Balance Forward Entry

A balance forward Recurring Calculation is the recommended way to create an opening balance at the beginning of a new fiscal year. The recurring calculation is set up to look at the prior year transaction information and use that data to calculate a beginning balance for the current fiscal year.

The RC is broken down into steps by object type (AS, LI, FB, etc.). Depending upon the complexity of fiscal year end closing, the RC could be as few as three records or as many as needed to get the balance forward posting for the organization. The first step is to bring forward the Asset balances.

In RCUPRC:

• On the Main tab, enter an ID, description and select a category. When naming RCs, adopt a naming convention that helps identify the RC's purpose. It is advisable that if you are creating separate RCs for individual Funds or grouping of funds that you use a naming convention that will allow you to easily identify each of the RCs. Optionally, assign a Primary selection class as well as setting the RC to Active in the "Activation Controls" section.
• On the Data Items tab, select a category. Click the Build List button to show all the data for the selected category. Previously selected items will remain selected. Select the Optimize List button to remove unselected data items for the category. For instance, selecting category GLTRNS_GL allows selection of data based on transactional information or items in GLUPKY or GLUPOB. The selected data items determine at what level the information will be summarized. It also determines what items will be available for use on the Calculation section of the Steps tab, as well as the Output tab.
• On the Steps tab:
  • In the top portion, assign the step an ID and a description. Identify the table and column you want the RC to analyze for the dates that will be used to limit the number of records being returned. You may use three-character codes for symbolic start and end dates (e.g., for fiscal year end you would use FYB and FYE, respectively).
  • On the Filter tab, set up a filter to determine the subset of records that the step will process.
  • On the Calculations tab, set up the calculations necessary for the step to generate the values used in the Output or for use in a subsequent step/calculation.
• On the Output tab, set up the output for creating the Balance Forward entry.

For fiscal year end, forward entries would be created for Assets, Liabilities, Fund Balance, and Net Income.