Closing the year

You're almost ready to close the year: Closing the year takes all day (or all night), so don't start the process until you have free computer time. Remember, no one can use Clients & Profits while you're closing the year. (If they do, they'll lose their work.) Before you close the year you should be able to answer "yes" to the following questions:

• Have you posted everything? All payables, receivables, checks, client payments, and G/L journal entries should be posted before closing the year, even if they're entered into the next fiscal year. When the year is closed, the period on the new year's entries will be updated automatically.
  
  

• Have you printed any desired or required year-end reports? Once the year is closed, the year's income statements, audit trails, and other financials can't be printed because the information is no longer part of the database. Also, consider printing client, vendor, and resource summaries before closing the year, as well as the most recent financial statements. These reports will be cleared and reset for the new year as the year is closed.
  
  

• Have you backed up your database? Closing is irreversible. Once the year is closed, it cannot be "unclosed" for any reason. Because of this it is important to make a permanent backup of your database, to allow you to reference the previous year's general ledger if you ever need to.