3 Ways to Save Time at Month-End

According to an Adra survey from 2013, 79% of financial professionals are under pressure to close the books faster at month-end. With that pressure looming, it’s surprising how many Dynamics GP users aren’t taking advantage of features that help them close month end quicker. If you’re one of those 79%, here are three tips that will save time at month-end.

1. Checklists

The easiest way to save time at month-end is to standardize your procedure and ensure everybody follows it. With Dynamics GP you can accomplish this through checklists that you can enable in various modules. Checklists can be found in most modules under Routines. Microsoft Dynamics GP even provides a starting checklist in some cases.

Of course, you can customize those starting checklists or create your own from scratch. Below you’ll find an example of a month-end checklist.

As you can see, it organizes each step in our payroll process. Each of the items in the Routine column is a link to the relevant window. (or file, website, etc.) The Date and Time columns show the last time the item was accessed and the User ID shows the last user to access it, which allows you to audit your checklists.

This is a great way to make month-end tasks faster for people who aren’t experienced GP users, while minimizing the chances of an error slowing down your month-end close.

1. Reconcile to GL tool

This is an oldie but a goodie that can save a lot of time at month-end. Added in GP 10, the Reconcile to GL tool helps you find differences between Payables Management (and GL), Receivables Management (and GL), Inventory Management (and GL), as well as Bank Reconciliations (and GL).

To use it, simply choose which module you are reconciling, enter the required fields, type in your date range, and click ‘Process’.  The tool goes through the transactions for that date range, analyzes the information, and produces an Excel Spreadsheet that shows which transactions look like problems.  It lists transactions as either ‘Matched’ (no problem found), ‘Potentially Matched’ (might be a problem) or ‘Unmatched’ (likely a problem).

By using the Reconcile to GL tool you’ll save your accountants time and hassle by narrowing down the list of transactions they need to review.

1. Set cutoff dates

Sometimes the solution to slow moth-end doesn’t require technology, it just requires discipline. Setting a firm cutoff date for posting transactions ensures that your accountants don’t have a moving target when performing month-end. Once the cutoff date passes, make it clear that there should be no posting into the previous period. You can then close your fiscal periods for all modules so that transactions can no longer be posted after you have set your cutoff date. This will assist in eliminating extra transactions after your month end processing has been completed.

It’ll take a while for the message to sink in, but your accounting team will thank you and you’ll see quicker month-end closes.

- Cody Pierson, Marketing Manager, Prophet Business Group - Dynamics GP, CRM and IT Support