Sage 50 Month End Close Checklist – Step By Step Guide

Updated On: October 16, 2024 7:27 am

Sage 50 Month End Close Checklist

Most regular Sage 50 users would agree that this accounting platform is quite date-sensitive. However, it has the option to record any transaction with a date within any of the 24 open periods as long as the user possesses the security permissions. In this case, the transaction dates determine which accounting period the transaction has been included within. There is no hard deadline for Sage 50 at the end of the month, but only at the end of the year starting from the first 12 periods. Following a Sage 50 Month End Close Checklist can help ensure that all necessary transactions are recorded correctly and on time.

Once the user attempts and is prevented from recording a transaction using a date before the start date of the first available period it implies that the period has been closed and cannot be reopened. When a transaction date is needed after the ending date of the last open period the close-year process should be run before future dates are allowed to be used. Also, the additional steps above those followed for a regular month-end are generally required before running the year-end close utility. Below are for Sage 50 Support Assistance:

Sage 50 Month End Close Checklist : The 13 Suggested Steps

Bear in mind that it is recommended for the user to record all the required transactions and close the year-end after the first 12-period tax return has been filed. The year-end close process is generally performed as the user draws close to the end of the 24th period. These transactions Include:

  • Client invoices
  • Customer cash receipts
  • Vendor invoices
  • Accounts Payable Checks
  • Inventory adjustments
  • Clearing unneeded Quotes
  • Time and Expense Slips
  • Assembly builds
  • Payroll checks
  • Transactions associated with Jobs
  • Closing Purchase Orders
  • Journal entries
  • Closed Sales Orders

The above stated are the basic steps outlining tasks to be completed to close the user’s month end in Sage 50. Next, you need to start with the below mentioned checklist of the steps and detailed information for every step. Lastly, you need to go through the frequently asked questions. There could be more steps that you might require to consider and include such as Work in Process, Customer and Vendor Deposits, Deferred revenue, retainage, asset depreciation and accrued expenses, and various others.

Month End Checklist

One can easily modify the JCS Excel according to the Sage 50 Month end close checklist and add the items that you require or remove items that you do not need. This can result in a list of items that your business requires to take care of each month. One can also use this list to confirm that you are taking care of the required business tasks and that might be shared with managers and owners. Once the time allows, additional information will also be shared on these individual topics.

Likewise, a very important topic is the backup of your Sage 50 installation, company data files, forms, and attachments. Generally, this comprises a complete backup of your server performed periodically. Here you need to backup the Sage 50 company files, 3rd party add-ons, and custom reports. Once you have been hosted within the cloud, you need to ask your provider for a valid usable copy of all mission-critical company data files. This is an important step if you are about to close a month.

The Backups

Sage 50 backups are rather easy. To do this you need to:

  • Go to the task menu within Sage 50
  • select File
  • select Backup.
  • In the next window select to include your company name in the Sage 50 backup file name.
  • In addition, if you are using attachments you should include those as well.
  • Select the backup bar.
  • Within the last window select the secure path name where the backup file for Sage 50 will be placed on our workstation or server.
  • This backup file can only be read using the Sage 50 software WinZip will not decompress this into a usable file.
  • Select the path location the .ptb file will be placed in.
  • If you are using Sage Business Intelligence Reporting, this is a good time to also back up any custom BI reports from within the Report Manager module.

Step 1. Month End Reports

The month-end reports are the recommended reports that should be produced, printed to a PDF repository, and reviewed to make sure all the subsidiary report totals agree with the balances found in the balance sheet statement accounts or income statement. For this, you need to ensure that any reports with sensitive data have been placed within a highly secure location.

However, one major consideration is when the user is using more than one system to manage the operations of the business then, they, might be making journal entries into the general ledger to record the activity. When this happens the reports listed below might be produced from Sage 50 or any 3rd party add-on software system. Likewise, there could be reports maintained manually within Excel that should be included in your month-end checklist, quarter-end checklist, and year-end checklist. Also, the reports listed below should all be generated using the same period end date irrespective of where they are generated.

