Tabs3 Year-End Overview

Last reviewed: 11/16/2011
Article ID: R11146

The information in this article applies to:

• Tabs3 Versions 16, 15 & 14

SUMMARY

Closing the year in Tabs3 occurs when you advance beyond the twelfth month of your fiscal year. This article includes the following:

Tabs3 Year-End Procedures
Frequently Asked Questions
    Advancing the Current Reporting Month
    Reports
    Backup Routine
    Next Year's Entries
    GLS Integration

Tabs3 Year-End Procedures

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.

1. Run the Data File Integrity Check. Proceed only if there are no errors.
2. Run the Archive Integrity Check. Proceed only if there are no errors.
3. Print the Pre-Update Statements Report. Verify that any statements waiting to be updated contain the correct totals and are the individual statements that you want written to the current month's productivity totals.
4. Make a backup of the Tabs3 data files using the built-in Back Up Data Files program.
5. Run the Update Statements program for any client whose final statement was run but not updated.
6. Print any accounts receivable, management and productivity reports used by your firm. These reports do not have to be run for Tabs3 to function properly, but are typically used as aids in decision making. Your firm may also want certain year-end reports printed.
7. We recommend retaining a year-end backup in the event you need to print reports as of the year-end or view the information for other reasons. You may want to consider retaining this backup for a year or longer. This backup could be an external backup, or a copy of the ARQ file created by the built-in Back Up Data Files program. Refer to KB Article R11421, "Using the Built-In Backup Program Without Overwriting an Existing Backup" for more information.
8. Run the Advance Current Reporting Month program.
9. Print a Timekeeper List that includes timekeeper overhead amounts. Review these amounts and edit as necessary using the Timekeeper data entry program.

Frequently Asked Questions

Advancing the Current Reporting Month

Where did the Clear Productivity Totals program go?

The Clear Productivity Totals program was renamed to Advance Current Reporting Month. It still functions the same way it did in prior versions, with the exception of how it cleared totals for the Receipt Allocation Report. Totals for the Receipt Allocation Report are no longer cleared because it is now a date-based report.

 

What does the Advance Current Reporting Month program do besides incrementing the Tabs3 reporting month?

The year-to-date totals are reset to zero when the last month of the reporting year is advanced. This affects the following period-based reports:

 

• Timekeeper Productivity Report
• Category Productivity Report
• Productivity Report by Category for each Timekeeper
• Productivity Report by Tcode for each Timekeeper.

 

In addition, anytime the Advance Current Reporting Month program is run, the prior reporting month is also cleared for the Timekeeper Productivity Report and Category Productivity Report.

 

What if I forget to advance the current reporting period one month?

If you have not updated any new statements since that month, it is safe to advance the current reporting month now. If you have already updated statements without advancing last month, the monthly productivity totals on your Timekeeper Productivity Report, Category Productivity Report, Productivity Report by Category for Each Timekeeper, and Productivity Report by Transaction Code for Each Timekeeper 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.

 

If you do not use the aforementioned period-based reports, it is safe to advance the current reporting month at any time. However if you need to correct this situation, the following three options are available:

• You can leave the productivity figures combined and advance the current reporting month twice at the end of the current month. This will put Tabs3 in the correct reporting month and year. If it is your year-end and you choose this option, your productivity for the prior year will be overstated and the productivity for the current year will be understated.  For example:  If your current reporting month in Tabs3 was December 2011 and you forgot to advance the current reporting month and have updated statements for January 2012, the December 2011 reporting period would include productivity figures for December 2011 and January 2012 thus overstating the 2011 reporting year.  When you then advance the current reporting month twice, the January 2012 reporting period would contain no productivity totals thus understating the 2012 reporting year.
   
• You can use the Undo Single Updated Statement program (Statements | Undo Updated Statement | Undo Single Updated Statement) or the Undo Multiple Updated Statements program (Statements | Undo Updated Statement | Undo Multiple Updated Statements) to un-update the statements that should be in the next productivity period. Then reprint any reports for that period, run the Advance Current Reporting Month program, and reprint and update the statements that were un-updated.
   
• You can restore from a backup made prior to updating the statements for the current month. After restoring, run the Advance Current Reporting Month program, re-enter any data that was added to the system after the backup was made, then reprint and update the statements for the current month. See KB Article R10834, "Restoring Tabs3 and PracticeMaster Data from a Backup" for more information.

 

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 that month is advanced using the Advance Current Reporting Month program.

 

How can I determine if the Advance Current Reporting Month 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 Advance Current Reporting Month 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 Advance Current Reporting Month program was run.

Reports

Why is running the Receipt Allocation Report no longer required as part of the year-end procedures?

There are two reasons for this: First, the Receipt Allocation Report is now a date-based report and is no longer limited to month-to-date, year-to-date, and to-date figures. Secondly, the Receipt Allocation Report is no longer used to allocate work-in-process payments, because payments are now allocated at the time of entry. You can still run the Receipt Allocation Report as part of your own year-end procedures, but it is no longer required by Tabs3.

 

Which reports should I run at year-end?

Run the same reports that you normally run, but be sure to run the reports for a year-to-date time frame 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, 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 advanced beyond the last month of 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.

 

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 2011 fiscal year was closed, 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, the new year is created. Any transactions updated with the new year's date will be stored in the new year, along with any new work-in-process.

Backup Routine

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.

Next Year's Entries

Is it okay to begin making next year's entries before advancing 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 advanced the current reporting month 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 advance the year in GLS before making cost or payment entries for next year.

GLS Integration

I have completed my year-end procedures for Tabs3, but when I enter a cost or payment for the new year, I receive the following message: "The date of the transaction cannot be beyond the GLS Current Fiscal Month of 12/2011." What does this mean?

Although you have performed the year-end procedures 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.

REFERENCES

• KB Article R10431 - General Ledger Software Year-End Overview
• KB Article R11278 - Accounts Payable Software Year-End Overview
• KB Article R10432 - Accounts Payable Software Year-End Overview - Version 14, 12 & 11
• KB Article R10433 - Trust Accounting Software Year-End Overview
• KB Article R11103 - Tabs3 Frequently Asked Questions
• KB Article R10430 - Tabs3 Year-End Overview - Version 12, 11 & 10

THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THE SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY, INC. KNOWLEDGE BASE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY, INC. DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY, INC. OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY, INC. OR ITS SUPPLIERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY.

© 1999-2012 Software Technology, Inc.   All rights reserved. Terms of Use
The maker of Tabs3 and PracticeMaster
Tabs3, PracticeMaster, and the “pinwheel” symbol () are registered trademarks of Software Technology, Inc.
e-Mail Suggestions for the Knowledge Base to: kb@Tabs3.com
Technical Support via e-mail is not available.
Knowledge Base:   http://support.Tabs3.com
Web Site:   http://www.Tabs3.com