Ascente and Traverse Year End Procedures

The following
procedures are an outline of the steps required for both Calendar Year End
Closing (12/31) and Fiscal Year End Closing (which may or may not be the same).
If you have not purchased the module listed, or are not using the module, you
do not need to do anything for that module (the exception to this is General
Ledger). Modules are listed in the recommended order of completion. For more
detailed information, please refer to the on-line help (F1).

Year End
Update Installation

We will need to access your server to install the final
Traverse – Year End updates that are typically made available a few weeks into
December.

·
We will be contacting you to schedule this
installation. You can also contact us to get this scheduled.

·
We will need to know the following information:

o
Do you process payroll checks in Traverse?

o
If you do, when will the last payroll of the
year be processed?

o
When will the first payroll of the new year be
processed?

o
Do you process 1099’s in Traverse?

·
Please address any issues that would prevent us
from being able to remotely access your server. Obviously, if we can’t access
your server, we will not be able to install the necessary updates to do
processing in 2018.

Regular
Month End Processing

·
It is assumed that you are still completing your
normal month end processing for all the Ascente & Traverse modules.

·
It is assumed that you are also completing your
normal quarter end processing for the modules that have quarterly processing
requirements such as payroll or sales tax reporting.

·
Some of the items on the checklists may already
be part of your regular month end processing routine in the different modules.

Database Backups

·
It is assumed that you are doing regular
database backups for Ascente and Traverse and all the steps below.

·
Database backups are your responsibility. We are
glad to assist you with this if you have any questions regarding backups.

·
You should keep an offsite copy of your database
backups. Cloud backups are an example of this.

·
We recommend that you complete a database backup
prior to completing the following processing.

·
You should make a copy of the final Ascente and
Traverse database backup and copy it to your final Year End directory just in
case you ever need to restore the database for the year being closed.

·
Some of the year end processing will make
permanent changes that can’t be reversed. This will result in reports not being
able to be reprinted after the year end processing has been done. Therefore,
you need to print and save your yearend reports as mentioned above.

Management Reports

There are many
yearend and management reports mentioned in the following modules. These can be
very long reports. We recommend that you always preview these first and output
them to a PDF file and save the PDF files in a special directory for the fiscal year end reports
that you can access and view when necessary. You can of course also print the
reports you determine are necessary. See the PDF Document Retention section below.

PDF Document Retention

·
You need to save the PDF files you create in a
common directory that all required operators can access.

·
You need to be sure that these files are
backed-up.

·
You need to treat these reports with the
importance of all other yearend reports. Many of these can’t be recreated.

·
You should review this with your IT person if
you have any doubts that it is being done correctly.

·
Here is a video link discussing this.

Year End Processing Resources

·
Compusource Website: www.compusource.com and servicecontractorsoftware.com

·
Year End Procedures: Link

·
Year End Processing – Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQ) Link

·
Training Videos: Link

Ascente

Payroll

Service / Job Cost – Timecard Processing

Complete the
following special steps if using Timecard Entry:

Ascente Mobile Pro Considerations

If Ascente Mobile Pro is used and you
have your technicians enter timecard records on their mobile device, all
labor hours for the year being closed need to be synced to Ascente and
the timecard records.

Enter all Timecard transactions for the
old payroll year and then register and update.

DO
NOT enter any transactions for the new year until ALL the following steps
are completed! Note that you can enter transactions with a work date
in a different calendar year than the payroll year.

IMPORTANT:
The transactions must be posted to the payroll year in which the check
date will fall. For example: If the work date was 12/28/17, but won’t be
paid until 1/05/18 then this transaction needs to be posted to payroll
year 2018.

Work Date refers to the date the
employee performed the labor.

Payroll Year refers to the year the
transactions will be paid and reported on a W2.

Fiscal Year refers to your General
Ledger reporting year, which may be different than a calendar year.

Complete the Traverse Payroll Year End
procedures.

In Ascente, click on File / Change Payroll Year, and set the
Payroll Year to the new year. This must be done for every individual user
that does Timecard Entry.

If the new payroll year does not
exist, call Compusource Support to assist with this.

Start Entering Timecards for the new
year. When doing this, BE SURE
the “Current Payroll Year” on the screen is the new payroll year.

Ascente

Service Dispatch

Complete all Service billing for the
year being closed in Ascente and post the batches in Traverse.

Job Cost

Apply all Job Cost costs in Ascente for
the year being closed.

Complete all Job Cost billing for the
year being closed in Ascente and post the batches in Traverse.

