Month end

Make sure all required transactions have been done.

When doing a month end make sure that you are the only user in the system in other words nobody else should be using any of the other terminals !! If transactions are made after month-end procedures have been started, some of the reports may not be accurate.

When this option is selected a month end check list will be displayed:

R(eceipts

Q(uit for daily archive (if finance charges are to be processed)

F(inance charges (optional)

S(tatements (if required)

Q(uit for monthly archive

C(ontrol account (IMPORTANT)

D(ebtors ledger (if statements were printed)

O(verdue report & letter (optional)

M(onth-end clear

L       Go through this checklist carefully from the top.

There may be other reports that you require as at month end, but, except for inventory value reports (which are too lengthy to report monthly) all other reports, such as sales analysis and transaction journals, can be printed any time later without losing accuracy.

Inventory values as at month end are automatically calculated and recorded for the general ledger when Month-End Clear is performed. (See chart on next page)

Month end before calendar last day of month

The Jewellery Shopkeeper allows you to do a month end before calendar month end and start the new month before the calendar month.

You can now specify the day as well as the month to end. If you specify say the 25/05/98 as the month end date, the computer will allow you to start the month of November from the 26/05/98.

Do consider carefully all the implications of this practice. For example - the Ad Valorem sales report will start before the month-end and end before the next calendar month-end - Will the customs allow this or will you need special permission?

Banking deposits done after the computer month-end but before the calendar month-end will show on your bank statement as an "early" deposit (opposite of the more usual "late" deposit) unless you read your bank statement to the same month-end date as your debtors.

Financial year end is always (?) at the end of the relevant calendar month, and with this in mind, the early month-end is not effective at financial year end. (The computer will point this out to you if you try to month-end early on year-end month.)

Between the early start of the next month, and the beginning of the new calendar month, not all reports will work correctly. For example, reports that search through all months up to the current, such as reconciliation statements, will think that the current month is the month before and will skip the actual prior month. For example, if the month was ended as at the 25/05/98 then on the 29/05/98 you ask for a report for May '98 will actually report the new (June '98) data.

Known traps are:

The only work-around at present is to change the current date to the 1st of the next month. However, it is known that the VAT detailed analysis will work correctly under these circumstances.

If using the system for real-time point-of-sale operation, you can always run your month-end on a week end - thus ensuring no down time and no late nights.

Another trap to beware, if you try to reconcile the bank to the actual month-end, then any deposits made between the sales month-end and the calendar month-end will be the opposite of "unpaid deposits"- in other words they will be "early deposits" and the total of these early deposits must be entered as a negative amount when prompted for "unpaid deposit" in the bank reconciliation report.