Reporting Periods

The page allows you to control Reporting periods for the Close the Books functionality. This includes defining fiscal periods and setting up rules for defining reporting periods.

This should be the starting point for close the books and locking. Adjustments can only be determined after this date because no data prior to this date will have been saved. For example, if you want to start using this functionality with your fiscal year starting 01/01/2011, that is the first period that will be used for locking and the first period where results will be saved. For this first period there will be no comparison to a prior period to determine if any adjustments are required. Starting with the next period, current to prior period comparisons can be made for calculation of any adjustments.

If you want to work with a fiscal year that has already been created, select the fiscal year from the drop down selection. This page automatically populates with the most recent or latest fiscal year that has been created.

To create a new fiscal year and its reporting periods, use the Create button. By clicking on the Create button any existing fiscal year data will be removed from the page and you will be able to create a new fiscal year and its corresponding reporting periods. Depending on the effective start date and the need to create multiple fiscal years, they should be created in order starting with the earliest fiscal year. This is especially important once periods start to be closed. For example, if Fiscal Year 2012 is created and periods have been closed, you will not be able to then go back and create Fiscal Year 2011 without opening the closed periods for 2012.

This section displays the fiscal year and reporting periods for any fiscal years that have been established.Select an existing fiscal year in order to display the fiscal year parameters and its underlying reporting periods. The Fiscal year dates entered will drive how the pre-defined reporting periods are established.

Period Frequency – Use the Period Frequency to establish a different reporting period timeframe between Expense and Deferred Tax. For example, you may have monthly reporting periods for your Expense entries but quarterly or annual periods for your Deferred Tax entries. When the periods are different or when they are both Custom, there will be separate Pre-Defined Reporting Period sections; one for Expense and one for Deferred Tax.

Close On Results – When Expense and Deferred Tax have the same Period Frequency (except Custom), use Close On Results to determine if reporting periods can be Closed when only Expense results exist or if both Expense and Deferred Tax results must exist.

Auto-populate Pre- Defined Reporting Periods – When checked, the system will automatically populate the pre-defined reporting periods based on the Fiscal Year, Start Date, End Date, and Period Frequency established in this section. Periods can be automatically populated only when the Start Date is the first day of a month and when the End Date is the last day of a month.

Create Periods – Use the Create Periods button to populate the Pre-Defined Reporting Periods section of the page with the number of periods corresponding to the Period Frequency. This button can be used when periods are first being created for a new fiscal year or if certain parameters related to an existing fiscal year are changed.

This section displays all of the reporting periods associated with the fiscal year. Except when the Period Frequency is Custom, the number of reporting periods must reconcile to the Period Frequency. For example, if Expense has a Period Frequency of Monthly, there must be 12 Expense periods. If Deferred Tax has a Period Frequency of Quarterly, there must be 4 Deferred Tax periods. If Expense and Deferred Tax have the same Period Frequency of Quarterly, there must be 4 periods (representing both Expense and Deferred Tax).

Each reporting period must have a Period Name, Start Date, and an End Date in order to Save the Fiscal Year and its Pre-Defined Reporting Periods. A Lock Date must be provided in order to close a period. Reporting periods must be chronological and there can be no gaps between periods.

A Lock Date is used to determine if certain transactions are to be included in or excluded from each reporting period. Lock dates must exist before periods can be closed.

Closing a period can be automatically set up when an Expense Dataset or Expense and Deferred Tax Datasets are generated for the pre-defined period and when the auto-save checkbox is checked on the report page(s). Auto-save will occur during an overnight process. Or if you prefer to manage period closes yourself, you can select an Expense Dataset or both an Expense and Deferred Tax Dataset from the Dataset Manager and Close the period. Closing a period will cause certain grant-level data and values from the datasets to be saved.

You can open a closed period by selecting the Open icon. This will cause the saved results for the period to be deleted. The corresponding Close the Books datasets will also be deleted including the Expense Dataset, Out of Period Transactions Dataset, and Closed Period Results dataset. Periods must be opened in sequence starting with the latest period associated with the fiscal year