• Year end close
  • Year end close options
  • Retained earnings account distribution
  • Perform a year end close
  • Select items to roll forward

Perform a year end close

At the end of the fiscal year, you can perform a year end close on your Working Papers file to carry forward the closing balances into a new file. The closing year balances become the prior year balances in the new file.

By performing a year end close, you can roll forward the following information from the file:

• Documents and attached issues (that are set to roll forward)
• Closing and custom balances
• Budgets and forecasts

Prerequisites:

• If the file is protected, you must have the Year End Close and Roll Forward group right.

  Note: Protected files will roll forward user and group assignments into the next year file.

• You should perform a cleanup prior to a year end close to ensure that the next year file only contains necessary information.
• You must synchronize and delete all child copies of the file before performing a year end close.
• If you intend to roll forward into a file with the same name as the file you are closing, the new file will overwrite the closed file. We suggest that you back up the file prior to closure.

To perform a year end close:

1. In Working Papers, open the file that you want to close.
2. On the ribbon, click Engagement | Year End Close. The Year End Close and Roll Forward dialog displays.
3. In the File to be Used for Next Year group, select the location where you want to create the next year file, then assign the new file a name. If you're closing into the same file or an existing file, click Browse and select the file.
4. Select the applicable roll forward options and content to include in the next year file. Click OK.

The file is closed and a new file is created. In the new file, you should verify that the reporting dates have been incremented correctly and that the opening balance agrees with the prior year closing balance.

Perform a multiple year end close

If you want to work on the next year file but the prior year file is not yet complete, you can perform a multiple year end close. Performing a multiple year end close after the initial year end close will update the prior year balance in the client file.

Note: You cannot perform a multiple year end close on SmartSync or Cloud files unless you clear the synchronization information from the parent file first.

To perform a multiple year end close:

1. Perform a year end close on the prior year file to create the next year file.
2. When the prior year file is complete, update the next year file by performing a year end close again on the prior year file.
3. In the Year End Close and Roll Forward dialog, in the File to be Used for Next Year group, Browse for the next year file.
4. Select the applicable roll forward options and content to include in the next year file. Click OK.

The changes made to the prior year file roll forward into the next year file.

Perform a bulk year end close in Tracker

You can perform a bulk year end close on multiple Working Papers files using CaseWare Tracker. Each file can be assigned unique naming conventions, file paths, and year end close and roll forward options, so you can ensure your new files are properly prepared for the next year.

To perform a bulk year end close in Tracker:

1. In Tracker, click the applicable view to display a list of your organization's Working Papers files.
2. Select a file, or hold CTRL on your keyboard and click each of the files where you want to perform a year end close.
3. Right-click one of the selected files, then click Year End Close.
4. The Year End Close dialog displays with a list of the files to close. If required, you can manually change the file name and path for each next year file under the Next year's file column. Note that the file name cannot contain the characters \, /, :, *, ?, ", <, > or |.

5. Complete any additional options as required.

   Option	Description
   New file name	Use the client number from the engagement properties: Select to automatically generate the next year file name based on the client number in the file's Engagement Properties. Use the operating name from the engagement properties: Select to automatically generate the next year file name based on the operating name in the file's Engagement Properties. Keep the current file name: Select to use the existing file name for the next year file.
   Year end date in the file name	Prepend the file name with the year end date: Select to attach the year end date to the beginning of the next year file name. A drop-down menu displays where you can specify the date format to use. Do not include the year end date: Do not attach the year end date to the next year file name. Append the file name with the year end date: Select to attach the year end date to the end of the next year file name. A drop-down menu displays where you can specify the date format to use.
   Publish the next year's file	Select to publish the next year file to a SmartSync Server. Click the Publish icon to reconfigure the server and location if required.

6. Click Start to begin the year end close process. The status of each file will display under the Result column. Hover your cursor over the icons to see more information.

Each successful file is closed and a next year file is created. In the next year files, you should verify that the reporting dates have been incremented correctly and that the opening balance agrees with the prior year closing balance.