End of Period and End of Year

The End of Period process finalizes your month-end and year-end financials. InStar Main System Setup stores the dates of your current accounting month and the month that begins your fiscal year. So when you run End of Period, setup determines whether you are closing a regular month or the last month of your fiscal year. If it is the last month in your fiscal year, Instar runs year-end after the month-end process.

Stop all accounting transactions during the End of Period process. Specifically, do not post invoices, checks, cash receipts, or journal entries while the End of Period process is running. End of Period takes approximately two hours, depending on the reports you choose to print and the number of accounting transactions made during the month.  This time estimate does not include any time for reconciling accounts.

Accessing End of Period

Click Main Menu > Accounting > End of Period.

Verifying Accounts are in Balance

InStar has built safeguards to keep your accounts in balance. However, as a standard accounting practice, Vertafore Customer Care recommends you verify all accounts are in balance before running the End of Period process.

Balance Checks - See the topic Troubleshooting - Am I in Balance for more details on this task.

Verify that the total year-to-date assets equal the total year-to-date liabilities and equities on your Balance Sheet report.

Verify that the total balance due on your Aged Receivable report equals the year-to-date total for the Accounts Receivable G/L 1200 on your Balance Sheet report.

Verify that the total of the Producer and Company Ledgers are in balance with their corresponding G/L accounts.

If you find your accounts are not in balance, contact Vertafore Customer Care for assistance.

End of Period Selections

After verifying your accounting records are in balance, select End of Period from the Accounting Screen. The InStar End of Period Processing window appears. The static information on this screen includes the following.

Field/Selection

What is this?

Agency

If you have multiple agencies, you must run the End of Period process separately for each agency. Select the agency from the list.

Accounting Month

View only. Shows the current accounting month from setup.

The remainder of the window includes tabs containing options you can select that affect what End of Period does and how the information prints.

       Main

The Main tab includes the following information and options:

Field/Selection

What is this?

Run?/Function

This section lists the processes and reports you can run or print during the End of Period process. You can select any combination of these items by double-clicking. This marks the box in the Run column.

All the reports listed are also available from Main Menu > Accounting > Reporting. If you encounter problems printing a report during the End of Period process use the Reporting screen to re-create your reports. Do not run End of Period process again as it will advance your accounting month a second time and you will be in the wrong accounting month.

Move Selected Line up/down in List

The items process or print in the order they appear in the list. Use the arrows here to change the order by selecting a line and clicking the Up or Down arrow to move it. For example, you may want to group all reports by orientation - portrait or landscape.

If you use late fees, it must be the first item processed for the fees to show on the other reports.

Check All/ Uncheck All

Click to select or clear all boxes in the Run column.

Instructions

Provides an overview of the End of Period process. Use the scrollbar to view the entire text. Use the slider to enlarge or reduce the size of the text.

       Late Charge

The Late Charge tab includes the following information and options. Any changes you make here only apply to the current End of Period process. Use Main System Setup to make permanent changes to the default settings.

The Late Charge option on the Customer Information window must be selected before a customer is subject to late charges. To charge late charge to all customers, click Mark Late Charge Box for All Clients in the Late Charge Setup section of the Main System Setup window.

Field/Selection

What is this?

Late Fee Percentage

Enter the percentage to charge as a decimal and press TAB.

The percentage is the monthly percentage rate.  For example, if you are charging late fees with an annual rate of 18%, enter 1/12th of that percentage (ie: 18 รท 12 months = 1.5 per month) in this field.

Minimum Number of Days Before Items Considered Late

Enter the number of days allowed past the due date before charging a late fee against the balance due.

Minimum Late Fee Charge

Enter the minimum amount that a late fee has to be before it is charged to the customer. When late fees are calculated and applied during the End of Period process, InStar compares the calculated late fee amount against the amount you enter here; if the calculated fee is less, the late fee is not applied.

       Client Statements

Field/Selection

What is this?

Print?

Client Statement

Clients Ledger Card

The information is the same but formatted differently.

Show?

All items

Only open items

All Activity Since (date)

In most circumstance you will use "All Activity Since (date)" because this creates a statement with only open invoices and payments against those invoices.

Options?

Selections allowing you to further define the statements you want to print.

Brokered items include invoices billed net to the producer. Typically, you will use Broker Statements for this information. However, you can include the information in your Customer Statements.

Sort by?

Use to you order the printing by:

Client #

Client Name

Statement Balance

CSR (Secondary sort by Name)

Producer (Secondary sort by Name)

Zip Code

PL/CL

Comment?

