Problem:
I want to start my New Year payroll but I have not closed last years. Are there things I should do before I close my old year?
Solution:
Before closing the current payroll year you should make sure that you have installed the updated version of Paymate for Windows. Closing the current year enables you to begin processing payroll for the New Year. Select CLOSE YEAR form the YEAR END menu on the main Paymate window.
NOTE: You do not need to run you’re T4, T4A or Relevé 1 slips before closing the year, this can be done at a later date, such as January or February. You can always return to the previous year to either get information or run T4’s etc. at any time.
When you close the year, you will be presented with a series of dialogs telling you exactly what to do, and informing you of any exceptional circumstances. You can cancel closing the year at any time.
Closing the year will not change any data, with the exception of marking the year as having been closed. If you need to go back and make changes to the payroll information later, run reports, or anything else, you will still be able to do so.
In most cases, the only decisions you will have to make are:
- Whether you want to make a backup of the data. By default, Paymate will prompt you to make a backup, but you are given the choice of skipping it. Making a backup is strongly recommended simply because it is good housekeeping procedure, and having a backup of your previous year’s data as it was when you closed the year may come in handy six months down the road. Even if you back up to a network for year end we strongly recommend that you back up to a diskette as well.
- Whether you want terminated employees brought forward to the New Year. By default, Paymate will not carry forward terminated employees. If you expect to be re-hiring a number of these employees in the New Year, then you will want to carry them forward.
After backing up your company’s data files, the close procedure will do the following:
- Create a new folder on the hard disk for the New Year.
- Create the company database files for the New Year.
- Copy employee setup information to the New Year, except for any terminated employees (unless you have specified otherwise).
- Carry over any accruals, such as Vacation Pay and Sick Pay owing.
- Generate a new payroll calendar for each Payroll Group.
Once the year is closed, you can start processing payroll for the New Year. To do this you have to re-select the company from the Select Company window. Make sure that you specify which year you want to access by checking that the current year on the select company screen is set to the year you want to use.
Exceptional Situations:
The following exceptional situations may arise. If they do you will receive a descriptive warning message before the year is closed.
- You have already closed the year. This is just a warning. There is no harm in continuing.
- Data already exists for the New Year. If you have already closed the year, there will probably already be a database set up for the New Year. There is no point in continuing unless you want to start the New Year all over again from scratch. If you have already started processing payroll for the New Year, and you choose to continue, this information will be lost.
- There are un-posted timesheets. Cancel closing the year and make sure that you have posted all timesheets from the last payroll run.
- You have set up benefits or deductions categories that are flagged as being carried forward to the New Year. This is quite all right, if you are sure of what you are doing. For example, if your employees buy into Canada Savings Bonds, which run from November to October, this is normal. However, you may have set up a benefit or deduction category improperly. If you do not want the Year to Date totals for the item to be brought forward to the New Year, cancel closing, select PAYROLL CATEGORIES from the SETUP menu on the main Paymate screen and select the payroll category and put a check mark in the box that says reset year to date totals at year end.