The beginning of accounting refers to the point in time when you start using Procountor for accounting. Comparison data from the previous fiscal year is saved to Procountor. If accounting begins in the middle of a financial year, the account balances of the current financial year on the day preceding the beginning of accounting are also saved to Procountor.
The phases of saving the comparison data are listed below. More about the other phases of the beginning of accounting can be found here.
1. Save the balances from the income statement and balance sheet as comparison data
- Save the balances from the income statement and balance sheet on the final day of the previous fiscal year. The data is imported using either a journal which can be created in Accounting > New journal receipt or Accounting > Ledger entry tool (new). It is possible to use also the accounting information export file.
- Create a new journal receipt at Accounting / New journal receipt.
- Give the journal a name such as Accounting balances dd.mm.yyyy, and assign the same date to the journal.
- Add accounting entries to the journal receipt using the Add transaction button.
- Enter the account balance in the Accounting value field. Debit balance is preceded by a plus sign and credit balance by a minus sign.
- You can enter additional information on the opening balance in an entry description. After you have entered all entries, click on the Save button. If there are many rows to enter, you should also save your progress every now and then.
- The receipt sum must be EUR 0.00 after all rows have been entered.
- You can enter comparison data for each month of the fiscal year. The saved balances will then be comprised of the balance changes during the month in question. More information about the transaction can be written to Transaction description field.
- If you are importing the balances from the income statement and balance sheet on the same receipt, you must not enter the current profit or loss on the income statement or balance sheet. Procountor will automatically calculate the fiscal year’s profit or loss from the entries made for the fiscal year. If the income statement and balance sheet are imported into the program on separate receipts, you can enter the profit or loss for the fiscal year on account 2370 Profit (loss) for the fiscal year.
- When the balances have been saved to Procountor, check that the balances and transactions are correct.
2. Close the fiscal year
- Close the fiscal year from Management > Accounting info > Financial years, after which a receipt for opening the accounts will automatically be generated for the first day of the current fiscal year, based on the information provided.
3. Transfer the fiscal year’s profit (loss)
- The profit (loss) for the previous fiscal year is entered on account 2370 Profit (loss) for the fiscal year, using the opening receipt generated when the previous fiscal year is closed.
- Transfer this sum in a journal to account 2250 Retained earnings gain or (loss) (post profits on account 2370/2250 and losses on account 2250/2370).
4. Save the balances of the day preceding the beginning of accounting
- Save the balances from the income statement and balance sheet on the day preceding the beginning of accounting with the journal receipt. Please note that you should only save adjustments to the current fiscal period in the balance or, alternatively, adjust the balance to zero before making adjustments.
- Give the journal a name such as Accounting balances dd.mm.yyyy, and assign the same date to the journal.
- Add accounting entries to the journal receipt using the Add transaction button.
- Enter the account balance in the Accounting value field. Debit balance is preceded by a plus sign and credit balance by a minus sign.
- You can enter additional information on the opening balance in an entry description. After you have entered all entries, click on the Save button. If there are many rows to enter, you should also save your progress every now and then.
- The receipt sum must be EUR 0.00 after all rows have been entered.
- It is possible to use also the accounting information export file.
5. Check the balances
- Check the figures on the income statement and balance sheet against accounting reports.
6. Close the tracking periods
- Close the tracking period from Management > Accounting info > Financial years.
- It is important to close the tracking periods so that the starting situation will not be changed later.