FIACCT 02-04_00 General accounting- Monthend closing-overview

Effective: March 16, 1998
Revised: September 1, 2006
Reviewed: February 1, 2010

Purpose

This policy provides an overview of the policies and procedures for monthend closing in FINET.

Background

The fiscal accounting year is divided into 12 monthly accounting periods. An additional 13th month accounting period is provided. This enables a timely closing for June, the 12th period, and the books to be kept open for yearend adjustments. Accounting periods are designated in the FMFY format (fiscal month fiscal year) by the number of the months in the fiscal year, and then the fiscal year; for example 0295 is August 1994 and 1196 is May 1996.

The monthend closing process consists of the completion of transactions and system programs for clearing and closing. Users will have certain time frames to enter new transactions and to make changes and apply approvals on transactions that will be posted to the month being closed. The system programs for the clearing process performs two functions:

First, it summarizes the detail information in the Detailed General Ledger for the current month to a level suitable for efficient responsibility and financial reporting.

Second, it purges older closed records from the open item application tables and ledgers so as to maintain operating efficiencies and to conserve space. The system programs for the closing process marks the month closed so that no more transactions can be posted to it and produces summary financial data for use in reports.

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Policy

The month will be closed with the nightly processing cycle run the first Friday after the end of the month, unless that is the first day of the month. In that case, the monthend will run on the second Friday of the month. Monthly reports will be processed and distributed on the Monday after the monthend.