Only if you do have Use Tax Costs that
you need on your job cost reports, run the Periodic / Use Tax Postings
program. I DO NOT recommend you run this program is you have never done
this before. This program is not used by many companies. This should be a
monthly process if you do this.

Only if you do work in process accounting, complete the Complete Job Cost –
Periodic / Relieve Work in Process processing for the year being closed in
Ascente. This should be a monthly process if you do this.

Optionally, you can export to PDF files or print any year end job cost reports you that you
believe might be necessary. These can be huge reports so preview first if
you are going to print them.

Ascente

System Transaction Numbers

Branch Records: After Yearend
Processing is Done and Before Starting for the New Year

Some companies like
to have their system assigned transaction codes reference the year of business.
These transaction ‘Next Transaction #’s’ are determined by the Ascente /
Service or Job Cost / Maintenance / Branch record(s). If your company does
that, you will want to edit all branch records to set the ‘Next Number’ to
reference the new year and restart from 0. I DO NOT recommend making these changes if you do not currently set
these to reference the year of business. This is just a reminder if you do.

Traverse

Accounts
Receivable

Year End Checklist

You should do all your standard
Accounts Receivable month end processing in addition to the following if
they have not already been done for the month/fiscal period:

Enter and post all transactions and
cash receipts for the year being closed.

This
should be a monthly process, only if you calculate finance charges and
has not been done this already:

Set the Traverse work station date
using the Traverse / File / Date function to change the workstation date
to a fiscal period in the fiscal year the finance charge revenue should
post to.

Calculate all finance charges for the
final period using the Calculate Finance Charges function on the Open
Invoices menu. This should be a monthly process you do. (This is optional
and only necessary if you do access finance charges for late receivables)

You will need to run the Traverse / AR
/ Periodic Processing / Periodic Maintenance to post the finance charge
revenue to the General Ledger. You should NOT select any of the ‘Delete’
or ‘Clear’ options.

Print customer statements using the AR
/ Open Invoices / Print Statements function on the Open Invoice menu for
the final period. (This is optional
and should be a monthly process)

Print and save the final Accounts
Receivable / Open Invoices / Aged Trial Balance Report for the year end
date.  Run this by the Fiscal –
Cutoff Date to reconcile to the General Ledger and they are balanced. (This is a recommendation, but not
required and should be a monthly process)

You can review and print the Traverse /
General Ledger / Interactive Views / Subsidiary Ledger Audit View. I
recommend that you save a copy of this. (This is recommended, but not required and should be a monthly
process)

These
reports are optional and not always done, but it is recommended that these
be output and saved to a PDF
file and saved. These can optionally also be printed and saved. Print the following reports
from the Management Reports menu:

The Customer Analysis Report to
identify sales and profit amounts, number of invoices and Average invoice
amounts for the period-to-date, quarter-to-date, and year-to-date, and
last year.

The Open Invoice Report to display the
amount due after you post transactions, customers that have open
invoices, and summary invoice information.

If you are using multi-currency, print
the Gains and Losses Report to reconcile any difference in currency to
the General Ledger. (The multi-currency feature is very rarely used)

The Detail History Report to view
posted transactions. You must elect to save history in Traverse - AR - Business Rules to print this report.

AR Analysis Report to analyze
receivables.

Sales Analysis Report to analyze sales
trends based on the last 12 months.

Customer Activity Report to identify
your top customers.

Customer Sales Report to view sales,
gross profit and average income amounts per customer.

Print the Tax Locations List from the
System Manager Tax Setup menu for a record of the accumulated sales and
use tax information for each tax location. This information is also
available in the Ascente / Service or Job Cost / Reports / Sales and use
Tax Report. If you don’t use this
report in Traverse, this may not be required, but you can still output
this to a PDF
file for your year end 2017 records.

Use the Clear Tax function on the Tax
Setup menu in System Manager to remove the accumulated sales tax at the
end of the tax reporting period. NOTE: Make sure you have printed a
current Tax Locations List because this function clears the accumulated
sales and use tax amounts and these values will no longer be available.

Ascente

Purchase
Order

Year End Checklist

Accounts Payable
processing for 1099’s is done on a calendar year (CY) basis and there are also
processing requirements for closing the accounts payable for a fiscal year
basis (FY) that may not be a calendar year. For that reason, all purchase order
transactions for the purchases need to be completed so that the accounts
payable processing for the year can be completed.

Enter all purchase order transactions
for year being closed.

Process all the purchase order receipts
for year being closed.

You can optionally run the Ascente /
Periodic / Move PO’s to History program for ‘Fully Received and Invoiced’
purchase orders as of the year end date. This step is not recommended or
required.

