At this time every year, we take a look back at how things have transpired for our business. We look at our budgets and financial statements. Then, we compare to what we projected for this past year. As you know, Aspire has become an important tool for reviewing your business and for planning for the future.
It's important to:
📈 Use those reports in the system,
👀 Look at your opportunities
🔎 Review where you did well and where you can do better in the future
⏲️ Take the time to analyze and plan
🧠 In preparation of the new year, it is time to clear out the old and plan for the new!
Your Tax/Accounting Firm typically starts looking at what will be needed to complete your Financial Statements, whether they are audited or reviewed. They will send out a checklist of items they will need to finalize the financials and for the filing of your annual tax returns.
🌟 The great thing about Aspire is you already have a checklist of items that should have been reviewed on a monthly basis and that you can use for that final year end close in Aspire.
We call it the EOM Checklist. It was presented to you when you were implementing Aspire and at various other times you were able to download the checklist from our Knowledge Base.
In the latest version of the EOM Checklist, there are hyperlinks to a 5-10 minute video for each task on the list which explains the whys and the how to of each task.
These videos will refresh the memory of those who may have skipped an item or two here and there, and/or just for those that need a refresher of the process.
For your final close of the year, you may want to go through the EOM Checklist as if you were cleaning out your closets for the last time to make way for the new or check out our Annual System Cleanup article.
In general, here are the areas of Aspire and what to review:
Purchase Receipts
Go through Purchase Receipts that are in ‘New’ status. If there has been something on the list for quite a while, maybe it is time to remove it from the list.
Too many items on your ‘Received’ list? Did you receive the vendor invoice? Was another purchase receipt inadvertently created for the vendor invoice? Take a good look at this list, are there items that have been on this list just a wee bit too long. Maybe it is time to decide what to do with them?
True up your ‘Approved’ Purchase Receipts for the year, take a minute and make sure that the Vendor Bills match the Approved Purchase Receipts for the year.
Work Ticket Lists
Review your Work Ticket Lists and clean them up!
Are there open and scheduled tickets that have been hanging out for way too long?
If there are tickets that need to be canceled, make it happen.
Are there scheduled tickets that need to be completed but have been hanging around for the last little bit of information? Maybe it is time to find out where or why that information has not hit the ticket and make a decision.
Inventory
Time to take a physical inventory count?
Make those adjustments to your inventory in Aspire.
Balance your inventory in Aspire with the Inventory Holding Accounts on your balance sheet.
Make sure that the ‘Extra’ costs have been credited from your Inventory Holding Accounts and expensed on your P&L.
Accounts Receivable
Reconcile the Deposits/Payments in Aspire with your Accounting System.
Be sure to reconcile the Invoices and Credit Memos in Aspire with the EOM Report Revenue Tab.
Reconcile your Accounts Receivable ‘Aspire System’ customer with the Accounts Receivable in Aspire.
Retainage
(For clients who withhold retainage from progress invoices only.)
Reconcile the Retainage in Aspire with your balance sheet account where you book retainage.
Over/Under
Look at your Over/Under for the entire time that you have been in Aspire.
Make sure to reconcile it to the account on your balance sheet where you book the monthly Over/Under if you are entering Earned Revenue in your accounting system.
Drill into your Over/Under number on the EOM Report and be sure to take care of any outstanding items.
Reconcile, reconcile, reconcile.
Revenue Variance
At the end of the year, this account really needs a good looking over. Adjust your revenue accordingly and reconcile again.
🧠 Going through the EOM Checklist on a monthly basis will eliminate the possibility of errors and catch if there are errors. (hint, hint, closing December with the EOM Checklist in Aspire will be just like closing any other month of the year.)
If you need additional help in closing out your year, you can find more information on the Knowledge Base by searching for ‘EOM’ or by clicking on one of the hyperlinks in this document for the EOM Checklist.