Accounts Payable End of Period Procedures

The procedures listed in this section must be performed in a timely fashion at the end of each period.  These required procedures perform the following functions.  They prevent transactions from being posted to incorrect periods, they provide the reports that will be required in order to close the General Ledger period, and they allow users to begin processing in the next period.  These procedures should be completed on the last day of each period before any transactions are posted to the next period.

•      Make sure all required transactions have been posted to the current period. Transactions may be posted to a prior period after the period has been closed, but this is not recommended since doing so will change the GL and the changes will not be reflected on the "point in time reports" that are printed at the end of the period.  Posting to a prior period may also require the operator to reverse and redo the entry made to actually "close" the general ledger at the end of the period.  (Please see the general ledger documentation for more information about closing an accounting period).  Note: if a prior period has not been closed, Prepaid Vouchers (invoices and payments made against the invoice in the same GL period) may still be posted since the result of this kind of transaction does not change the ending AP balance for the period (AP is increased and decreased by same amount).

•      Verify that all open AP invoices have been entered into the system.  It is suggested that you keep all AP invoices that have been received but not posted to the system in one place.  Review the un-posted invoices and enter them in the current period or hold them if they are to be entered in the next period.

•      Post all manual check payment transactions with check dates which are included in the current period.  This will close the invoices paid in the current period, and ensure that the end of period report is correct.

•      Verify that all computer generated checks for the period have been produced.

•      Make sure that any required manual adjustments that affect the accounts payable GL account have been posted.

•      Print an Open AP Report or an AP Aging.  Examine the report.  Look for invoices which are on the report but may have been paid.  Investigate any invoices which look to be incorrectly stated on the report.  If the report looks correct, compare the report total to the current balance in the general ledger AP account.  If the report matches the GL, note on the report that the two were in balance, and file the report.  If the report does not match the GL, perform the procedures listed under Daily Closing (Audit Daily AP Activity) to resolve the discrepancy.  Note that the procedures listed under daily closing may also be performed on a longer time period such as a week or an entire period.  If the operator still cannot find the discrepancy, they should recheck that the prior period is still in balance (GL matches end of period report), and check to make sure no current transactions have been posted to a future period (look at the AP postings to future periods with the GL Account Lookup screen.  Once the report matches the GL, file the report and perform the GL end of period operational procedures listed in the GL documentation.

•      Make sure that no other AP transactions are posted until the accounting period and date have been changed in the system.

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End of Year Operational Procedures