Change from Fiscal Year to Calendar Year in GreatPlains 2010

[dannyyo]

Our company is planning on changing from Fiscal year to Calendar year.
How do I plan this out. I read a lot of docs on how to do it, but when is the best time to do this?

Here's the current fiscal periods

2014 => 4/1/2013 to 3/31/2014 (open)
2013 => 4/1/2012 to 3/31/2013 (closed)
2012 => 4/1/2011 to 3/31/2012 (closed)
it goes all the back to year 2000.
2000 => 3/31/1999 to 3/31/2000

What's the best way to go about doing this?
And when I do, do I have to go back and change all the periods for every year going all the way back to year 2000?

They want this done by June, 2013. So I don't have much time. Some doc's I've read suggest that it should've been planned a year in advance for this kind of stuff.
Also, they say that the PSTL tool is not really needed and all this can be done without it.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[VictoriaYudin]

Typically, you would not go back. You would start with the first year your taxes are being done as a calendar year. If you do actually have to go back, the idea is really the same, just a bit more work.

So, let's say you want to start with 2013. You have 2 choices:

1. Have a short year for the switch:
2011: 4/1/2011 - 3/31/3012 (stays as is, but note the year "name")
2012: 4/1/2012 - 12/31/2012 (short year)
2013: 1/1/2013 - 12/31/2013
2014: 1/1/2014 - 12/31/2014

In my experience, this is the option that most companies choose. Note that with this option you will have to use the PSTL to "rename" your years all the way back.

2. Have a long year for the switch:
2012: 4/1/2011 - 3/31/3012 (stays as is)
2013: 4/1/2012 - 12/31/2013 (long year)
2014: 1/1/2014 - 12/31/2014

No renaming of years needed and you do not need the PSTL tool for this option. However, PSTL is free for GP 10.0 and on, so unless you are on a very old GP version, this should not be an issue.

When you actually do this should really not matter. There is no reason you have to wait for a month end or anything like that. I believe your steps will be:
- Get all users out of GP
- Make a backup
- If going with option 1, use PSTL to rename the years
- Make the desired changes to the Fiscal Period Setup
- Run financial reconcile on all the years changed

If you have a test company, or can set one up, I would recommend testing all of this there first. That way you can practice and you will also find out how much time you need.

Victoria Yudin
Dynamics GP MVP 2005 - 2013
Use Crystal Reports and SSRS with GP:

http://www.GPReportsViewer.com/GP-Reports-Viewer

blog:

http://victoriayudin.com

 

[dannyyo]

First of all thank you for the quick response.

I have read a about the option 1 and 2 that you speak of, however no one mentioned anything about any related issue this may cause in the long run? I don't work in accounting, and I only work with GP only when I have issues to deal with. Are there any reporting issues or any other issues that may come up much later that may be caused by this fiscal year change, especially if I go with option 1?

Also how do I check to verify that the change did work? Is there a report that I can run before and after, to compare? Also if the company goes with option 2, does the long year have an effect with the outside auditors or anything? Or with the IRS?

Does PTSL tool make is easier for option 1?

Can I think of the "year" in this case just a label for the range of dates and that it won't effect anything else? I wonder if I'm thinking too hard about this....may be it's a lot simpler than it looks.

 

[MBresnan]

there are going to be big differences in reporting for that short or long year, you should really get guidance from accounting on this. I'm betting they want to go with a short year, and 2014 will be the first true Calendar year.

Major long term issues would most likely be lack of comparability to previous years, financially speaking. Period 1 2014 will not be the same month as period 1 2013. I just went through this at my company and the solution we went with was to create a budget ID of your previous full calendar year (once you flip the switch in Jan 2014, create budget with Jan- Dec 2013 totals) and do all comparative FRx reports pointed to that instead of previous year actuals. obviously, you wont get transaction level data for history out of FRx, but it hasn't presented an issue for us.

 

[VictoriaYudin]

Sorry for not responding sooner, I have been out sick this past week.

I agree with MBresnan, most companies go with the short year (as I mentioned above). There may be some reporting issues, depending on your reporting needs, however, I think they can be overcome and I have not seen this be a big issue for anyone.

I really think for how important this is and how many questions/concerns you have, the best course of action would be to discuss this with your CPA firm and your GP Partner and have your GP Partner help you test all of this on a test company.

Victoria Yudin
Dynamics GP MVP 2005 - 2013
Use Crystal Reports and SSRS with GP:

http://www.GPReportsViewer.com/GP-Reports-Viewer

blog:

http://victoriayudin.com