The information in this article applies to:
Information for Tabs3 Version 14 is available in KB Article R11146 - Tabs3 Year-End Overview - Version 14.
Closing the year in Tabs3 occurs when you close out the twelfth month of your fiscal year. This article includes the following:
Tabs3 Year-End Procedures
Frequently Asked Questions
Clearing Productivity
Reports
Backup Routine
Next Year's Entries
GLS Integration
Perform the following procedures at the end of the twelfth month in your reporting year. These procedures should be run after all final statements for the month and year have been printed and updated.
How do I advance the current reporting month to the next month?
The current reporting month is advanced to the next reporting month when you run the Clear
Productivity Totals program. You cannot edit the current reporting month; it is maintained
internally by Tabs3.
What does clearing productivity totals actually do to my data files?
The MTD columns (and YTD columns if it is the last month in your fiscal year) are reset to
zero on the Receipt Allocation and Client Productivity by Timekeeper reports. When YTD
totals are being cleared, the totals on the Timekeeper and Category Productivity Reports
as well as the Productivity Report by Category For Each Timekeeper and the Productivity
Report by Tcode for Each Timekeeper are also reset to zero.
What if I forget to clear the productivity totals one month?
If you have not updated any new statements since that month, go ahead and clear the totals
now (make sure the last Receipt Allocation Report was run with the correct month-end or
year-end date). If you have already updated statements without clearing last
month, the monthly productivity totals on your Receipt Allocation Report, Client
Productivity by Timekeeper Report, Productivity Report by Category for Each Timekeeper,
Productivity Report by Tcode for Each Timekeeper, Timekeeper Productivity
Report and Category Productivity Report will include last month's and the current month's
figures combined. However, the Worked portion of the Timekeeper Productivity and
Category Productivity Reports will be accurate if it is not the last month of your
reporting year. If it is the last month of your reporting year and you have updated
statements with transactions for the following year, the Worked section will not include
the transactions for the following year.
Three options are available to correct this situation:
How does Tabs3 know when to clear year-to-date totals?
The first month of the reporting year is defined on the Main tab of the
Customization program (Utilities | Customization). Tabs3 uses this
information to determine the last month of the reporting year, and clears the
year-to-date totals when you run the Clear Productivity Totals program for that month.
How can I determine if the
Clear Productivity Totals program was run for our last month of billing?
From the Help menu, select About Tabs3. The current reporting month will
be included in this window. If the current reporting month shown is last month, then the
Clear Productivity Totals program was not run for the last month of billing. You can also view the Support Log
(View | Log Files | Support Log), which tracks when the Clear
Productivity Totals program was run.
When should I run the Receipt Allocation Report?
The Receipt Allocation Report can be run at any time. To ensure that the Receipt
Allocation Report clears properly, make sure the last Receipt Allocation Report run prior
to running the Clear Productivity Totals program is generated with a WIP Payment Cut-Off
Date of the last day of the month that you are clearing. Also, make sure that the
last Receipt Allocation Report processed is not by working timekeeper (e.g., it should be
in primary, secondary or originating timekeeper order).
Which reports should I run at year-end?
You should run the same reports that you normally run, but be sure to run the reports for
year-to-date as opposed to just month-to-date. Some firms will run their regular month-end
reports and then rerun the reports for year-end. Consider including the following reports
for your year-end close-out: Detail Accounts Receivable Report, Detail and Summary
Work-In-Process Reports, Timekeeper Productivity Report, Category Productivity Report,
Receipt Allocation Report and Productivity Report by Category for each Timekeeper. You
should also review the reports shown in the Sample Reports section of your manual to
determine if there are any other reports that will be useful. Keep in mind that certain
information will not be available once you’ve closed out the last month of
the year and moved on. Our Technical Support Department receives requests in February and
March for how to get a report of accounts receivable, unbilled advances or work-in-process
as of December 31. In order to get this information, you must refer to a report that was
run at year-end or restore from a backup that was made at year-end.
Why don't the Total Hours from the Worked portion of my January Timekeeper
Productivity Report match the total hours on my Recap of Hours Report for one
timekeeper? The Recap of Hours Report, which is greater than the amount shown on the
Timekeeper Productivity Report, was run for January 1 through January 31 and has the
correct amount.
Normally these two reports would match. However, the Timekeeper Productivity Report
only stores information for one fiscal year. When the 2005 fiscal year was closed
out, any updated transactions with the new fiscal year's date could not be saved to the
next year's Timekeeper Productivity "slot" because it did not exist.
Therefore, these amounts were not carried over. Once the previous year is closed
out, the new year is created. Any transactions updated with the new year's date will
be stored in the new year's slot along with any new work-in-process.
Is your backup routine adequate?
Even if your firm is making regular backups, we recommend that you occasionally test your backup system by restoring the data from one of your
backups to a directory other than the Tabs3 working directory to check the integrity of
the data. Also make sure that you rotate your backup media so that you always have
more than one backup. It is important that the Data File Integrity
Check programs be run before making backups. It is particularly important that the
Data File Integrity Check programs be run before making a year-end backup. The
purpose of running the Data File Integrity Check programs is to verify that there are no
errors in the data files before making a backup.
Many firms set aside their year-end backup so that it is not overwritten. This backup will be necessary if you need to get information from reports that have already been cleared for the year. Our Technical Support Department receives requests in February and March for how to get a report of accounts receivable, unbilled advances or work-in-process as of December 31. In order to get this information, you must refer to a report that was run at year-end or restore from a backup that was made at year-end.
Is it okay to begin making next year's entries before closing out the year?
Yes, as long as you do not update any statements for next year before you have
finished closing out the current year. If you update statements for the following year before you have
cleared productivity totals for
the end of the current year, then those statements will be included with the prior
year's productivity. Note: If you are integrated with Tabs3's General Ledger
Software (GLS), you will need to close out the year in GLS before making cost
or payment entries for next year.
I have completed my year-end procedures for Tabs3, but when I add a cost or payment transaction
for the new year, I am taken directly to the GLS journal entry
window. This window is displaying even though the GLS debit and GLS credit accounts
are specified for the transaction code. Furthermore, we have configured Tabs3
Customization to automatically create GLS journal entries. Why is the GLS journal entry
window now showing when it previously didn't?
Although you have performed the year-end closing for Tabs3, you have not done so for
GLS. The date of the transaction being entered is past the current
fiscal month in GLS. You need to run the year-end procedures for GLS before
entering cost or payment transactions for the new year.
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