End of Year Close Information
There isn't one "right" way to close one year and start the next, but there are lots of wrong ways to do it.  The End of Year Closing for IPM is only confusing if you're trying to do it by rote.  Once you understand the process, you can do it your way without any problems.   We're NOT Accountants, so we cannot offer any advice about Accounting issues. What we can do is tell you how to use our software. Here are the major things you need to understand about the closing:

1. Your database.  A database is the physical file on your PC that contains your checkbooks, properties, tenants, owners etc.  You need to know the name and location of your database (hint: it's shown on the caption bar of IPM). IPM uses Microsoft Access databases that can be identified by the file extension of ".mdb" at the end of the name.

2. A backup backs up the entire database. A backup is nothing more than a compressed copy of your database, with a different name. So if you have a database named "mydata07.mdb" you can create a backup named "Pooky.bku" or "EOY07.bku" or anything else, and it still will contain a compressed version of "mydata07.mdb".

3. You need a copy of your database for the new year.  Whether you use "save as" to create a copy of your 2007 database or let the EOY Wizard do it for you, you need to have a copy for the new year.  You do your "close" in the new year's database. 

4. Make sure you're on the latest release of IPM 2007.  The current release is always free to maintenance plan members, and can be installed directly from the web here. The current release at this writing is 2007.11. The update number is available in your installation of IPM on the caption bar at the top or in the menu's Help/About IPM dialog.  All you need to do to update your installation is run the "IPM 2007.11 Service Pack." Sorry, there's no support for older versions or anyone not on Maintenance!

5. After the close... 

  • You can always go back to your 2007 database by using File/Open - but you need to know the name of your 2007 database, and where it is!
  • You need to print your 1099s. We recommend you do that from your 2007 database. This allows you to run the "Vendor End of Year Close" on your 2008 database immediately: this is necessary to zero out the YTD figures for your vendors for 2008.
  • You can continue to make changes to your 2007 database, but REMEMBER any changes that effect cash or any other figure you carry forward to 2008 will require changes to the 2008 database  Fiscal Start Total or a journal entry in 2008.

Still want more? Watch our  EOY Webinar!

 

Steps for the EOY Close using the EOY Wizard
1. Complete as much data entry as possible in all checkbooks for 2007 in your current database. You don't want outstanding 2007 income or expenses on ANY checkbook in the database. Post everything that should apply to 2007.

2. Print everything you need from your 2007 database, even Vendor and Owner 1099s.  Keep in mind that you can always go back to the 2007 database and print additional or amended reports.

3. If all your checkbooks are on the same fiscal year (i.e. same starting month and same calendar year) and are all ready to close, you can use the EOY Wizard. Otherwise, the wizard will warn you that you need to use the "advanced" button and do the EOY close on each checkbook.

Steps for the EOY Close using the "Advanced" Button

1. Complete as much data entry as possible in all checkbooks for 2007 in your current database. You don't want outstanding 2007 income or expenses on ANY checkbook in the database. Post everything that should apply to 2007.

2. Print everything you need from your 2007 database, even Vendor and Owner 1099s.  Keep in mind that you can always go back to the 2007 database and print additional or amended reports.

3. Use the File menu's "Backup IPM database" option to create a backup of your 2007 data for later reference. We recommend using a unique file name like "EOY07Data.bku". Using Windows Explorer, copy this file to a CD or disk and keep it someplace safe.

4. Use the File menu's "Save As" option to create a copy of your database for 2008. We recommend naming the new database with the last 2 digits of the year - like "mydata07.mdb." Remember, IPM only supports 8-character file names, and will abbreviate  longer names with "~1" or "~2".   Make sure you're creating the database on the correct drive, too - that may be a network drive. So if your current database is "Z:\IpmData\APTS07.mdb",  you need to create "Z:\IpmData\APTS08.mdb" for 2008.

At the end of the Save As process, IPM will switch to the new database. Check the caption bar at the top of IPM to see the new name.

5. NOW you can run the EOY "Advanced" button on every checkbook in the 2008 database. Select "End of Year Close" from the Closes menu, then click the Advanced button.  Click Process.  Repeat this step for each checkbook.

6. If you're on "cash" accounting and haven't run the January closing ("Create Charges") or you're on "accrual" accounting you will need to set your posting date to 12/31/2007 and run your "Create Charges (EOM)" on each checkbook.