This step is not required, you can
optionally export to a PDF file or print the
following reports:

PO’s Not Received

PO’s Received Not Invoiced

Traverse

Accounts
Payable

Year End Checklist

Accounts Payable
processing for 1099’s is done on a calendar year (CY) basis and there are also
processing requirements for closing the accounts payable for a fiscal year
basis (FY).

Enter and post all payable transactions
and payments for the year being closed.

Print and save the final Accounts
Payable - Aged Trial Balance Report from the Management Reports menu to
reconcile your Accounts Payable GL account with the total on the report. I
recommend saving a PDF copy of this yearend report.

You can review and print the Traverse /
General Ledger / Interactive Views / Subsidiary Ledger Audit View. I
recommend that you save a copy of this. (This is recommended, but not required and should be a monthly
process)

Print or save to PDF file the following summary history reports from the
Management Reports menu. To print these reports, the option to save
purchase history must be selected in Traverse AP - Business Rules.

AP Analysis Report to analyze
payables.

Purchase Analysis Report to summarize
purchase trends based on the last 12 months.

Vendor Purchase History Report to show
the quantity purchased from vendors.

These reports are optional and not typically
done, but it is recommended that these be output and saved to a PDF file or printed and saved. Print the following reports from
the Management Reports menu:

Output to a PDF file or print the following detail history reports from
the Management Reports menu. The option to save summary and detail
purchase history must be selected in Traverse AP – Business Rules:

Payments History Report to list paid
invoices, check numbers, check dates, and payment types.

Vendor Activity Report to show how
often purchases were made from each vendor for the year.

Vendor Detail History Report to
display posted purchases and returns made to vendors during the year.

You can print 1099’s before or after
you run Period-End Maintenance. Simply select the calendar year to use
when printing the 1099 forms. It is recommended that you print a worksheet
first.

Verify limits in the 1099 Field
Indicators function on the Setup and Maintenance menu.

Manage 1099 Invoices

The Traverse / Accounts Payable /
Periodic Processing / Manage 1099 Invoices allows you to edit 1099 flag
and 1099 amount of individual paid invoice of 1099 vendor. This is done
if there are invoices flagged as 1099 invoices that should not be or
edit the invoice ‘1099 Amount’
if necessary.

1099 Processing (1099-MISC Form)

Use the Traverse / Accounts Payable /
Periodic Processing / 1099 Processing program to produce the 1099 forms
or magnetic media file.

Select the ‘Year’ that the 1099’s
are going to be generated for.

Select the ‘Bank Accounts’ of the
payments to be selected.

Click on the [Generate] button to
select the vendors for the 1099’s.

Click on the [Output / Worksheet]
option to generate a worksheet for you to review before printing the
1099’s. If there are issues that need to be addressed. Correct those
before printing the 1099’s.

▪
Edit the 1099 flag for the vendor’s if
necessary.

▪
Use the Traverse / Accounts Payable / Periodic
Processing / Manage 1099 Invoices program if necessary

Click on the [Output / Worksheet]
option to generate a worksheet for you to review before printing the
1099’s. If there are issues that need to be addressed. Correct those
before printing the 1099’s.

Click on the [Output / 1099-MISC
Forms] option to preview and print the 1099’s.

▪
We ALWAYS recommend printing to plain paper
before printing on the final forms. You need to verify the totals and alignment
before printing on the final forms.

▪
The [Page Setup] button  to adjust the printer margins to address any
alignment issues.

From the Preview, you can click on
the [Print] button  to print the 1099-MISC Forms.

Click on the [Output / 1096 Summary]
option generate the 1096 Summary Report.

Click on the [Output / Magnetic
Media] option Produce a file containing the 1099 information.

NOTE:
If the company is not on a calendar fiscal year, this step becomes part
of month-end for December.

Ascente

Inventory

Year End Checklist

Complete all inventory transactions for
the year being closed.

Complete all Inventory to Job Transfers
for the year being closed.

You can optionally perform a Physical
Inventory to load the current inventory quantity counts.

Here is a link to a video on the physical inventory process

Here is a link to a document on the physical inventory process

You can optionally preview and export
to a PDF file or print the following as of the yearend date:

Reports / Inventory Reports / Costed
Inventory Report

Traverse

Payroll

Year End Checklist

Post the payroll checks for the last
payroll cycle of the year.

Print and optionally save to PDF file the following Payroll - Quarterly
reports:

Earnings and Deductions Report

Leave Report

Withholding Report

Employer’s Tax Report

State Unemployment Report

FUTA Worksheet

941 Worksheet

Print and optionally save to PDF file the following Payroll - History reports:

Transaction History Report

Check History Report

Department History Report

(OPTIONAL BUT RECOMMENDED) Print or save
to PDF file any additional reports you may need.

