Why the Fiscal Year Close in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 Is So Important, and How to Get It Right

When a company finalizes its accounts for a particular year using Microsoft Dynamics AX and doesn't want to make any further changes in that year, it can then close that year by using 'Fiscal Year Close'.

At that point, the records of that year will be available only for view. No more changes are possible in that year. If you have filed your returns for any particular year and don't need to make any changes, you can close that year.

You can close individual years only serially. i.e., the record of the first financial year will be closed first and then the next. You can't close a recent year if any of the previous years is not closed.

But, not surprisingly, it's all more complicated than that. Here are suggestions to close the previous fiscal year and prepare for the new one:

Pre-Requisites

1.    Complete month-end and other period closings in all modules other than General ledger.
2.    Reconcile the modules and the ledger.
3.    Print the Trial balance, Account statement, Financial statement, and required reconciliation reports.
4.    Set appropriate periods to Stopped for the current fiscal year.
5.    Update the company currency value of balances and transactions in foreign currencies in ledger accounts with current exchange rates in the Exchange adjustment form.
6.    Click General ledger > Periodic > Sales tax payment > Sales tax payment to calculate the sales tax that is due for a specific period.
7.    Back up your company's data.

Related General Ledger Parameters for Fiscal Year Close:

Delete close-of-year transactions during transfer:
If this check box is selected, opening transactions and system-generated closing transactions that exist for the year ...