Period Close

The Period Close option allows you to close a period and start a new accounting period. There are no predetermined or automatic closings in Eclipse. The length of any period is ultimately at your discretion, however we do recommend weekly periods (Monday to Sunday), as these are the usual reporting periods in the Film Industry and furthermore facilitate the reporting to most Government and Statutory bodies. Eclipse allows flexibility in closing periods as transactions can be posted to not only your current period but to any prior periods or one future period.

All users must have closed Eclipse before you close the Period. This is because your users may be in the middle of posting items when the period closes, and the items will then be posted in the wrong period.

You can view currently logged in users by selecting Control Table > User Security > Currently Logged in Users.

Importance of Period Close

The closing of periods will allow you to keep track of your data so that you have accurate and historical records to refer to in the future. Ensuring your data is closed within their respective periods is very important.

Here are some reasons why:

Enables the user to perform easy chronological inquiries and reports.
Facilitates the correct reporting to most Government and Statutory bodies for such things as Group Tax, Superannuation, Payroll Tax, and Indirect Tax Returns, etc.
Enables reconciliation of accounts in set periods

Period Close Window

1. From the Main Menu Bar select General Ledger > Period Close

Report Section

List - Will print all transactions posted to General Ledger for the current period.
List and Close Period - Will print and close all posted costs from the General Ledger for the current period. This will start a new accounting period.
Bible - Will print every posted transaction from the General Ledger.
Close without Printing - Will close accounting period without printing General Ledger transactions for the current period.

Period Close Options Section

Current Period - Period in which you are currently working in and posting transactions to.
Next Period - Period after present period, that you will be your new period if you close.
Future Period - Period after next period.
Clear Costs this Period - Clear costs in current period for Financial reports. This will clear your period variances. If you untick this, cost amounts will not be cleared and amounts will accumulate into respective accounts.
Don’t Clear Notes - Tick this to keep your Budget Worksheet notes. If you do not tick this, they will be wiped when you close the period.

To close a period, please follow procedure:

Before closing the Period, make sure everyone else has logged out of Eclipse and you are the only user logged in. You can check who is logged in from the Control Table > User Security > Currently Logged on Users

1. From the Main Menu Bar select General Ledger > Period Close

2. Make sure all batches are posted (for the period you are closing)

3. Make sure you have run and finalised your Cost Report. After close period, all period costs are set to zero.

4. Backup your data, see Creating a Backup of your Database.

5. Select the List and Close Period report type to Close the Period. The other report types will generate period reports, but will not close the period.

NOTE: The default report selection when you open the period close window is to just print a list report. You need to select the list and close period option to actually close the period.

6. The Clearing costs options boxes will only become active when you choose Option 2 - List and Close Period

Clear Costs this Period - After closing the period, the current period will be updated to the next period, and the next period will be updated to the future period (as entered by the user).

Users have a choice of not clearing costs this period. In this case the period will be updated, but the costs this period will remain unchanged. This must be done when closing periods for VAT submission purposes. See here: Closing a Period after a VAT Submission (Without Clearing Costs).

This can also be very useful when processing payroll in Pre-Production or Post-production which may require weekly processing for Tax and other purposes, whilst Cost Reports are not necessarily required weekly.

If you do not wish to clear any costs for the period, ensure that 'Clear Costs this Period' checkbox is unticked.

7. Press OK and you have successfully closed the period. You are now in your new accounting period.

8. Always go to General Ledger > Period Close and double check that your current period has changed to the next period and does not match your last Cost Report period. This will reassure you that you closed the period correctly.