This site lets you view all the daily Countdown emails in one place in case you fall behind.
We started these emails a few years back as a way to ease the stress during this busy time of year and provide a systematic approach to a process that sometimes can seem overwhelming.
Sure ... many of the the emails only apply if you are on a calendar fiscal year ... Sure ... sometimes we provide more humor than help ... Sure ... occasionally we miss a day ...
But we like them, and so do most customers so, Let's Get Started! Countdown to Year End - Day One!TODAY IS A GOOD DAY TO . . . . . . Get Yourself Organized ! (Did you really think we'd make Day One a hard one? You need to build up a little momentum before you tackle the tough stuff !)
2012 Budgets, Tax Forms, W-2's . . . Holiday Parties, Food, Food and more Food - there's a lot to think about this time of year.
A good place to start is the Checklist found in the Year End Processing Guide (which will be available next week). Another great tool are these countdown emails. Or simply make your own list - whatever works best for you. Getting Organized will make the end of year go smoothly!
TODAY IS A GOOD DAY TO . . . . . . Visit the Government!
Here is the government's site for W-2 News, the electronic newsletter for employers who electronically file W-2s to Social Security. The site contains information for 'Dates to Remember', 'Password Reminders' for changing your SSA login information (remember that your login password is only good for a year!) and valuable contact information.
If you are a first time electronic filer: Contact SSA at 1-800-772-6270 or on the Internet.
Somes dates to keep in mind: January 31st Deadline for supplying W-2's to employees February 29th Deadline for paper filing of wages March 31st Deadline for electronic filing of wages
Countdown to Year End - Day Three!TODAY IS A GOOD DAY TO . . . . . . Finalize your Employees' Residency Information in preparation for Act 32 (Local Earned Income Tax) changes!
For those customers that use the Freedom Payroll System, you should have already received the completed Residency Certification Form from your employees.
Using the completed forms, look up the EIT Rate and Residency PSD code for each employee using the Address Search feature on PA's site.
Once you have determined all the correct PSD codes and EIT rates, determine how many unique EIT withholding rates your organization will require. For example, if each of your employee's EIT rate is 1%, then you will need only one unique rate. Or if some of your employee's EIT rate is 1% while others are at .5%, then you will need two unique rates set up in your system.
For more information on Act 32 go to Pennsylvania's Act 32 webpage.
Countdown to Year End - Day Four!TODAY IS A GOOD DAY TO . . . . . . Place your W2 Order!
Check out Freedom's web site and order your W2s and 1099s. Log in to the Customer Portal and click on Order 2011 Tax Forms.
Don't have a Customer Login? Click here Customer Registration and we'll set you up. Easy as W-2-3!
Countdown to Year End - Day Five!TODAY IS A GOOD DAY TO . . . . . . Enter 2012 Budget Figures!
If you've been using our Budget Preparation Program, then you've already started (maybe even completed!) the budget entry process. If not, then you need to enter your 2012 budget figures using the General Ledger Program. You can start this process today and continue it another day if you don't finish it.
* From the main screen of the General Ledger Program, select Budget Entry * In the Year field enter the current fiscal year, 2011 * In the Account field enter the fund that you want to start with (i.e. 01 for your General Fund) * Click the Binoculars button * Working in the Adopted column, begin entering your 2012 budget amounts
Remember that you can exit this screen and come back to continue the process any time you like. You can make changes also up until the 'load' step - but that's for another day!
Countdown to Year End - Day Six!TODAY IS A GREAT DAY TO . . . . . . Create The 2012 Fiscal Calendar!
From the main menu of the General Ledger Program, locate the Site menu colum and select Fiscal Calendar.
Type 2012 in the year field and press Enter. Start with Period 1, start date of 1/31/2012, end date of 1/31/2012 11:59:59 pm (remember to insert the slashes), and then click the Open? box.
Tab from field to field to complete the calendar. Remember that there are 13 fiscal periods. Period 12 should be 12/01/2012 to 12/30/2012 11:59:59 pm and Period 13 should be 12/31/2012 to 12/31/2012 11:59:59 pm.
