Reprinted from Financial Operations Matters magazine Q4 2012, www.financialops.org Created by Cheryl Clancy and Chrys Olson
2012 Year-‐End Checklist for Accounts Receivable CLOSING OUT 2012 Purchase orders
p Close POs for year-‐end. p Issue new POs for the upcoming year.
Pricing p Update price tables for the new year.
Receivables p Make a final attempt to collect on items that are very past due. p Write off uncollectable items. p Send potential collectables to collection agency. p Review credit balances for customers based on yearly usage, and adjust limits. p Enter all shipment, tooling, pro forma, and manual invoices into the system. p Request an invoice selection list from external and Sarbanes-‐Oxley auditors and
do as much preparation as possible before the year ends. p Ensure that all documents are either imaged or filed for easy access.
Customer master file p Make any corrections necessary to the customer master file. p Enter new customers and employees into the customer master file. p Assign hold status to any customers not active in the past year.
Cash flow p Complete cash flow out through the end of the month. p Complete cash flow out through the end of the calendar year. p Complete cash flow out through the first month of the new year.
Reporting p Produce an AR aging report as of the last day of the year. p Complete all requests for AR balances for customers who are being audited.
Policies and procedures p Jot down ideas for next year to flesh out later (including year-‐end and daily
activities). p Update process steps for current activity items. p Create a wish list of potential automatic enhancements.
KICKING OFF 2013
p As shipments and expenses take place after the first of the new year, follow the procedures in your company for booking them to the general ledger.
p Prepare metrics schedules and run information reports on the previous year’s activities for management.
p Work with external auditors to provide and explain documents they select for audit.