Month End Processing Checklist

Month End Processing Checklist

The significance of Month End Procedures

It is important that checks are made at the time of month end reset, (usually the first working day of a new month) that will ensure the continued integrity of the systems.  

A brief description of each suggested report/process is provided, as well as standard parameters where applicable. 

A number of reports are not mandatory and you should review whether they provide relevant information to your organisation before including them in your month end processes. 

The procedure involves printing required reports and running a month end reset for each accounts module you use. 

The month end process will post to the General Ledger all of the balances associated with the transaction types and account types of each module. 

The final step is comparing balances from the printed reports to the General Ledger Trial Balance.
  1. If all values agree, then you can proceed with the next months’ processing.
  2. If the values do not agree, or accounts that should have a zero balance don’t, then these should be investigated. If you are unable to resolve the issue yourself, then give Argos a call.  Normally you will continue processing, while we resolve the issue.
Month end processing can be made significantly more efficient through the use of [Preset]s for the month end report dialogs. Alternatively, the month end reports and processing can be completed automatically using the Batch Processing module. 

Mandatory reports and processes

Mandatory reports and processes are marked as below:

*  Indicates Report should be printed for General Ledger Reconciliation

**    Indicates Report is mandatory for organisations using IFRS

*** Indicates the process is mandatory and must be run

Pre Requisites

Complete all Daily Processing including:
  1. Downloading bank statements, reconciling and posting cash
  2. Posting instalments up to the last day of the month
  3. Posting interest up to the last day of the month
  4. Posting Recurring charges up to the last day of the month
  5. Posting Facility Fees up to the last day of the month

Cashbook

Menu
Explanation
Check
Print Unposted Transactions
There should be no transactions on this report unless they are entries dated in the next month
  1. Can be printed for each bank account or left blank to run report for all accounts

Print Bank Balances Report


Print Cashbook Reconciliation *
This report is required for GL Reconciliation to your bank accounts

The statement balance should equal the Cashbook balance (+/- any unpresented items shown on the report)
  1. Can be printed for each bank account or left blank to run report for all accounts 
  2. Statement Date is the Month End Date

Control

MenuExplanationCheck
Backup ***
Take a Pre Month End Backup that is independent of your normal daily backup 

Dealers

MenuExplanationCheck
Access Dealer Accounts 
Check that the dealers have been fully paid out. 
  1. Current and Future Balance should be 0.00 for each dealer 
  2. Ensure all offsetting dealer transactions are [Group]ed
  3. If there is a current ledger balance it may just mean that a loan has been settled and not yet paid out.  That is OK and is just a reconciliation difference.
  4. If you expense dealer commissions over the life of the loan, you can expect the Future balance to not be 0.00

Print Account Status Report *
This report is required to balance the GL Gross Receivable and Arrears codes
  1. Report Order – Account Type
  2. Check on the ‘Summary’ only flag

End Of Month Reset ***
[Run] this process to post the Dealer transactions to the General Ledger

Insurer

MenuExplanationCheck
Print Account Status Report
Details the balances and accrued interest of each open account

May be useful for assistance with GL reconciliation
  1. Check on the Show Accrued Interest Flag
  2. Enter the month end date as the Accrued Date

End Of Month Reset ***[Run] this process to post the Insurer transactions to the General Ledger

Statements

MenuExplanationCheck
Accounts | Create StatementsThis process will collate all of the data required for the client statements
  1. Select Required Report Parameters
  2. Due Date is the Month End Date

{Module} | Print {Module} Statements
Each Module contains a menu item to print the statements for that module

Statements should be printed for each module required
  1. Select Required Report Parameters
Date Range should be the date range of the transactions to appear on the statement

E.g. Quarterly statements would have a date range of 01/01/13 – 31/03/13


Accounts

MenuExplanationCheck
Print Account Status Report – Credit Balance Check
This will give you a list of all lending accounts with a credit current balance

Any account with a credit current balance and no future balance have been overpaid and should have a refund issued, or the overpayment transferred to another account if one exists

If you run multiple companies, this report should be run separately for each company
  1. Report Order – Account Type
  2. System - Lending
  3. Check on the Show Accrued Interest Flag
  4. Enter the month end date as the Accrued Month
  5. Check on the Credit Balances (current) flag

Print Account Status Report *
This report is required to balance the GL Gross Receivable and Arrears codes
  1. Report Order – Account Type
  2. Check on the ‘Summary’ only flag

Print Closed Account Report
This report will give a listing of all accounts that have been closed within the time period specified
  1. Select Required Report Parameters. 
  2. Enter Required Date Range

Print Withholding Tax Summary 
Detail/summary of Withholding tax transactions 
  1. Report Order – Account Type
  2. Secondary Report Order – Tax Code
  3. Start Date – Reporting period start date
  4. End Date – Reporting period end date
  5. Summary only – check on.
  6. Reprint in detail if unable to reconcile report totals to GL

Print Account Monthly Summary Report
Summarises all of the transactions by transaction type that have been posted for the month

Can be useful for assistance with GL reconciliation, particularly where clearing accounts are out of balance
  1. Enter the Month End Date

