Accountant’s Involvement During Start Up
Oneir Solutions Inc highly recognizes that a solid foundation goes a long way to ensuring long term customer satisfaction and to achieving ultimate control. Key aspects to this foundation are the establishment of the accounting Chart of Accounts, setting the fiscal periods and assigning security.
Oneir Solutions has a standard Chart of Accounts which may be set up within minutes, however, the ability to customize the Chart of Accounts provides the flexibility and complexity required by many clients. As the Chart of Accounts is the basic building block of meaningful information reporting, we emphasize your participation in this design area.
It is critical that the fiscal periods are properly defined when the system is set up. Failure to do so will result in incorrect reporting periods and requires extensive extra-to-contract programming to attempt to redefine after data has been recorded. It would be very beneficial to your clients to have your professional review of the fiscal periods before operations begin in order that the system meets the client’s and government’s requirements.
Note that Oneir Solutions currently uses a 3 year open accounting period system. The ending date of each fiscal period can be adjusted to meet the specific needs of your client. For example, they may require the last Saturday of the month to be the period closing date or equal number of weeks in each quarter. Adjusting entries can be made at any time of the fiscal months within the 3 open years. Supervisors can control the periods accessible to the operator by locking out closed fiscal periods.
Should adjusting entries be required to a closed fiscal period, the supervisor has the authority to reopen a closed period to accept the entries. It is not necessary to stop daily operations at month end or year end, other than during the inventory physical count. Adjusting year end entries can be back dated whenever they become available from the external auditor, and reports generated to reflect actual ending balances. Year end closing of the system is not necessary until the fourth year is required to be opened. Oneir Solutions software will then, upon operator’s confirmation, consolidate the detail of the first year on the file, showing the ending balances as opening balances for the following year. The forth year then becomes “This Year” and is ready for activity.
Control of information accessibility is handled through security password levels within the Oneir Solutions. The level is based on the responsibility and authority assigned to the employee. Because of the importance of security within an accounting system, we recommend consultation with your client to ensure that the correct measurements are implemented to maintain integrity of the system and control of sensitive financial information.
Phasing In Oneir Solutions With Regards To The Accounting
Your client is either using a manual system or another accounting software package to do their accounting. This system should be maintained in parallel with Oneir Solutions until Oneir is up and running live. With Oneir, the opening balances for the General Ledger can be posted at any time. We recommend that your clients wait until they have all the other aspects of the business on Oneir before these balances are posted.
We advise that you coordinate with your clients and our Customer Support team to ensure that the controls are in place during the “phase in” period. We also suggest that you perform periodic reviews to verify that procedures you recommend are implemented.
Once Up and Running
We strongly urge that daily and monthly controls are set in place for cash, subledger and general ledger management. These should include utilizing the X&Z Report in the retail environment and deposit slip reports. Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable aged reports balanced with the general ledger, as well as Inventory and WIP Inventory, and preparing the bank reconciliation.
It is also recommended that financial statements be printed and Balance Sheet items verified- ensure that the banks reconcile subledgers: Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Inventory and Work In Process, balance to the general ledger control accounts, prepaid/customer deposits reconcile. Income Statement should be reviewed to ensure all expanses allocations have been made.
In addition to the financial aspects, there are many other performance measures available within Oneir Solutions software through reports such as the ABC Stratification, Sales & Gross Margin, Inventory and Customer Sales Analysis. Reporting capability is extensive within Oneir and has been designed to provide management with the critical information required to monitor and control business activity.
Set Up Budgets
Another area of performance measurement of which to take advantage is the establishment and maintenance of budgets. Oneir Solutions provides you the opportunity to work with your clients during the initial budgeting set up and to train your clients in the comparison of performance against budget.
Year End Closing
With Oneir Solutions “open accounting periods”, there are no special closing procedures required pertaining to the Income Statement Accounts. Prior to visiting your client, you should have them prepare for you by printing their Trial Balance and Financial Statements. Ask them to reconcile their Bank(s), Accounts Receivable Ledger and Accounts Payable Ledger. In addition, the physical inventory count is normally required. Oneir Solutions Stock Taking assists with this procedure and provides a variance report for audit purposes. Preparing these in advance will save you time during your audit and tax return preparation.
After these documents are prepared and a final copy of the General Ledger Trial Balance has been printed, you should ensure that no more postings prior to presenting the Year-End Adjustments to your client. To carry this out, go to the General Ledger and Close Fiscal Periods with the Year-End Date. Note that this procedure can be carried out at any time during the year if you are reporting to a parent company and you do not wish to have any changes made to the submitted reports.
Note that any Closing Entries that affect the Control Accounts should be made directly through the Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable applications so that these accounts are kept in balance.
Oneir Solutions has excellent reporting features to provide a strong basis for yearend Working Papers. A combination of the General Ledger Account Detail and the Audit Trail reports provide complete analysis of data which is available for exporting to Working Paper software such as CaseWare.
