Here is a checklist of items you can do now to get a head start on payroll and accounting tasks for the new year:
Review the payroll closing process
Watch our training videos on the year end closing and year end reporting process at https://www.datatechag.com/video/. If you have any questions about the closing process or reports it would be beneficial to call or email your questions before January.
Review Employee/Payroll Information
The end of the year is when many companies find duplicate employee accounts and employees with incomplete Social Security Numbers. You may want to start this process now before you complete your year end payroll closing.
The Employee Abbreviated/Detail Lists includes the option of running just Employees with Year to Date Wages and Bad S.S. #’s. You may also want to run the report for all employees by Alphabetic Order to look for duplicate accounts. Call Datatech’s support dept. if you need assistance moving checks.
Check your online login for the SSA Business Services Online website (electronic filers)
If you don’t regularly use the BSO website, it would be a good idea to find your login information and make sure you can easily access the site and login. If not already done so, you also need to request access to services, including submitting W-2 files. You can access the website at: www.socialsecurity.gov/bso
Make sure your G/L is in balance (for 12/31/14 filers)
Go to the General Ledger menu, Transaction and select Detail Report (Update). Select your starting and ending dates for the fiscal year. If the starting date is in a prior fiscal year, you will need to update that year first.
When the Update is complete a window will appear. If the Starting, Current and Ending Balances are zero, everything is in balance. If there is an amount in the Starting Balance, you may not have closed your prior fiscal year or you have something out of balance for the prior year. This may include your starting balances if this is the first year you are using Datatech software.
If there is an amount in the Current Period, click on the Diagnose button. This will bring up the G/L Out of Balance Diagnostic. Run the Diagnostic for the fiscal year. This will provide the dates and source journals that are out of balance. You can then call the support department with that information and they will assist you in correcting the problems.
Check A/P and A/R Aging Report Totals
Update your general ledger balances as described above. The Control Total on the A/P and A/R Aging Reports should match the Report Total of each report. The Control is your general ledger balance and is what will print on financial statements. If there are any discrepancies you can call our support department for further instruction on running the Audit reports in order to correct the balance.