Establishing Your Current G/L Accounting Period

Since SchoolLeader accounting is accounting period based, it is important to know which G/L accounting period you are in, before you start any G/L functions.

There are two ways to determine your current G/L accounting period:

• Option 1: click on ACCOUNTING from the main menu, then click DEFINE FISCAL CALENDAR.  The Fiscal Calendar window will open.  Enter the fiscal year, select General Ledger, and then click on FETCH CURRENT CALENDAR.  Your fiscal calendar is displayed.  Use the scroll bar to scroll up or down to locate the current period.  It will be highlighted in green, and the status will say OPEN.

• Option 2: click on ACCOUNTING , then click GENERAL LEDGER, then select EDIT G/L KEDGER ACCOUNT BALANCES. The Account Viewer will open and be positioned to the current Accounting Period.  Pressing the circle button in the control box ALWAYS brings you to the current accounting period.

Remember to stay aware of which accounting period is your current period.  The dates corresponding to the accounting period are always displayed alongside the accounting period.  Common mistakes can occur when you loose track of which period is currently open.

Establishing Your Current G/L Accounting Period

During initial setup of FrontDesk Manager, we have defined the fiscal calendars, but we have left the current G/L accounting period set to 1.  This has been done for two reasons:

1. We do not know when our customers will begin using the accounting functions and how they will set up their fiscal calendars.
2. Some customers choose to go back in time to reflect bills and payments made/received earlier in the year, even though the 'real' calendar says it's July.  For these customers, they will enter:
   - all of their A/R and A/P activity into the correct period
   - close that period using the A/R and A/P bookclose process
   - enter the next period's A/R and A/P activity
   - close that period using the bookclose process, and so on.  
   This process will continue until their A/R and A/P fiscal calendars matches the 'real' calendar.

Advancing the G/L Fiscal Calendar

Before advancing your G/L fiscal calendar, first ensure that your A/R and A/P fiscal calendars are accurate, and all periods are closed that need to be closed.  For example, if you want to advance your G/L calendar to May 2002, then your A/R and A/P calendars must already be closed through April 2002.  You G/L is tied to your A/R and A/P activity.

To advance your fiscal calendar, first determine the accounting period you want to be in:

• click on ACCOUNTING

• click on DEFINE FISCAL CALENDAR

• Enter your fiscal year

• select "General Ledger" from the three options

• click on FETCH CURRENT CALENDAR.  Your fiscal calendar is displayed.  Use the scroll bar to scroll up or down to locate the current period.  It will be highlighted in green, and the status will say OPEN.   View the calendar and determine which period represents the 'real' calendar period.  For example, Period 5 may represent 5/01/02 - 5/31/02.  Remember the period number.

• click on ADVANCE CURRENT PERIOD

• use the up and down arrows to display the period you want to be your current period.

• click on ADVANCE; you will be prompted with a warning message.  Click on YES if you want to advance to the displayed period, or NO if you want to cancel.

Your current G/L accounting period has now been established, and you can begin using the SchoolLeader G/L functions.