The Stamp Of Approval: Hard Closing The Fiscal Year

We are reaching the finish line for year-end processing (yay!). Once you are ready to put a final stamp of approval on your fiscal years, you may hard close your fiscal year to prevent anything else from posting into that time. Hard closing is a permanent process which cannot be undone, so we strongly recommend making a backup beforehand. There are a few common questions around this topic:

What must be done before hard closing a year?

1. Define at least one subsequent fiscal year within General Ledger > Configuration > Fiscal Years
2. Create a back up of your database
3. Post all Not Yet Posted activity for the year

Tip: Create a new post parameter in each module with the only Filter being post date: <Specific Range>. Only input the ending date as the last day in the fiscal year you are closing. Cash Management users: be sure to go into Banks > Post adjustments to General Ledger to see if there are any Not Yet Posted adjustments. These adjustments MUST post through Banks and will not be picked up via Administration

4. Reconcile Subledgers
5. Verify the Fund Balance accounts on all Funds within General Ledger > Configuration > Funds
6. Run your Financial Statements.

Tip: Review “What steps should be taken before closing a fiscal year?” for specific report set up instruction.

7. Schedule a time for ALL users to be logged out of the database, as closing a fiscal year is an exclusive process.

Note: If your organization has another product integrated with Financial Edge (e.g. Raiser’s Edge), users will also need to be disconnected from that database.

I received an error/message when hard closing. Why?

1. Error: These systems have un-posted transactions.If you receive this message when hard closing, there are Not Yet Posted items within that fiscal year. It will specify the module so you may create a new post parameter and validate to review the items. Everything must be posted or Do Not Post before the system will hard close a year
    
2. Error: Closing fiscal year is an exclusive process. You cannot continue this process until all users have exited the system. This form will be displayed until the following users have exited.This message indicates another user is connected to the FE database, an integrated database or the Blackbaud Management Console (BMC) is open on the server. You may view, and disconnect, active users directly from the BMC. Click here for instruction.

 
 
 
For more information on closing fiscal years, click the links below:
What is the difference between soft closing and hard closing a fiscal year?
How to hard close a fiscal year
How to run the pre-close fiscal year report