Why the Fiscal Year Close in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 Is So Important, and How to Get It Right

When a company finalizes its accounts for a particular year using Microsoft Dynamics AX and doesn't want to make any further changes in that year, it can then close that year by using 'Fiscal Year Close'.

At that point, the records of that year will be available only for view. No more changes are possible in that year. If you have filed your returns for any particular year and don't need to make any changes, you can close that year.

You can close individual years only serially. i.e., the record of the first financial year will be closed first and then the next. You can't close a recent year if any of the previous years is not closed.

But, not surprisingly, it's all more complicated than that. Here are suggestions to close the previous fiscal year and prepare for the new one:

Pre-Requisites

1.    Complete month-end and other period closings in all modules other than General ledger.
2.    Reconcile the modules and the ledger.
3.    Print the Trial balance, Account statement, Financial statement, and required reconciliation reports.
4.    Set appropriate periods to Stopped for the current fiscal year.
5.    Update the company currency value of balances and transactions in foreign currencies in ledger accounts with current exchange rates in the Exchange adjustment form.
6.    Click General ledger > Periodic > Sales tax payment > Sales tax payment to calculate the sales tax that is due for a specific period.
7.    Back up your company's data.

Related General Ledger Parameters for Fiscal Year Close:

Delete close-of-year transactions during transfer:
If this check box is selected, opening transactions and system-generated closing transactions that exist for the year to be closed are deleted when the transfer is processed again (process is repeated), in the Opening Transactions form.
So with this selection, you can process the transfer multiple times, if needed, while Opening entry will be only one.
It may be noted that, after you post the final closing adjustments, you can use the Opening transactions form to generate new opening balances that contain the sum of the original opening balance. Several opening transactions now can exist on a single account.

Create closing transactions during transfer:

If this check box is selected, the system creates closing transactions when running the Opening Transactions job. In that case, the system posts closing transactions to all profit and loss accounts and all balance accounts, although Opening Transactions are posted on balance accounts only.

Set period status to year closed:

If this check box is selected, the system displays a status of year closed for all fiscal periods for the year that is being closed (when you run the Opening Transactions job). Care should be taken while selecting this check box, as you may have to run Opening Transactions job several times.

Voucher number must be filled in:

If this check box is selected, a voucher number must be entered when opening transactions are created for a new fiscal year.
Limited number of open fiscal years:
Enter the number of open fiscal years you want to have in the system. So if the number of the currently open fiscal years plus the new fiscal year (that you just have created) will exceed this number, an error message is displayed and the new fiscal year is not created.
Note: For this purpose a fiscal year is not open if it has the status year closed in periods form.

Modules Closing:

1.    Post all open journal vouchers for the  year in all relevant modules
2.    Complete any batch posting routines in Accounts receivable and Accounts payable.
3.    Calculate interest.
4.    Create collection letters.
5.    Process exchange adjustments in the Exchange adjustment form.
6.    Process payment jobs in Accounts receivable and Accounts payable.
7.    Complete closing and adjustment processes in Inventory management.
8.    Post and adjust Project transactions.
9.    You also can print reports, such as account statements and aging reports.
10.  You should also reconcile your bank accounts

Procedure to Close Fiscal Year:

Create new fiscal year

The first step in the year-end closing process is to create a new fiscal year. It is important because the year-end close usually does not occur immediately and you can enter the next year's transactions even if the previous year has not been closed.
You can create the new year by clicking General Ledger >> Setup >> Periods and then create a new Fiscal year.

Control transactions in a closing period

It is necessary to control or stop transactions from updating the ledger accounts during the closing process. When a period is closed, the system displays a warning message that requires a confirmation to indicate the period actually should be closed because the action is irreversible.

Steps to stop or close a period:

1.                Click General Ledger >> Setup >>  Periods >> Periods
2.                Click the period to edit, and then drop down the status field
3.                Select either stop or close in the status field. By setting a  period to stopped in order to stop the postings in that periods.
Note: Keep in mind that you can reopen a stopped period but you cannot reopen a closed period

Change Module status in a period

During the closing period you should close all the modules in order to stop postings from the modules or you can allow specific user groups to enter transactions and leave the period open.