Verify that any employee that has been
terminated has a termination date entered in their Employee Information
[Key Dates] tab, ‘Termination Date’ field.

Change payroll years using the Traverse
/ Periodic Processing / Change
Payroll Year function on the to switch to your new year.

If the new fiscal year is not on the
list, call Compusource to get this and the yearend updates installed.

Only if you use Payroll – Recurring
Entries:

Delete outdated recurring entries
using the Traverse / Payroll / Periodic Processing / Purge Recurring
Entries.

Only if you do leave accruals (vacation
and sick hours):

Consolidate sick and vacation balance
records using the Traverse / Payroll / Periodic Processing / Roll Up
Leave Balance function.

If you elected to have the system
accrue leave hours (vacation and sick hours)

Switch to the New Year files by
selecting Traverse / Payroll / Periodic Processing / Change Payroll Year
program.

If you want to clear vacation and sick
leave for the start of your new year, run the Traverse / Payroll /
Periodic Processing / Clear Leave Hours. Otherwise, manually update sick
and vacation hours in the New Year using the Traverse / Payroll /
Periodic Processing / Leave Adjustments program.

Verify that the federal, state, and
local tax tables and formulas are installed in the New Payroll Year by
using the Traverse / Payroll / Setup and Maintenance / Formula Tables
program. If the new year’s records do not exist, contact Compusource to obtain
the latest version of the state and federal tax routines.

NOTE:
After updating the tax tables for the new year, you must update the SUI
rate for your company. Go to Traverse / Payroll / Setup and Maintenance /
Formula Tables and look up your state code SUI. Example: California’s SUI
rate is stored under PCA_SUI

Verify that all rates or formulas that
are specific or unique to your company are correct before processing the
first payroll for the new payroll year.

If you have multiple Traverse
companies that process payroll checks, check all of them also before
proceeding to process your first payroll for the new year.

Make sure you are in your payroll new
year. Select the Traverse / Payroll / Periodic Processing / Change Payroll Year to see what
year appears in the box. If the New Year does not default into the box,
select the new year and change to your New Year, uncheck the box for this
workstation only to change all workstations to the new year.

When you are ready to prepare W-2’s,
run the Traverse / Payroll / Periodic Processing / W-2 Processing program.

Select the fiscal year for which you
want to generate the W-2 information from the Year field.

Click the [Generate] button to prepare
W-2 information using the selected criteria.

Click on the
[Output / Worksheet] button to generate a worksheet that lists W-2
information.

Optionally,
use the [Wage] button to edit the wage information for the selected
employee.

NOTE:
Any changes made will reflect on the W-2, but will not be reflected any
of the payroll history records or reports. This should only be used in
very special conditions.

Be sure to [Save] any changes were
made.

If you made any changes using the
[Wage] button:

Click on the [Output / Worksheet]
button to generate another worksheet that will list W-2 information and
should reflect the changes you made using the [Wages] button.

Do not proceed to print your W-2’s
until the totals on the worksheet report are correct. These are the
totals that do print on the W-2’s.

Print your W-2’s

Remember to print these on plain
paper first to verify results and alignment before printing on the final
forms.

NOTE:
There are no Traverse settings to adjust the print location for the
W2’s. This is determined by the printer settings.

Be sure to do a test print to plain paper
first, to ensure that the forms will line up.

If you need to make alignment
adjustments, you can first preview the forms and then select the ‘Page
Setup’ option. This will allow you to adjust the top/bottom and
left/right margins as necessary to align the form. It will probably
take a little trial and error before you get it right. You may want to
note the final settings for the next year.

Click on the [Output] button and then
either of the following as are appropriate to print your W-2’s:

W2-Forms Two Per Page

W2-Forms Four Per Page

W3-Summary

Magnetic Media

▪
Locate and W2Report file that was generated file
if filing electronically. Form Alignment.

Switch back to your new payroll year
using the Traverse / Payroll / Periodic Processing / Change Payroll Year to process payroll in the new payroll
year.

Traverse

General Ledger

Year End Checklist

Complete all posting in all other
accounting modules.

Complete all year end journal entries,
you can do this again later.

Run the Transaction Journals / Post to
Master and post all journals for the year being closed.

