Prior year entries
Entries dated before the start date of the current year are referred to as Prior Year Entries. They are fairly unusual as they may involve making changes in figures that have already been reported in the previous year’s accounts. Occasionally they can be required when prior year adjustments are needed.
Prior year entries are posted in exactly the same way as ordinary entries except that the entry date is before the year start date. The system gives a warning, "Entry dated prior to the year start date. You may also need to adjust the opening balances. Do you wish to continue?". If the user confirms the entry then it is posted.
Prior Year Nominal Entries
The heading, Prior Year Nominal Entries, refers to bank payments, receipts and journals. Prior year investment entries work differently and are described in the following section.
When a prior year nominal entry is posted it only updates the balances for the year in which it was posted. This means that if the entry was dated last year, according to the year end dates in Nominal Client Details, then only the last year balances in a trial balance are affected. No changes are made to the current year balances. The same applies if a prior year entry is edited or deleted.
Sometimes this behaviour is what you want and sometimes not. Suppose that a journal entry is made to last year that reclassifies an investment management expense as a legal expense. Then no change is required in the current year and the system is doing all that is needed. But if there is an adjustment between a current bank account and a deposit account then this change may well need to be brought forwards into the current year. So in this case the user must enter, in addition to the prior year adjustment, a current year adjustment:
|
Date |
First date of the year |
|
Description |
Adjustment to opening balance due to prior year entry |
|
Postings |
Adjust the bank account balances. |
For multicurrency clients, prior year nominal entries are allowed, but they are always treated as historic rate postings. Prior year nominal entries never alter the prior year difference on exchange, even when made to a closing rate account.
Prior Year Investment Entries
Prior year investment entries affect the investment ledger but have no affect on the nominal ledger. So if a matching change is also required in the nominal ledger then a second prior year journal entry is required. However usually no change is required in the nominal ledger. This is because prior year investment entries are usually made in connection with writing up the capital history.
One common scenario where prior year investment entries are made is when a new client is set up and there is not enough time to write up the full capital history. Instead the user enters just an opening balance for each holding which is correct for accounting purposes. Later on when there is a quieter period the user goes back and deletes the opening balance and replaces it with the full history for CGT purposes. However by this stage the client has usually been balanced forwards. So these entries are prior year investment entries. In this case the user does not want to upset the prior year trial balances. This is the reason why prior year investment entries do not affect the nominal ledger.