Variable Loan

MenuExplanationCheck
Print Variable Loan Account Status Report
Details the balances and accrued interest of each open account

May be useful for assistance with GL reconciliation
  1. Check on the Show Accrued Interest Flag
  2. Enter the month end date as the Accrued Date

Print Variable Loan Cash Flow Report
This report will provide an indication of your expected future Cashflow, and shows the internal rate of return on your funds
  1. Select Required Report Parameters
  2. Number of months is commonly 36

Print New Contracts Report
Provides a list of new contracts within the time period specified
  1. Select Required Report Parameters. 
  2. Enter the first-last days of the month end as the date range 
Note: Open date will show all contracts with an open date in this range, Input date will show all contracts that were input into the system within this date range

Print Variable Loan Unearned Fees Report **
This report will provide the amount of fees earned in the current month for IFRS purposes

It should always be run at month end if IFRS reporting is required

End of Month Reset ***[Run] this process to post the Variable Loan transactions to the General Ledger

Unit Fund

MenuExplanationCheck
Print Account Status Report
Details the balances and accrued interest of each open account

May be useful for assistance with GL reconciliation
  1. Check on the Show Accrued Interest Flag
  2. Enter the month end date as the Accrued Date

Print Brokerage Due Report
Will show brokerage amounts due to be paid for the reporting period

Print PIE Attribution Report
This report shows by client, their unit balance, Holding %, PIR and net income received for a reporting period

It will also detail the income attributed to each PIR

The report will be run monthly for each month during an attribution period and then quarterly at the end of the attribution period for the previous 3 months

End of Month Reset ***[Run] this process to post the Unit Fund transactions to the General Ledger

Lease

MenuExplanationCheck
Print Account Status Report
Details the balances and accrued interest of each open account

May be useful for assistance with GL reconciliation
  1. Check on the Show Accrued Interest Flag
  2. Enter the month end date as the Accrued Date

Print Lease Maturity Report
This will allow you to identify any leases that are coming up for maturity so action can be taken to retrieve the asset, or sell a new lease
  1. Select Required Report Parameters 
  2. This would usually be run for a date range in the future

Print Lease Cash Flow Report
This report will provide an indication of your expected future Cashflow, and shows the internal rate of return on your funds
  1. Select Required Report Parameters
  2. Number of months is commonly 36

Print Leased Assets Depreciation and Asset Sales Report
This report will show depreciation and sales figures
  1. Select Required Report Parameters. 
  2. The usual Report Order is Asset Status

Print Leased Assets Maintenance and Instalments Report
This report will show maintenance and instalment figures
  1. Select Required Report Parameters.                       
  2. The usual Report Order is Asset Status

Print Leased Assets Sales Report
This report will show all of the assets sold within the time period specified
  1. Select Required Report Parameters. 
  2. Enter the first-last days of the month end as the date range

Print Leased Assets Tax Depreciation Report
This report will show the tax depreciation on all lease assets
  1. Select Required Report Parameters

Print New Contracts Report
Provides a list of new contracts within the time period specified
  1. Select Required Report Parameters. 
  2. Enter the first-last days of the month end as the date range 
Note: Open date will show all contracts with an open date in this range, Input date will show all contracts that were input into the system within this date range

End Of Month Reset ***
[Run] this process to post the Lease transactions to the General Ledger

Fixed Loan

MenuExplanationCheck
Print Account Status Report *
Details the balances and accrued interest of each open account

May be useful for assistance with GL reconciliation
  1. Check on the Show Accrued Interest Flag
  2. Enter the month end date as the Accrued Date

Print Fixed Loan Cash Flow Report *
This report will provide an indication of your expected future Cashflow, and shows the internal rate of return on your funds
  1. Select Required Report Parameters
  2. Number of months is commonly 36

Print Earned Interest Report *
This report will provide interest earned on Fixed Loan accounts during the month

Print Maturing Contracts Report
This will allow you to identify any fixed loans that are coming up for maturity 
  1. Select Required Report Parameters 
  2. This would usually be run for a date range in the future

Print New Contracts Report
Provides a list of new contracts within the time period specified
  1. Select Required Report Parameters. 
  2. Enter the first-last days of the month end as the date range 
Note: Open date will show all contracts with an open date in this range, Input date will show all contracts that were input into the system within this date range

Print Unearned Interest Report
This report will provide unearned interest on Fixed Loan accounts during the month

End Of Month Reset ***[Run] this process to post the Fixed Loan transactions to the General Ledger

Deposits

MenuExplanationCheck
Print Unexpired Brokerage Report **
Details the distribution of the brokerage over the life of the account
  1. Select Required Report Parameters
  2. Enter the month end date as the date
Required for GL Reconciliation to Deposit Earned / Unearned Brokerage codes

Note: The Dealer System month end MUST be run prior to the Deposit system month end

Print Deposit Account Status Report
Details the balances and accrued interest of each open account

May be useful for assistance with GL reconciliation
  1. Check on the Show Accrued Interest Flag
  2. Enter the month end date as the Accrued Date