Countdown to Year End - Day Seven!TODAY IS A FANTASTIC DAY TO . . . . . . Inactivate Ledger Accounts!
If you have ledger accounts that were used in 2011, but will not be used in 2012, you can prevent ledger records from being created in 2012 for those accounts. Simply follow the steps below to change each account's ending fiscal year! **This assumes that ledger records for 2012 have not been created**
From the main menu of the General Ledger Program, locate the Accounts menu colum and select Chart Maintenance.
Retrieve the ledger account that you no longer plan to use. Locate the fields labeled Fiscal Years From and To. Change the To field to 2011. Do this for all accounts you do not want carried forward into the new year.
Now when you generate ledger records for 2012, these accounts will be excluded!
Countdown to Year End - Day Eight!
TODAY IS A FUN DAY TO . . . . . . Review Your Year End Processing Guide!
Yes, it's finally here. The new and improved, 2011 Freedom Enterprise Year End Processing Guide. Just click on this link to download your copy of our newest guide designed to walk you through year end processing for all your Freedom programs!
We've made it even better than before! We've include links to important resources on the web, made maneuvering easier through the use of hyperlinked bookmarks and more!
We hope you can find time in your bust schedule to review this helpful document. It contains instructions for all of Freedom's Enterprise programs, so simply look for the instructions for the programs that your organization uses.
Countdown to Year End - Day Nine!
TODAY IS A BEAUTIFUL DAY TO . . . . . . Generate Ledger Records for 2011!
This steps takes all your 2011 ledger accounts and creates 2012 ledger records. (Remember, this step must be completed before you can process any data in 2012).
First check to make sure you didn't do this already:
* From the main menu of the General Ledger program, find the Accounts menu column and select Account Inquiry.
* In the year field enter 2012 and in the account field enter a commonly used ledger account (i.e. 01).
* Click Find
* If ledger accounts appear then you've already completed this step! If you get an error message, click End to close the error message and let's continue on.
Generate 2012 Records:
* From the main screen of the General Ledger Program, find Periodic Processes and select Year End Processing
* Click 1. Generate New Accounting Year Ledgers and enter 2012 in the year field
* Click Execute (or Generate)
* You'll receive a confirmation message when the process is completed!
Countdown to Year End - Day Ten!
TODAY IS A GREAT DAY TO . . . . . . Think About Your Year End Backup!
This must be done once you have completed all your entries for 2011, but you might want to review our documentation in advance, and you can never have too many backups if you want to practice!
As part of year end processing, Freedom recommends you do a 2011 Year End Backup of your Freedom SQL database and store it. There are a few ways you can accomplish this:
1. The easiest way - simply take the backup tape/disk that gets done for 12/31/2011 and store it away - don't reuse it. There's your yearend backup.
2. If you don';t do your own backups, contact your network support company and ask them to do a separate yearend backup and store it for you.
3. Follow the directions in our SQL database backup guide and do your own manual backup! The directions can be found here.
Countdown to Year End - Day Eleven!
TODAY IS AN OKAY DAY TO . . . . . . Finish Your Budget Entry and Load Your 2012 Budgets!
By now most everyone has had their 2012 budgets approved. So you should finish entering your approved budgets into the General Ledger Program, verify the numbers and then load the budgets into 2012.
And like all the other yearend steps, this one requires that you have entered your 2012 calendar and generated your 2012 ledger accounts before you do it.
A. Follow the steps below to complete entering your budget figures:
* From the main screen of the General Ledger program, select Budget Entry
* In the Year field enter 2011
* In the Account field enter the fund you need to complete
* Click the Binoculars icon
* Working in the Adopted column, finish entering your 2012 budget amounts.
B. Verify the Budget Totals
* From the Budgets menu select Print Budget Results
* Review the Budget Results report and verify the totals
* Make any needed corrections following the steps in A
C. Load the Adopted Budget
* From the Periodic Processes menu select Year End Processing and then select Load Adopted Budgets
* Type 2012 in the year field and click Load
* Finally, from the Periodic Processes menu select Recalculate Account Detail, enter 2012 in the year field and click Execute.
Remember, if you need to adjust your budget after running the load process, you can do so through a journal voucher.