Sage 50 Financial Statements:

  • Income statement
  • Trial balance
  • Balance Sheet

Sage 50 Subsidiary reports:

  • Bank reconciliation (after the bank reconciliation has been completed)
  • Payroll Year-to-date earnings report looks at gross wages. If the fiscal year is calendar = the total gross wages expense account found on the income statement
  • There are a few other available reports that you may want to include on your checklist
  • Accounts receivable aging detail total = the Balance Sheet Accounts Receivable GL account
  • Vendor Accounts payable aging detail total = the Balance Sheet Accounts Payable GL account
  • Inventory valuation total = the Balance Sheet Inventory account

Step 2. Reconciling reports to the general ledger monthly

Most regular users might be knowing that the Sage 50 general ledger trial balance is one of the main reports to be used during the reconciliation process. Likewise, you can also use the Balance Sheet and/or the Profit and loss. So, you see, It is quite easy. The user can take each report mentioned from the subsidiary, take a look at the totals, and compare them against the period-ending balance within the financials to make sure the amounts are the same.

A basic review of the health of our accounting is simple to do

Before the user starts to close their Sage 50 Month they should audit the reports that they have printed and/or saved to PDF within the previous review step. The user might also want to review the Internal Accounting Review Report at this point to look for possible problems that require review. After the review has been completed and all the Sage 50 subsidiary reports have been reconciled to your financial statement balances, then you can go ahead to the next step which is the actual close.

Step 3. How to perform the Sage 50 close?

To perform that Sage 50 month-end close, once the user provides financial reports to an external Accountant or CPA at the end of each year to use as the basis of your tax return, request a list of adjustments that they have made before filing the company tax returns. These changes could be recorded as journal entries within your Sage 50 accounting software so that your Sage 50 financial balances agree to the balances submitted within your tax returns. After this has been completed the Sage 50 month-end close is easy.

In order to close the Sage 50 and navigate to the next accounting period you need to simply select the Period bar located within the left-hand upper corner and change to the next period or the user can also change the period by selecting the task instead of the system and later change accounting period off the upper taskbar. One must possess the appropriate user security settings to access this function.

Step 4. How do I know if my financials are correct?

The only manner to know this is to reconcile the financial statements over to the subsidiary information. The user might need more reports or steps on their list as compared to those mentioned in this post.

Step 5. What if my Sage 50 balances are not correct?

One should start by calculating the exact amount that they are out of balance. Take a look at the details to see if it is a single transaction or perhaps a rounding error.

Step 6. Monthly reports for Accountant or CPA

According to the frequency of financial reviews, the user can choose to offer copies of some or all the reports that have been generated or more than what is mentioned in this post. Generally, the accountant or CPA will offer guidance as to which reports they need. Having your subsidiary ledgers reconcile to the financial statements every month will save a lot of steps. If this has not been performed, then the user could end up having large periods where the system is not in balance. By measuring the financial system balances every month or on a more frequent basis correcting records not properly recorded will be minimal.

Step 7. How to back up my Sage 50 data files?

To manually backup the Sage 50 company data files:

  • Start by selecting Sage 50 from the task menu
  • Now, select File
  • Next, select Backup.
  • Within the next window select to include your company name within the Sage 50 backup file name.
  • In addition, if you are using attachments you should include those as well.
  • Now, select the backup bar, and in the last window
  • select the secure path name where the backup file for Sage 50 will be placed on our workstation or server.
  • If you are using a hosting service discuss how they will also provide backup services.

Online Backups

Also, the optional Automated Backups can be set up, as the Sage 50 does not require to be open for the automatic backups to complete successfully. The backups from the server should be run for the following reasons: Windows should be logged in to the computer that created the backup configuration file. All the users should be logged out or the user should enable the Log Out Users before running the backup. Once the users have been signed into the Sage 50 company at the scheduled backup time and this option is not enabled the backup will not proceed.

It is also advised to save the backups onto a secured specific folder for backup files. You also need to periodically backup this folder back to an off-site location or external drive to avoid any data loss, in case of any hardware failure or a natural disaster. When you wish to view the log of automatic backups the user can browse to the folder where the backup configuration file (.PTC) has been saved. After this, you must open the .txt file with the same name. It is also important that any automatic backups should be monitored to ensure that the backup is taking place.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):

What are the basic problems during the close of Sage 50 Accounting?

This process mainly needs to be completed each month.

It is not fun to close the monthly books in Sage 50 Accounting? Also can’t I just skip this step?

Bear in mind that while the close process can seem routine, it is important for the business.

How long does the Sage 50-month end generally take?

Some of the considerations depend on how large the company data files are, how fast your computer is, and if you manage your time efficiently and are well organized the month-end close for Sage 50 might go very quickly.

Related Posts

Further Reading