Print Deposit Cash Flow Report 
This report will provide an indication of your expected future Cashflow, and shows the internal rate of return on your funds
  1. Select Required Report Parameters
  2. Number of months is commonly 36

Print Deposit Movement Analysis Report
This report summarises the movements of the deposit system for the month.
  1. Enter the Month Start and End dates
  2. Ensure that your [Transaction Type] buttons are setup correctly

End Of Month Reset ***[Run] this process to post the Deposit transactions to the General Ledger

Call Savings

MenuExplanationCheck
Print Account Status Report
Details the balances and accrued interest of each open account

May be useful for assistance with GL reconciliation
  1. Check on the Show Accrued Interest Flag
  2. Enter the month end date as the Accrued Date

End Of Month Reset ***[Run] this process to post the Call Account transactions to the General Ledger

Payables

MenuExplanationCheck
Print Trial Balance *
This report is necessary to reconcile the balances outstanding for each Payable Type to the General Ledger.
  1. Select Required Report Parameters
  2. Enter the month end date

Print Payable Invoices Due for Payment
This report will list all invoices due for payment up to the due date listed for each payable account

It will show the due date, amount held, amount paid, and amount still due for payment
  1. Select Required Report Parameters
  2. Enter the due date

Print Paid Invoices
This report will list all invoices paid on the date indicated
  1. Select Required Report Parameters
  2. Enter the due date
NOTE: There is one page per account so this report can be quite long

Print Transaction GL Analysis
This report will list all transactions by report order selection for the date range, GL code or GL Journal indicated
  1. Report Order – Usually GL Code or GL Number
  2. Enter the GL Journal number for which this report is to be printed.  
  3. Note that this will need to be identified from the GL system, and is only available after a month end has been run
  4. Check on ‘Suppress Details’ if only the totals are required

End Of Month Reset ***[Run] this process to post the Call Account transactions to the General Ledger

NOTE:  this is normally run a few days after that for other systems while you are awaiting final creditor invoices.

Receivables

MenuExplanationCheck
Print Invoices
The Receivable Month End will not run unless all invoices are printed.  
  1. Check the Invoice not printed flag
  2. Leave all other fields blank – this will ensure all invoices are printed
Note: If there are unprinted invoices at month a message will display indicating they must be printed before the month can be rolled

Print Trial Balance *
This report is necessary to reconcile the balances outstanding for each Receivable Type to the General Ledger
  1. Enter the month end date 

End Of Month Reset ***[Run] this process to post the Call Account transactions to the General Ledger

GL Trial Balance Reconciliation

MenuExplanationCheck
Print Trial Balance *
This is the statement of the position of the General Ledger and must be reconciled to the reports printed from each module
  1. Report Order is usually code
  2. Enter the month end date 

Check Contra/Control Account Balances ***
Year to Date balance should be 0.00

OR there should be no GL accounts under this balance sheet item

Check ‘For Reconciliation’ Balances ***
Use the Summarised Account Status Report to check the gross receivable and arrears balances for each of your account types

The account status report should match the General Ledger total

Note: Where these do not balance, the difference is usually seen in a clearing account, as the system will automatically update the General Ledger to the correct balance

Check Income Balances ***
Ensure the interest and fee income totals are correct

The Earned Interest Report can be used in conjunction with the Unearned Fees/Commission reports to check these values

Check Remaining Balances in the Balance Sheet, and the Profit and Loss SectionA ‘sanity check’ should be completed on the remaining codes to ensure that the month movement seems to be a reasonable figure

The month movement from the previous year is often a good indicator (taking into account any major business changes)

Enter Required Journals Enter any GL journals required

A new trial balance should be printed following this

Mark the trial balance as FINAL

End of Month Reset ***Defaults to Month End Date

[Run] to roll the General Ledger to the following month

AML/CFT Reporting

MenuExplanationCheck
Accounts |Print Dormant Accounts ReportThe report will return all accounts with no cashbook transactions that have occurred in the nominated number of months
  1. Enter the number of months dormant

Accounts | Print Suspicious Activity Report
This report can be run to identify:
  1. Suspicious transactions
    Eg. Transactions of high dollar values or a excessive number of transactions
  2. Reactivated dormant accounts – accounts that have not had transactions processed for a nominated amount of time, and have begun transacting again
Enter the required parameters for each report


Accounts | Print Account Transactions
This report can be run to identify the originating bank and branch for cashbook transactions
  1. Select Report Order
  2. Input Date From – Month Start Date
  3. Input Date To – Month End Date

Client | Print Client Address Change Report
This report will identify any clients who have changed their address within 3 months of their account(s) opening
  1. Select Report Order
  2. Enter the account open date range that you wish to report

Client | Print Client Details Report
This report can be used to list the clients which need to be checked to determine if they are a PEP (Politically Exposed Person)
  1. Select Report Order
  2. Check on the Include Clients w/out birthdates flag
  3. Output option – Export Report Data
Once the report is exported, you will be able to sort or filter by the column check for PEP to determine which clients need checked

Control

MenuExplanationCheck
Backup ***Take a Post Month End Backup that is independent of your normal daily backup 

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