  The GL closing process can take longer than you anticipate.  It’s based on the number of transactions you entered in the year that you are closing, so patience is the key.

Tip #6

Utilize the tools within Dynamics GP to make month-end, quarter-end, and year-end processes run more smoothly. Use the Routines Checklists to create checklists for each module. This helps you remember what you need to do at the end of those periods and displays the date and time the window was opened to accomplish that task, as well as the user who did it. This way you can see all that has been completed!

Tip #7

If you have GL transactions to post after you have closed your General Ledger for the year, you can still post to that prior year.  Remember, in GP, you can post back one historical year, and GP will update the correct accounts for you.

The year-end close process can be kind of scary at first, but with the right planning and all the resources available, you can get through it. Remember to use your resources; your partner and Dynamics GP support can answer your questions.