Month End: Add Manual Journal Entries and Close Periods (Video)

Walkthrough of the Month End screen and closing process in the EMDECS full accounting system.

1 Introduction

This article and video provide a walkthrough of the Month End screen and closing process in the EMDECS full accounting system.  From Month End you can add manual journal entries, close/open monthly periods, and generate depreciation.

2 Month End Walkthrough Video

3 Access Month End Screen

To access month end controls, open the Financials menu and select Month End .

4 Manual Journal Entry Tab

The Month End screen opens to the Manual Journal Entry tab. Manual journal entries are used to add journal entries that are not created by transactions in EMDECS.  For example, you may need to add a journal entry for monthly banking fees, payroll, or to made a manual adjustments to an account (i.e.you need to reduce your inventory asset account by $500 due to theft or damaged inventory).

Prior month end adjustments can be searched using the Search field, and filtered by source and the Include Posted Batches checkbox.

4.1 Add Manual Journal Batch

1. The first step in adding manual journal entries is to create a new batch which will contain the manual journal entries.  Click Add Manual Journal Batch .
   
   
   
2. Enter a description, date, and select a source from the drop-down list. Click Save / Exit .
   

3. 4.1.1 Add New Source

   1. If you need to add a new source category, click Add New .
      
      
      
   2. Enter a code and description for the new source, then click Save / Exit .
      
      
      
4. A new batch number will be added to the list.  With it highlighted, click Add Manual Journal Entry to add a journal entry to the batch.
   

5. 4.1.2 Add Manual Journal Entry

   A Manual Journal Entry screen will pop-up.  The date, GL account, description, and division must be filled in as required fields, then enter the appropriate debit / credit amount.
   
   The Entry Control Options in the bottom pane are optional - unless your system has been configured to require specific fields.  These may be useful if you do reporting or analysis of manual journal entries by specific locations, warehouses, customers, etc.
   
   Click Save / Exit at the bottom of the screen to save the journal entry.
   
   
   
6. The manual journal entry will be added to the list in the bottom pane.
   
   
   
7. Repeat the Add Manual Journal Entry steps 5 and 6 to add additional manual journal entries.
   
   
   
8. After all entries have been added, and the debits and credits are balanced, click on the Post button to post the manual journal batch.
   

4.2 Un-Post or Reverse a Manual Journal Batch

1. To review or make changes to posted journal batches, put a check next to Include Posted Batches.
   
   
   
2. Posted batches can be un-posted (if they have not yet been journalized) or reversed by clicking the Un-Post or Reverse buttons.  Un-post re-opens the manual journal batch so you can make changes to it (provided the period is not closed).  Reverse creates a new batch with opposite entries to cancel out the original batch (if a period is closed, for example, and you want to reverse instead of re-opening periods to un-post).
   
   
   
3. When reversing a journal batch, a pop-up window will prompt you to enter the date for the reversal.  Optionally, you can check the option to Automatically Post Reversal, then click Reverse.
   

5 Generate Depreciation Tab

The Generate Depreciation tab is only applicable if you use our Asset Depreciation module.  If applicable, select a year from the drop-down list, then click the Generate buttons to calculate/generate depreciation for the highlighted period.

6 Close / Open Months Tab

Months can be closed and re-opened from the Close / Open Months tab.  Before closing a month, ensure that you have invoiced all repairs, counter sales, POs, etc. for the month, and generate all journal batches prior to closing. 

Depending on your monitor size and screen resolution, you may need to use the horizontal scroll bars at the bottom of each section to view all of the available columns.

Follow these steps to close / open months:

1. Ensure that the correct Year is selected from the drop-down list at the top.
   
   
   
2. Close and Open buttons are listed for each period/month for the selected year.  Click on the appropriate button to close or open a month.
   
   
   Note that periods must be closed in chronological order.  To re-open closed periods, work in reverse chronological order (i.e. you cannot re-open the month of March if April is closed).
   
   
3. On the right-hand side, users can individually close and re-open specific types and groups of invoices within the period.  It is not necessary to close or open individual types and groups. This section is mostly used for troubleshooting errors.  Closing or re-opening periods in the main pane on the left-hand side automatically takes care of individual transaction types.
   
   
4. If there are errors when attempting to close a month, use the View button in the Closing Errors column to view the error message.
   
   
5. An example of a closing error is displayed below.  If you are unsure how to resolve a closing error, please contact our customer experience team at help@brightorder.com or call us at 1-877-205-8817.
   
   
   After all the months for your accounting year have been closed, you can close the year.