Work the close checklist
The Close page keeps a checklist for each period end. Tasks tied to a check complete themselves when a scan comes back clean, so the list keeps up with GP.
Start a close
- Open Month-end in the menu and choose Close checklist.
- Under Checklists, pick the Period end.
- Leave Close type on From the fiscal calendar, or pick Month end, Quarter end or Year end.
- Choose Start close.
The checklist starts from the company's close steps: every month's steps, plus the quarter-end steps at quarter end and the year-end steps at year end. Steps for GP modules the company doesn't use are left out. Each period end has one checklist; choose Open on an earlier one to see it.
Every company's close
If you can see more than one company, the Close page also lists each company's close for a month: Complete and reviewed, Complete, waiting for review, how many tasks are left, or Not started. It starts on last month; pick another month in the list beside it. Open checklist goes to that company's checklist. Tasks Ledger Doctor completed itself, from a clean check, don't need a review.
Pick All companies in the list at the top right to see only this, without one company's checklist. The same list is at the top of My work for all your companies. A company that uses the close checklist but has no checklist for last month shows "October close not started" (for example) in the company list and in the strip under the menu, for people who can start one.
The checklist
Tasks are grouped by section, with the assignee, the due date and a status: Complete, On track, At risk or Overdue (see statuses). Due dates are a number of business days after the period end. "Waits for:" under a task names a step that has to finish first.
Complete a task
- By hand: type a note if you like, and choose Mark complete. Your name and the time are recorded.
- Verified from GP by a check: the task completes itself when its check comes back clean. After you fix something in GP, choose Recheck on the task, or Rescan now at the top of the page. If the check still finds problems, you can still mark it complete, but a note is required to say why.
- Verified on the Flux page: completes when every flagged account change is explained. See Explain account changes.
- Verified on the Reconciliations page: completes when every account due is reconciled and reviewed. See Reconcile balance sheet accounts.
- Verified in GP's Fiscal Periods Setup: "Close the period" completes when GP shows the period closed.
Tie-out tasks (AP, AR, Fixed Assets and bank reconciliations) have a button to download that tie-out as of the period end, or as of today if the period hasn't ended yet. Download all tie-outs and Download close binder are at the top of the checklist.
Attach files to a task
Choose Files beside a task to attach the support for it: a PDF, Excel, Word, CSV, text or image file up to 10 MB. Anyone who can see the close can download them; Processors and Approvers can attach and remove them. They go into the close binder, in a folder per task. Removing a file from a task that was already reviewed clears the review, so it's reviewed again with what's there now.
Change a task
Choose Edit on a task to change its assignee or due date, then Save. The assignee is picked from a list of the people who can complete tasks in this company (see who can be assigned); choose Nobody to unassign it. Approvers also get Remove from this checklist, and for built-in steps, Remove and turn off for future closes. Completed tasks stay as the record.
Add a task
Under the checklist, fill in Add a task: title, section, how many business days after the period end it's due, assignee and details. Repeat decides whether it's for This close only or carries forward: Every close from now on, Every quarter end or Every year end. Only approvers can add a task that repeats.
Who can be assigned, and the emails they get
A task can go to anyone with the Processor or Approver role for the company: given to them in Security, directly or through an Active Directory group. Until Security is turned on, it's everyone who has opened Ledger Doctor in the last year. Someone who hasn't opened Ledger Doctor yet appears once they do, or once their group's members can be read from Active Directory. Names and email addresses come from Active Directory; anyone can give a different address under My preferences. "(no email address)" next to a name means they won't get emails until they add one there.
Each of these emails is on for everyone, and each person can turn any of them off in My preferences:
- Assigned to you, as soon as someone else assigns you a task. Starting a close sends one email per person for all their tasks.
- Due soon, each weekday morning at 7:00: your tasks due today or the next business day, in every company. When they're in more than one company, the email names each company with how many are overdue and due soon there, and the subject says which companies.
- Overdue, in the same morning email.
- Close complete, to the company's approvers, once, when every task on a close is complete.
The emails use the mail server set up for the daily email. If it isn't set up, tasks are still saved and assigned; the page says the email wasn't sent.
A task assigned before version 0.23 to a name that isn't a Ledger Doctor user (a team name, say) keeps it, shown as "(can't complete tasks here)", until someone picks a person.