Understand Year End Processing

Eagle Accounting's year end close out process moves ledger balances from Income, Capital, and Expense accounts to an Accumulated Earnings account, setting these general ledger account balances to zero for the start of the next fiscal year.

About Ledger Transfer Profiles

You use a ledger transfer profile to identify the accounts to close out for the year end process and to identify the target accounts into which to roll the balances. Eagle Accounting provides a ledger transfer profile by default when you install Eagle's accounting solution. The Ledger Item Editor allows you to view, create, and edit ledger transfer profiles. You can choose any accounts to close out for the year end process. You also can choose the target accounts into which to roll the balances. For more information, see Manage Ledger Transfer Profiles.

About Adding Custom Ledger Accounts and Year End Processing

When you add a custom ledger account, you can add that account to one or more custom chart of account (COAs). The custom COA can include client-specific account descriptions and numbers. You map the custom accounts to the accounts in the core COA. You can then use the Ledger Item Editor to add the new ledger account to the appropriate custom ledger profiles. A ledger profile is a report profile used to collect and group ledger activity into defined line items such as income, expenses, and distributions. With ledger profiles, you can update the account in the line item's start and end accounts, and can update the formulas that include that account in calculations. This allows reports that you generate to display the custom accounts. 

When you add a custom ledger account, also consider how it affects the year end closeout process. The ledger transfer profile defines the required posting rules. Determine whether you need to edit the ledger transfer profile to reflect a new custom ledger account. For example, you can edit a source range to include custom ledger accounts that occur beyond the existing mapping range in the ledger transfer profile. 

About the Year End Closeout

You can use the Post Year End Closeout Entries panel to process the year end activity, or can set up a schedule to run this event. The system rolls up activity at the security and ledger level to an offsetting account balance sheet account. This process uses the fiscal end date specified at the entity level. 

The next few figures show a simplified example of this process. The following figure shows the trial balance prior to the closeout. 

Trial Balance Report - Pre Closeout Example

The next figure shows how entries close out to the Accumulated Undistributed Income Account. 

Trial Balance Report - Closeout Example

The last figure shows entries made to the ledger (debits and credits) in the Accounting Journal report. Note that the entries post to the first open period. 

About Month End Processing Funds and the Year End Closeout

For funds that use month end processing in Eagle Accounting, the year end close process works in a slightly different manner. The system closes out ledger entries based on the monthly accounting date rather than based on the accounting date. The system closes out ledger balances based on a Monthly Accounting Date equal to or less than the fiscal year end date. 

When you set the Month End Processing Indicator (tag 9697) option for a fund to Yes, and you process monthly ledger balances for a fund, the year end closeout process closes out activity with the Monthly Accounting Date in the year for which you perform the closeout, even though the Accounting Date may occur after the year end date. The year end process transfers the Income Gain/Loss, and Expense balances to the Capital account with an Accounting Date equal to the Accounting Date of the original activity and the Month End Date equal to the first date of the next fiscal year. After you process the year end close, if any backdated activity is posted with the previous qualifying condition, the system moves the balances automatically when you rerun the Populate Monthly Ledger Balance event. 

About Mutual Funds and Year End Closeouts

As a general rule, Cap Stock accounts do not close out in Eagle's accounting solution. When you use Control Center, the selection of schedules determines how and when periods close.

About the Equity Method of Accounting and Year End Closeouts

In Eagle's investment accounting solution, you can use the equity method of accounting to account for investments in partnerships, limited liability companies, joint ventures, and significant investments in common stocks. For information about year end closeouts, see About Year-End Closeouts for the Equity Method of Accounting.

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