Closing an accounting period is an important time for many of our clients, and indeed most businesses. It’s critical that this process is dealt with smoothly and efficiently, enabling the accurate and prompt delivery of reporting packs, both for managers and other internal and external stakeholders. So how can you ensure that the period close process is as effective and painless as possible?
Time Restrictions
Period close is usually a stressful time for any finance community, not least because the amount of time associated with it can often be restricted. You’re always battling the clock, while there are other aspects of your day-to-day business that still need attention. It can be difficult to balance the need for transaction processing with the requirements of the closure of an accounting period.
It is therefore important to double-check that you do invest enough attention in addressing this issue. There are useful features included in Oracle that can really assist with the period close process, particularly the Period Close Monitor, which provides a dashboard and an array of monitoring tools. Utilizing this alone can help to make certain that your approach is far more joined-up than it otherwise would be, as it makes it much easier to orchestrate everything associated with period close.
Systems Issues
But it’s also important to ensure that you have all of the right provisions and processes in place within Oracle. This is a big software package with a lot of modules, and it’s not at all uncommon for conflicts to cause problems. Dealing with period close can never really be viewed as a routine job, as there frequently are exceptions and unexpected disruptions, in terms of systems functionality.
For example, we experience a lot of issues with errors where clients have implemented customisations within their Oracle set-up. So our experience in ironing out these problems, and preventing them in the first place, can be invaluable, as in many cases the processes put in place by organizations attempting to deal with period close, can be significantly improved.
It is therefore important to ensure that you utilize all of the supportive features that are included in Oracle, such as period exceptions reporting. We also always recommend using a runbook to manage all systems and non-system activities related to the closure of an accounting period. A runbook is simply a compilation of the procedures and operations being made by the administrator or operator of the system. This can help in dealing with reconciliations, which is a critical part of the process, as it’s so important to cross-check that everything has been dealt with, and inputted, accurately.
Experience and Knowledge in Period Close
This might all sound quite daunting, but this is where 4apps comes in. We have a huge amount of experience, both in dealing with period close procedures, and also with the Oracle system itself. The combination of our knowledge and the functionality included in Oracle can help clients dealing with the many complex reporting and tax declaration requirements associated with period close, ensuring that this often arduous process becomes slick and straightforward.
If you’d like to know more about what 4apps can do for you, please get in touch with us today.