Steps to change the module status in a period

1.                Click General Ledger >> Setup >> Period >> Periods
2.                Click the period to edit and then click the module status tab
3.                In the module status field, specify either none if you want to deny everyone to access the selected module or user group if your want to give access to a specific user group.

Create a closing sheet

You should print the trial balance in order to look for any variations and make adjustments before closing the period. You can either use general journal entries for the adjustment or you can use the closing sheet.
o       Closing sheet shows an advanced view of the balances on accounts, and you can perform year-end posting directly from it.
o       The postings to it typically occur in the closing period of the fiscal year.
o       You can create several specific closing sheets for revenue, expenses and so on and then load the balances from the General Ledger into the closing sheet. After you load the transactions, make transfers from once account to another.
o       Closing sheet resembles a journal because you can create as many new closing sheets as needed.
Steps to create Closing Sheet
o       Click the general Ledger >> Periodic >> Fiscal year close >> Closing Sheet.
o       Press Ctrl + N to create a new record
o       Specify a unique identifier ( id ) in the closing sheet field and a Name
o       Select the posting layer for the closing sheet
o       Select the period code either Normal or Closing. In the closing sheet, you cannot make transactions to the opening period because it is used for the beginning balances.
Functions you can perform from the closing sheet

Define Dates:

Define dates is used for entering the date ranges for the closing sheet. On the general tab of the close form, enter the start date of the Fiscal year closing in the From field and the end date of the fiscal year in the To field. Enter post date of the transactions. It is the date on which the transactions would be posted in the system.
Load Balances:
Follow these steps to load the account balances into the closing sheet             
1.    From the close form click the Closing accounts button
2.    Click the load balances button to identify the accounts to include. The system totals all the transactions in each account when balances load from a company.
3.    Click the select button to select specific ledger accounts.
4.    Click OK when you select the ledger accounts to transfer into the worksheet. This process may take time depending upon the number of transactions in the database.

Make adjustments or transfers between accounts:

This process is used to make any adjustments or transfer between the accounts
1.    From the closing accounts form, select an account, and then click the Transfers button to make adjustments or transfers between ledger accounts after the balances are transferred into the work sheet.
2.    Enter the description in the Transaction text field
3.    Enter an amount, and the Offset Account to transfer the amount to
4.    After you add all the transfers for the selected account, close the form

Post the closing sheet:

After the transfers and adjustments are complete, click the post button from the closing account form to post the closing sheet. The closing sheet only posts to the closing period. Also run reports and verify results before you close the period and transfer the ending balances into the new year as opening balances. To post the closing sheet you must open the closing period in the periods form.

Transfer opening balances

In the opening transactions process
o       The system creates a line for the opening transaction which makes up the opening balance for the new year.
o       The system also creates a transaction for each currency and dimension. It is necessary to maintain this to keep statistics and financial reporting. You can transfer balances as frequently as needed during the year-end close process.
Steps to transfer the opening balances:
1.    Click General Ledger, click periodic, click Fiscal year close, and then click Opening transactions
2.    Enter the end date of the fiscal year
3.    Profit and loss accounts are always reset by the system. You must specify the transfer method for the balance sheet accounts. In the balance accounts fields, you should specify one of the following two options:
    * Reset:  Reset the balance accounts and enters the opening balances for the balance sheet accounts manually.
    * Closing > Opening: continues with the balance sheet accounts, and has the opening transactions created automatically by the system.
4.    Enter the account for transfer of year-end result in the system account.
5.    Enter the voucher number for the opening transactions that are created automatically.
6.    Click OK when all the fields are entered. This process may take several minutes, depending on the amount of data. When the process is complete, check the account balances or print the Trial balance.

You can run the year-end job as many times as needed. The opening balances will update correctly. If the chart of accounts for the new year differs from the previous year, you can create the opening transactions directly on the new accounts. This is made possible through the option to setup a different opening account for each account on the Chart of Accounts.