The Start of Year process involves several different steps, which generally are performed over a period lasting several weeks. It is important that your accounting database is backed up prior to performing the various steps. SoftRight recommends that you contact your IT personnel to perform the backup or you can contact our support staff to back up the data for you.

Before beginning, there are several important things you’ll want to verify or decide:

• Verify that control accounts are linked to the appropriate fund balance account if you plan to use the automated process to close to fund balances
• For purchase order with a balance which will be associated with a different GL account in FY 22, make sure the FY 21 account has the “PO Next Year” field updated with the new account information
• Decide whether you wish to roll purchase order balances into the next year, or if they will be liquidated and manually re-entered
• If you use purchase orders, be sure to print and review a report of your open purchase orders  

Once the accounts have been created for the new fiscal year, you will be able to post the new budget. To create the new accounts from your current COA, follow these steps:

1. Click the “Accounting” button from the main menu
2. Click the “Chart of Accounts” button
3. Click the “Start of Year” Button
4. Click the EDIT function button
5. Click “Yes” when asked if you wish to proceed
6. Click “Yes” after verifying there is a current and complete backup
7. Click on the “Create 20XX Accounts” button to copy all the accounts from the current fiscal year to the new fiscal year

Notes:

• Once this automated process has been performed, any additional accounts must be created manually. If you create new accounts in the current fiscal year, you will need to create them in the upcoming fiscal year as well.
• The new fiscal year account will be the account that is displayed in maintenance. Use the levy spinner to select the year if you wish to edit the account for the previous year
• The default year for process should be updated through System Configuration whenever you’re ready to do so.  This is generally done several days after the start of the new fiscal year

Once the accounts have been created for the new fiscal year, budget appropriations may be posted. This can be done automatically using the SoftRight Budget module, or posted manually as journal entries.

Option 1: Posting appropriations from the budget module

1. Click the “Accounting” button from the main menu
2. Click the “Budget” button
3. Click the “Post Budget” button
4. Select the budget you intend to post from the grid
5. Hit the “Enter” key, or click the “Edit” function button
6. Enter the Effective Date and the Post Date in the designated fields
7. Select the column that holds the approved budget appropriation by clicking on the drop down box and selecting the column
8. Click the “Validate” function button
9. Click “OK”
10. Click the “Post” function button
11. Click “Yes” when asked if you would like to post the budget. This will create a journal entry packet.
12. Once the packet has been created, you will be prompted to choose a posting option
    1. Click “Yes” if you wish to post the packet immediately
    2. Click “No” (RECOMMENDED) to post the packet from the journal entry screen
    3. Click “Cancel” if you wish to delete the packet and start over

Option 2: Create budget appropriation packets from manual journal entries

1. Click the “Accounting” button from the main menu.  
2. Click the “Journal Entry” button.
3. Click the “Add Pack” function button to create a new journal entry packet.
4. Enter the appropriate journal entry packet information.
   1. Description:  Enter the journal packet description
   2. Year:  Enter the fiscal year to which the journal entries will be posted
   3. Ledger Type:  Choose “Subledger” from the drop down list.
   4. Journal Type:  Choose “Budget” from the drop down list
   5. Account Type:  Choose the appropriate type (“Expense” or “Revenue”)from the drop down list
   6. Budget Type:  Enter the appropriate budget type from the drop down list
5. Click the “Add Entry” function button
6. Enter the appropriate journal entry information
   1. Eff Date:  Enter the effective date of the journal entry
   2. Description:  Enter the description of the journal entry
   3. Account:  Enter the account number or click the book icon to find and select an account
   4. Debit/Credit:  Enter whether the entry is a debit or a credit (Note: for an expense entry choose credit; for a revenue entry choose debit)
   5. Amount:  Enter the budget amount
7. Click the “Edit Pack”  function button to return to the journal entry packet area
8. Click the “Valid Pack” function button
9. Click “Validate”

Prior to moving purchase order balances from the previous fiscal year to the new fiscal year, it is important that all purchase orders and warrants have been posted and there is a complete backup of your current data. There are several options available for moving the balance to the new fiscal year. Before moving any balances, be sure to determine which option(s) you wish to use.  

