This article applies as follows:
To the Suppliers and Customers modules.
If you use the Date Based Attaché accounting method.
It is important to only use this article if you use the Date-Based method. If you are unsure which method you use in the above modules (they can use different methods), refer to Date or Period Based accounting in Attaché.
When a document arrives, or a transaction needs to be recorded that is late:
A document is late when it is dated in a prior reporting period or prior year.
And the transaction needs to be reported in that prior period for Accounting, Audit or GST purposes and so cannot be recorded in the current period/month/year.
Late transactions occur when:
the documentation for them is delayed which prevents them from being entered in Access Attaché.
an error is made, such as a procedure being missed, the document being misplaced or delayed internally, etc.
Holding a year open in Date Based
For any business, it is important to record all transactions for a reporting period / GL Period / set of Financial Reports.
To do this in date based is easy because you simply date the transactions as per the document or the date on your bank statement, etc. The transaction is then posted to the relevant GL Period which updates the financial report for the period.
However, End of Year is slightly different. End of Year involves creating a History Company and then rolling the GL. This means that transactions that relate to prior years (a History Company) cannot automatically update the report. Therefore, at End of Year it is best to hold off End of Year (rolling the GL) to allow time for as many transactions as possible for the closing year to be entered. This is done simply to ensure that your history company is as complete as possible. Also, because to enter transactions in the current year is the easiest method, whereas to post to the prior year involves extra steps.
With Date Based, you don't need to hold off End of Year. You could run End of Year on the first day of your new financial year if you wanted or needed to. The downside is that you'll probably have more late arriving transactions to record.
Where to enter late transactions
All transactions entered to modules, such as Customers and Suppliers, must ALWAYS be entered in your LIVE company. NOT your History Company. This is because your Live Company should always be the company you are paying your Suppliers from, doing your Bank Reconciliations in, etc.
In your history company you should only enter GL entries and Asset Management transactions such as:
General Journals.
Receipts and Payments Journals.
Journals From Other Modules.
Any Asset Management transaction.
GL entries will update closing GL balances in your History Company, which are then imported into your Live Company. However, anything entered in a sub-module in your History Company will NOT carry forward to the sub-module in your live company. Hence the above note. Asset Management is the exception to this if the 'copy data' process is used.
📌Note: the above rule also applies to Products. All Product transactions must only be entered in the Live company.
How to enter late arriving transactions (within a GL year live company)
If the transaction is for the same financial year, but for a prior Financial Report. Simply enter the transaction with the date on the document. Your reports will automatically be updated when you run them.
If the transaction is for a prior financial year, but you want to take it up in this year:
Enter the document using the date from last financial year as it appears on the document.
Manually post the document to the Live company.
IF you use Automated GL Postings:
Check General Ledger, Transactions, Automated Postings, Transactions Pending.
select the transaction and then select the period to post to in the Live Company.
IF you do NOT use Automated GL Postings:
firstly, print your Other Modules Posting Report for the date of the document, check only entries relating to the document are included, then save the report.
Go to Post from Other Modules in the Live Company.
Select the period you want to post to in the Period Number field.
Post transactions using a date range of only the document date.
How to enter late arriving transactions (for a prior GL year history company)
In Date Based it is easy to enter late arriving transactions. For example, a late arriving Supplier Invoice:
Enter the supplier invoice in your LIVE company, as you normally would.
Ensure you enter the date as it appears on the document, ie: dated in the last financial year.
Go to General Ledger, Reports, Transactions, Other Modules Posting Rpt.
Print the report to screen for a Date Range of Last Financial Year for the Suppliers module (in our example).
Check that only transactions that should be posted to the Last Year company have displayed in the report.
Output the report to pdf and file with your End of Year workpapers.
Open your History Company.
Go to General Ledger, Transactions, Other Modules, Post from Other Modules.
The Period Number would generally be left as the last period, typically 12.
Tick From Other Company.
Select you Live company in Other Company.
Select the Module you wish to post.
Select Adjust Supplier Settings.
Fill in the lower section, most importantly the Date Range, so that only Last Year transactions will be posted.
Accept F9 to Post.
Open you Live company, use the following article to import Opening Balances: Import opening balances after entering last year adjustments.