Print the Chart of Accounts list on the
Master Lists menu. Check the box to print the clear and consolidate
information. Once the list is printed verify the following information:

a.
The income statement accounts have an account
type between 500 and 890.

b.
The balance sheet accounts have an account type
between 005 and 465.

c.
If you determine that a GL account has an
incorrect ‘account type’, the ‘account type’ issue needs to be resolved before
proceeding. If a GL Accounts ‘account type’ is incorrect and needs to be
corrected, and if the ‘account type’ is being changed from a ‘debit balance’
account to a ‘credit balance’ account, contact Ascente Support to assist with
this correction. See the Traverse / General Ledger / Master Lists / Chart of
Accounts List to determine the ‘balance type’ of a GL account.

Use the Chart of Accounts function on
the Setup and Maintenance menu to edit incorrect setup information found
on the Chart of Accounts List if needed. If issues exist, it is typically
the new chart of account records added since last year that have the
issues.

Use the System Manager / Company Setup
/ Period Conversion function to set up periods for your
new year.

a.
If the fiscal year does not exist, type in the
new fiscal year and hit the [Tab] key.

b.

c.
You will be prompted with ‘Do you want to setup
periods for Company XXX, Year ####’. Click on the [Yes] button.

d.
You will then be prompted with an ‘Auto Fill’
dialog box. If your fiscal year is calendar, click on the [OK] button.

e.
If your fiscal year is not calendar and the same
as the previous year, check the ‘Copy Previous Year Values’ box and click the
[OK] box.

f.

g.
Verify that the created fiscal period’s start
and end dates are correct, correct if necessary.

h.
It is also a good idea to immediately close all
the fiscal periods for the new fiscal year that are closed, or that anyone
should not be posting to now.  For that
matter, every fiscal year and period that you do not want postings made to
should be closed. You can always reopen them.

i.
Common Issue:

°
If your fiscal year is calendar, in January of
the new year if the new fiscal year has not been created, Ascente operators
will get errors and not be able to run many transaction entry programs until
the new fiscal year is created.

Select the General Ledger / Periodic
Processing / Change Fiscal Year and select the new fiscal year you are
rolling the previous year’s totals into. Select the “New Year” in the
Current Year field and click OK to change to the new year. You must be in the current year to
perform the next step.

Select the Update Current Year function on the Periodic Processing
menu to do the following:

a.
Transfer the ending balances from the “Old Year”
to the “New Year” for GL accounts that have an account type from 005-465.

b.
Calculate the net income or net loss amount from
the balances of all accounts with account types from 500-890.

c.
Update the balance for the retained earnings
account with the net income or net loss if selected. Check the box to
consolidate unclosed income (loss) to retained earnings, and select your
retained earnings account.

d.
It should be noted that this program can be run
multiple times. If your accountant has you do some yearend journal entries in
March of 2018 for a calendar year of 2017, you can run this again in 2018 to
roll those 2017 entries into the new fiscal year 2018.

e.
Common Issues

°
You must run the General Ledger / Periodic
Processing / Change Fiscal Year and select the new fiscal year you are rolling
the previous year’s totals into before running the Update Current Year program. You need to be in the new fiscal
year to roll the previous years balance forwards into the new fiscal year.

°
You will see the profit and loss accounts
balances roll into the new year if you do not click the ‘Consolidate unclosed
income (loss) accounts to retained earnings’. If that happens, just check that
box and run it again.

Continue to process information for
both years. Use the Change Fiscal Year function on the Periodic Processing
menu to switch between the “Old Year” and the “New Year”. Use the Update Current Year function on the Periodic Processing
menu as needed to update the current year balances with changes made to
last year balances. Check the box to ‘Consolidate unclosed income accounts
to retained earnings’ and then enter your retained earnings GL account.

NOTE: If you are using the Close Periods
feature of the Period
Conversions program, you can only post adjusting
entries to periods that are open. You can reopen a closed period if needed.

Print and save all financial statements
for the fiscal periods any adjusting entries were posted to in the new
year.

We always recommend printing or
outputting to a PDF file the final financial reports for the year being
closed:

a.
All General Ledger / Management Reports /
Financial Statements

b.
General Ledger / Transaction Journals / Final
Trial Balance Report for the final period of the old year.

c.
I would output the General Ledger / Transaction
Journals / Activity Report for all periods to a PDF
file. This would be a huge report to print and I do not recommend printing this
report.

Select the System Manager / Company
Setup / Period Conversion close all periods in the old year so
that no postings are accidently made to that year. You can open the
periods at any time. This will prevent postings for 1/5/2018 from
accidently being entered and posted to 1/15/2017.

NOTE: You can stop the General Ledger Year
End processing at this point. We do not
recommend running any of the other General Ledger / Periodic Processing
programs. If you do, you may not be able to do any more processing in the
year you are closing.

http://servicecontractorsoftware.com/client-support/year-end-procedures-ascente/