Close the month with your accountant

It is the first week of a new month at Groupe Gbaguidi, and the month that just ended must be closed. Mahougnon Tossou, the group’s accountant, wants to give Sèdjro Gbaguidi a month that is checked, reconciled with the bank, declared for VAT and locked, so that nobody changes it afterwards. This journey follows Mahougnon on the group’s own books, in the organization space. The same steps apply to any business that closes its books each month, whether an owner or an accountant does the work.

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Check before you work

Are the books ready? Mahougnon starts with Check accounting setup. It reports what would stop automatic postings: a missing account link, no open period for today, no current fiscal year or a currency that does not match. He runs it first because a problem found now is cheaper than one found after the closing. See Set up the books.

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Reconcile the bank

The statement. The bank sends the statement of the group’s money account. Mahougnon records it with Add a bank statement, with the opening balance, the closing balance and the lines. The matching. He runs Auto-match bank statement. Exowpee pairs the lines that have the same amount and direction, dated at most 5 days apart. The lines without a counterpart stay for him. Nothing is posted: matching only marks lines as explained. The close. When every line is matched and the balances agree, he closes the statement with Close a bank statement. A cheque the group issued and the bank has not yet paid can stay outstanding, it does not block the close. Once reconciled, the statement cannot be edited, and its matches cannot be undone. See Reconcile bank statements.

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Tidy the open items

Customers and suppliers. On a third-party account, payments and invoices are still unpaired. Mahougnon runs Match lines automatically on the account. Lines with the same reference that balance are matched first, then pairs of equal amounts. What does not match stays open. Only accounts whose code starts with 4 can be matched. See Match open items.

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Declare VAT

The preview. The month has ended, so it can be declared. Mahougnon looks at the position with Preview a VAT declaration. Nothing is recorded, and the same checks apply as for the declaration. The declaration. The figures are right, so he records it with Declare VAT for a period. Exowpee posts one entry at the end of the period that clears the VAT collected and VAT deductible accounts, and moves the balance to VAT payable or to the credit carried forward. A month with no VAT movement is still declared, with no entry. See Declare VAT.

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Lock and hand over

The last look. He reads the trial balance of the month with View trial balance, after the declaration so that its entry is included. See Accounting reports. The lock. With Close a fiscal period, he closes the month. Entries dated in it are refused from now on. No action reopens it, so he closes it only when the checks are done. See Fiscal years and periods. The files. He generates the audit file of the year with Generate an accounting export, and gives a person outside the group, such as an auditor, a link with Share an accounting export. The link lasts 7 days unless he chooses 1 to 30. The secret is shown once, so he copies it at once. See Export and share accounting files.

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The rules

• Every accounting action needs the accounting module in the organization’s plan. Mahougnon also needs an access grant on the book.
• Bank statements are for the organization’s own book only, and for an active bank money account linked to the books. A statement with a line left unmatched, or with balances that do not agree, cannot be closed.
• A VAT declaration needs a period that has ended, in an open fiscal year. Periods are declared oldest first, and a period is declared only once. Only the latest declaration can be cancelled, and only while its fiscal year is open.
• A period closes only when every earlier period of the book is closed. For the last period of a year, the previous year must be closed and its result allocated if it was not zero.
• The trial balance needs a fiscal year or a fiscal period: a range of dates alone is refused.
• The audit file includes entries of every status, reversals included. The annual statements file needs statements already filed for the year.
• Only the fingerprint of the secret is kept. A lost link cannot be read again: create another one.

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All the steps