(If you use Option 1 or Option 2, Carry Forward budget transactions must be entered as manual Journal Entries)

• Option 1: Carry forward a remaining PO balance from the previous fiscal year to the new fiscal year using the same PO number and same account
• Option 2:  Carry forward a remaining PO from the previous fiscal year to the new fiscal year using the same PO number and a different account (Note: To use this option, the new account number must be in the “PO Next Year Acct” field. Use Account Maintenance to enter this information)  
• Option 3: Liquidate all open purchase orders in the current year and create new purchase orders manually in the new year

Follow these steps:

1. Click the “Accounting” button from the main menu
2. Click the “Chart of Accounts” button
3. Click the “Start of Year” Button
4. Click the EDIT function button
5. Click “Yes” when asked if you wish to proceed
6. Click “Yes” after verifying there is a current and complete backup

Option 1: Carry forward a remaining PO balance from the previous fiscal year to the new fiscal year using the same PO number and same account

1. Click the “Create Packets” button
2. Click “Yes” when asked if you want to create PO liquidate and re-encumber packets
3. Two packets will be created:
   1. First Packet: contains POEOY transactions with an effective date of 06/30/YY which will liquidate any remaining balance from each PO and account in the previous fiscal year, but will leave the PO open
   2. Second Packet: contains POSOY transactions with an effective date of 07/01/YY which will re-encumber the money in the new fiscal year using the same account number
4. Validate and post both packets to carry forward the open purchase orders

Option 2:  Carry forward a remaining PO from the previous fiscal year to the new fiscal year using the same PO number and a different account

1. Click the “Create Packets” button
2. Click “Yes” when asked if you want to create PO liquidate and re-encumber packets
3. Two packets will be created:
   1. First Packet: contains POEOY transactions with an effective date of 06/30/YY which will liquidate any remaining balance from each PO and account in the previous fiscal year, but will leave the PO open
   2. Second Packet: POSOY transactions with an effective date of 07/01/YY which will re-encumber the money in the new fiscal year using the selected account numbers
4. Validate and post both packets to carry forward the open purchase orders

Option 3: Liquidate all open purchase orders in the current year and create new purchase orders manually in the new year

1. Click the “Create Packets” button
2. Click “Yes” when asked if you want to create PO liquidate and re-encumber packets
3. Two packets will be created:
   1. First Packet: contains POEOY transactions with an effective date of 06/30/YY which will liquidate any remaining balance from each PO and account in the previous fiscal year, leaves the PO open
   2. Second Packet: POSOY transactions THIS PACKET MUST BE DELETED
4. Delete the second packet containing the POSOY transactions
5. Validate and post the first packet containing the POEOY transactions
6. Once the POEOY packet has been posted using the Journal Entry menu selection, return to the Start of Year and use the steps 1  6 at the beginning of this document.
7. Click the “Close PO” tab
8. Click “Yes” at the prompt to close all zero balance purchase orders. This will mark all the zero balance purchase orders in the previous fiscal year as closed

Prior to beginning these processes, make sure that all packets have been posted in the year being closed and you have a complete backup of your current data. These processes can be run multiple times to automatically create the journal entries you’ll need to open the new fiscal year.

1. Click the “Accounting” button from the main menu
2. Click the “Chart of Accounts” button
3. Click the “Start of Year” Button
4. Click the EDIT function button
5. Click “Yes” when asked if you wish to proceed
6. Click “Yes” after verifying there is a current and complete backup

To close control accounts to fund balance:

This process may be run multiple times if necessary

1. Make sure the fund balance account has been specified using the “Close to Fund Bal” field in Account Maintenance before running this process
2. Click the third  “Create Journal” button under Journal Entries
3. Click “Yes” when asked if you are sure you want to close to fund balance in the previous fiscal year
4. GLEOY entries with an effective date of June 30^th will be created to move money from control accounts to a specified fund balance account
5. Validate and post this packet from the Journal Entry screen

To roll account balances forward:

This process may be run multiple times if necessary

1. Click the first “Create Journal” button
2. Click “Yes” when asked if you would like to create the opening and closing journal packets for the control accounts
3. Two journal packets will be created
   1. First Packet: Will create offsetting GLEOY journal entries with an effective date of 07/01/YY for any remaining balance on the control account in the current year
   2. Second Packet: Will create GLSOY journal entries with an effective date of 07/01/YY that will bring forward the account balances from the current year accounts into the next year control accounts
4. Validate and post both packets through the Journal Entry screen