With the calendar year end upon us, we wanted to once again send a quick reminder to those of you with a Fiscal Year ending December 31st. First is a summary of your options for when you actually physically execute your year end.  Second are a few links to documents that can assist you with finalizing your MS-61 Report and generating a database backup.

Keep in mind, if your municipality has a January – December Fiscal Year you have two options for when you actually perform your upcoming 2013 Fiscal Period Close (Utilities | Close Period):

1. Close on January 1st: You can choose to run all of your reports, balance for the year, and close the fiscal year on January 1st (or immediately thereafter such as, for example, the morning of January 2nd). This option allows you to then post payments for January and is recommended for those towns with a 2013P02 due date in January. However, be aware that once you close you will not be able to post payments with a payment date of December.
2. Leave your books open and close by January 10th: By law, you can leave your books open for ten days into the next fiscal year, in order to post any payments you receive for December. Keep in mind that you should only be processing payments during this time, not assigning credits or posting abatements. All other transactions should have been completed prior to year end. Note, this option will not allow you to post January payments until after you have closed your fiscal year.

It is up to you on which option you prefer, but remember that if you balance and run your reports on December 31st and subsequently post a payment or process any transaction (assign a credit, process an abatement, delete a transaction) you will need to rerun your reports.  Note that if you do any work after December 31st and want it to be reflected on your Monthly Balance Report you will need to call us in order to recapture their report.

We have prepared a PDF summary of the above information that you may wish to download and print and have available as you prepare for your close.

Lastly, we have also provide documents that review in more detail instructions for reviewing your MS-61, as well as instructions for creating a backup of your data.

As always, do not hesitate to contact us if you have questions or concerns.

Avitar Software Support