Enter a statement or phrase to print on all statements, or a message from the selections at the bottom of the screen. You can select a message and then add more text to it. However, entering a comment and selecting a message after replaces anything previously typed.

If you type a message the text automatically word-wraps, therefore you do not need to press Enter unless you want to begin a new paragraph.

       Broker Statements

Field/Selection

What is this?

Choose Which Agency Address To Print

Select the address to print on all statements.

Print?

Choose type of information to include:

Detail Statement(s) - transaction details for each invoice

Summary Statement(s)- one line per invoice

Show?

Choose to print:

Open (unpaid) Items Only

All Items

Sort by?

Options are:

Broker Code - Alphabetical order by the Broker Code field.

Broker Name - Alphabetical order by the Broker Name field.

Statement Balance - Ascending order by the total in the Ending Statement Balance field, beginning with the lowest balance and ending with the highest.

Options?

Selections allowing you to further define the statements you want to print.

Include Statements With A 0 Balance  (include statement with zero balance)

Include Statements With A Credit (Negative) Balance (Include statements with a negative balance)

Include Future Items (Include items with a transaction date beyond the current date)

Comment?

Enter a statement or phrase to print on all statements, or a message from the selections at the bottom of the screen. You can select a message and then add more text to it. However, entering a comment and selecting a message after replaces anything previously typed.

If you type a message the text automatically word-wraps, therefore you do not need to press Enter unless you want to begin a new paragraph.

       Invoice Detail

Choose to print the report in up to three different formats. The selections in the list are based on report templates you have added in the Invoice Detail Report window.

       Check Detail

Choose to print the report in up to three different formats. The selections in the list are based on report templates you have added in the Check Detail Report window.

       Cash Receipt

Choose to print the report in up to three different formats. The selections in the list are based on report templates you have added in the Cash Receipt Report window.

       Account Current

You don't need to make any selections to print the Account Current items. They will print automatically.

Running End of Period

InStar knows from setup when you run End of Period for the last month in your fiscal year. In that month when month-end processing is complete, End of Year processes automatically. The following tasks are performed at year-end:

  1. Clear Income and Expense Balances:  Because these accounts track your business on an annual basis, all values in the month-to-date and year-to-date columns of your Income and Expense accounts are reversed and the net profit or loss is applied to your retained earnings account.

    Update Current Fiscal Year:  In addition to advancing your accounting month in the Main System Setup window, InStar will advance your Fiscal Year, displaying the first month in that year.

After the reports have printed in the End of Period Process for the last month in your fiscal year, you'll see the following messages and prompts:

    1. You are asked if you want to forward your accounting year and perform year end processing. Click Yes.

    2. You may see additional message requiring no response from you. When the year-end process is complete a message appears stating so. Click OK.

End of Year Processes

  1. After you have made your selections on the InStar End of Period Processing window you are ready to close your accounting month. Click Process.

  2. A message appears, asking if you are ready to begin. Click Yes. Instar runs the standard tasks involved in closing the month and year (if applicable) along with the items you've selected.

  3. If you have elected to print reports, you may see messages about changing the orientation of your printer. Use the on-screen prompts to complete this portion of the process.

  4. After the report printing is complete you'll receive a message asking if you want to advance your current accounting month to MMM DD, YYYY. Click Yes. Other messages may appear requiring no response.

  5. When processing is complete, you'll receive a message. Click OK.

Post Month or Year-end Adjustments (13th Month) and Transactions

You may have transactions (such as service charges, interest payments, etc.) after the end of a month that belong in the prior month. Similarly year-end adjusting entries are not available until after your year-end close. InStar allows you to keep the month or fiscal year open until all of these entries have been posted. If you decide to keep your month or year open be aware that some of the dates throughout the software default based on your current accounting month and year from setup. This is very important when dating transactions so they post to the intended month and not the currently open month.

Another option is to backdate journal entries after a month-end. However, doing so invalidates any previously printed financial reports. If you do make backdated entries you must reprint all of your month-end reports affected by the change.

Year End Adjusting Entries (13th Month)

To create year-end adjusting entries do the following:

  1. From the Journal Entry Screen enter the last day of the last month in your fiscal year in the Entry Date field.

  2. You'll receive a message saying the date you've entered is in a prior closed month. Click Yes.

  3. Make the adjusting entries and post when complete.

  4. Reprint the End of Period reports affected by your adjustments. Select the reports from Main > Accounting > Reports making sure to choose dates for the appropriate month/year.