Fiscal Year-End here, again? Here’s your closing procedures refresher for Dynamics GP

As we all already know, our fiscal year-end doesn’t have to line up with our calendar year-end. In fact, many businesses have fiscal year-ends right around now—mid-year. If you’re thinking about closing procedures and don’t remember every step (we only do it once a year, after all), we’ve got you covered. Here’s your refresher for Dynamics GP fiscal year-end closing procedures.

And stick around to the end of the blog for a few resources to jumpstart your close!

First, are there any changes for closing mid-year?

There’s really only one change, and you’re probably already be aware of it. Instead of closing the calendar year and the fiscal year, you just close the fiscal year. You—or some other admin in your organization—has already closed your calendar year for tax purposes. So when we talk about closing the calendar year in our webinar and documentation, just skip those steps.

What do I need to do to prepare for close?

Since closing procedures rarely differ from year to year, we’ll pull this information straight from our 2022 year-end blog with just a few shifts to account for closing mid-calendar year.

The 2022 Year-End Update for Dynamics GP included Release Wave 2, rolled out last October, along with the end of basic authentication. The update can be installed at any time for supported versions to ensure your GP system is compliant with year-end financial filing requirements and includes all past GP updates. Remember, you must opt-in to at least one of the yearly updates to continue using GP in its extended lifecycle.

We recommend getting in touch with your Microsoft Partner to ask any questions – or even get a guided walk-through – for year-end closing.  Don’t wait to schedule a time with the representatives on your team.

Next up, you need to know the version of GP that you are using. If you don’t know offhand, you can find that info in 2 places:

• Upon sign-in, the initial GP sign-in popup box includes the version:

Next up, you need to know the version of GP that you are using. If you don’t know offhand, you can find that info in 2 places:

• Upon sign-in, the initial GP sign-in popup box includes the version:

In preparation for the update, consider this a “to-do” checklist.

• Updates are disruptive to normal work processes because they need to be installed on each workstation/computer where GP is used and because all users need to exit the application until the update is complete. So be sure to schedule your update when you have the least (or no) users needing the system.

• Back up company databases and ensure those backups are complete before applying any update or patch files.

• Test 3rd party add-ons, integrations, and customizations before completing the update.

• Allow a cushion time for testing and training for the upgrades.

Check out Microsoft’s GP upgrade checklist for more information on a recommended upgrade timeline and what to expect at each step in the upgrade process.

For an overview of GP year-end procedures, review Microsoft’s complete guide—updated to include the most current information and annual changes.

Watch our last webinar for year-end closing

Speaking of our webinar…we’ve linked that here for you to watch. Syvantis CEO and CPA Janelle Riley walks you through the steps for closing GP and she also answers the most-asked questions we get from our clients during closing. And again, though this webinar says it’s for 2022, the procedures are the same—save anything related to closing the calendar year. Watch the webinar on YouTube→

Access our Year-End Documentation

It’s easy to forget a step in a process—like fiscal year-end—that you only do once a year. So, we’ve created a step-by-step PDF guide for closing procedures for GP, and we update it every year. We’re happy to share it with you. (And, to hammer it home just one more time, skip any steps for closing the calendar year!)

Schedule a closing call with a consultant

If closing is too time consuming, causes you stress, or you just want to make sure you do it right, we can assist. We often walk our clients, step-by-step, through year-end procedures—and we’re happy to do this for you!