Year End Close

The fiscal year 2017 will end on Friday, June 30, 2017. As in the past, FAS will close the books through a series of steps called "closings." Steps 1 through 5 will assist in the facilitation of those closings.

1

Adhere to Key Dates

2

Recognize Accruals and Deferrals

3

Check Balances

4

Review Transactions and Balances

5

Use FAS Recommended Reports

Details

Adhere to Key Dates

Review the Year End Calendar to see all of the deadlines for the FY17 Year End Close. It is very important that we recognize all FY17 revenue and expenses in FY17. Be mindful of any deadlines and deliverables.

Some key dates include:

June 23 - Web Reimbursements to Travel; FY17 Invoices to AP

June 26 - Concur Reports Submitted and Approved

July 6 - Final FY17 Invoices to AP

July 18 - AP Accrual Information Sent to Departments

July 20 - AP Accrual Information Returned to FAS Finance

Recognize Accruals and Deferrals

Use this table for general guidance on accruals and deferrals at fiscal year-end closing.

Click chart image to enlarge

Check Balances

It is important to verify gifts, endowments and unrestricted designated funds are not in deficit. Funds that are in deficit at the end of the year will be charged interest. To find funds that are in deficit, run the Fund, Gift and Unrestricted Unexpended Balance Report (FGUUBR) in CREW and in the Parameters section check the box next to Funds in Deficit only.

If you have a deficit, please take the necessary steps to clear it. Since the Gift AEA is assessed on expenses, please follow the instructions in How To Zero Out a Restricted Gift Fund Deficit.

Also, review centrally-controlled funds to ensure charges are correct: 000760, 000770, 000775, 000780, 000795, 000800, 000801, 000802.

Review Transactions and Balances

Pay close attention to the following:

Check fund balances for deficits. Funds in deficit at the end of the year will be charged interest.
Process any outstanding invoices as soon as possible.
Send Payment Requests to AP by June 23rd to have the most complete financial view for the First Close. All complete invoices received by AP by June 23rd will be available in reporting applications on June 30th.
The final deadline for AP is July 6th at 5pm.
 Process any outstanding reimbursements as soon as possible.
Send Web Reimbursements and CITI Direct Pay to Travel by June 23rd. Concur reports must be approved by June 26th.
Process all AR transactions in a timely manner.
For departments using Oracle AR, all invoice and credit memo information must be entered by July 12th.
Run reports to verify transactions have been posted accurately. Create correcting journals as quickly as possible. When creating journal entries, FAS has a new Web ADI Template for departments. The new template includes error checking functionality to help streamline the posting of journal entries. The new Web ADI Template is available here. In addition, users can cut and paste the costing from the new template to an Excel spreadsheet to verify that the costing does not violate cross validation rules. The Chart Validator spreadsheet is available here.

In addition, to help in your review, please follow the Year End Checklist for FAS Units.

Use FAS Recommended Reports

There are reports that are available to help departments in year end activities. The report names, what they show and why to run them are listed below. Please reach out to the ASAP team at x6-7136 or fasasap@fas.harvard.edu if you have any questions.

FAS Recommended Reports

System	Report Name	What will this report show?	Why do I need to run the report?
CREW	Budget Variance Report OR Summaries Actual and Budget Report	Annual operating, YTD budget and actual data for prior fiscal and current fiscal years	To compare budget v. actual spending rates for prior and current fiscal years to confirm spending is aligned with budget
CREW		Annual operating, YTD actual data for the current fiscal year	To compare budget v. actual spending rates for the current fiscal year to confirm spending is aligned with budget
OBI	Committed Funds Report	Open POs where funds have been committed but have not yet posted to the General Ledger Note: There is a one day delay for the reported data.	To monitor purchase orders and prevent overspending on funds. Allows users to know if open POs exist on closed funds/grants, if goods are being received, and suppliers are being paid in a timely manner.
CREW	Detailed Listing	Details regarding every transaction posted to the General Ledger	To reconcile monthly financial transactions To ensure income is recorded correctly
CREW	Fund, Gift, and Unrestricted Unexpended Balance Report	Prior year balance, income and expense of current year, and ending balance for all fund types	To monitor fund balances and ensure that a deficit does not occur To confirm income is recorded correctly
OBI	Period Expense Report	A snapshot of budgets v. expenses on a sponsored account for a specific period of time	To monitor sponsored research spending levels as grant period progresses and take corrective action if needed
OBI	AP Invoice Holds	A list of POs that have not been received by a Shopper, list of invoices on hold for price or quantity issues.	To confirm purchases are being received, ensuring that the vendor is being paid in a timely manner.
OBI	Escheat Due Diligence	Lists uncashed checks and data needed to perform due diligence research on uncashed checks for more than 6 months.	To determine if any checks are uncashed or in an Escheatable (will be turned over to the state) status. Determine if Escheat Due Diligence Letters need to be sent.

Quick Links

Calendar

Clear a deficit

Accruals and Deferrals Cheat sheet

Web ADI Spreadsheet

COA Validator

Year End Review Presentation

Don't Forget
COA validator is available to verify costing is valid for all users. Available Here
Don't Forget
No Payroll accrual

Paychecks paid to employees on July 7^th is for work from June 18^th to July 1^st, will be posted as a June 30, 2017 entry.
Don't Forget
FAS has a new WEB ADI Template that includes error checking to help users create correct entries. Available Here
Don't Forget
There will be no payroll accrual this year.