Inventory Tasks on the Period Close Checklist

When you close an accounting period and use the Inventory feature, the Period Close checklist includes checks for inventory cost and quantity inconsistencies. You can correct inventory with a negative count and run an inventory costing calculation.

When you go to the Manage Accounting Periods page at Setup > Accounting > Manage GL > Manage Accounting Periods and open the checklist for a period, the checklist shows these inventory tasks:

  1. Resolve Date/Period Mismatches

  2. Review Negative Inventory

  3. Review Inventory Cost Accounting

  4. Review Inventory Activity

You must mark these inventory tasks complete to close the period.

Resolve Date/Period Mismatches

You can reconcile transactions that are not dated within the corresponding financial period. For example, the selected posting period could be January 2014 while the transaction date was December 2013. Having mismatched transaction dates can cause inventory issues.

Warning:

It is strongly recommended that all inventory posting transactions have the correct alignment of the transaction date and the accounting period. A misaligned date and accounting period on a transaction may lead to inconsistent asset and inventory costing values in the accounting period.

The Transactions with Date/Period Mismatch page enables you to resolve issues for mismatched transactions that are dated outside of the selected posting period. This helps ensure that transaction and period dates are properly aligned.

To open this task on the checklist, you must have already completed the Lock All task.

To resolve mismatched dates:

  1. Go to Setup > Accounting > Manage GL > Manage Accounting Periods.

  2. Click the Checklist icon Checklist icon for a period.

  3. Click the Go To Task arrow icon next to Resolve Date/Period Mismatches.

  4. The Resolve Date/Period Mismatch page shows your progress for this task. The System Notes subtab displays a record of each change and the name of the user that entered it.

    The first time that any task is viewed, System Notes logs a Create entry.

  5. Click Resolve Date/Period Mismatches.

  6. On the Resolve Date/Period Mismatches page in the Period field, select a period for which you want to resolve mismatches.

    For example, if you select the period January 2014, the list shows any transactions that have a posting period during January 2014 but are dated outside of the period range, from January 1 through January 31.

  7. After you select a period, the page shows a list of transactions that have a mismatched posting period and transaction date.

    For each transaction, the following data shows:

    • Transaction Type

    • Transaction Number

    • Transaction Date

    • Period Name

    • Period Start

    • Period End

  8. Click Edit next to a transaction to modify.

    After the transaction opens, edit it to amend either the posting period or the transaction date so that the two correctly match.

  9. Save the transaction.

    Repeat all steps for any remaining mismatched transactions.

After you have matched the transaction date and posting period for all transactions on the Resolve Date/Period Mismatch page, you can mark the task complete.

Completing the Task

To mark the task complete, go to Setup > Accounting > Manage GL > Manage Accounting Periods and click the Go To Task arrow icon next to Resolve Date/Period Mismatches. On the Task: Resolve Date/Period Mismatches page, click Mark Task Complete.

Note:

NetSuite permits you to mark the task complete even if transactions remain mismatched and are not dated within the corresponding financial period. If the task is marked complete when mismatched dates are left unreconciled, the Close Period Checklist logs the date and the user who marked the task complete.

Mismatched Transaction Handling Preference

To establish preventive measures to avoid transactions with mismatched dates, you can set a preference for handling mismatched transaction entry. Set the preference at Setup > Accounting> Preferences > Accounting Preferences on the General subtab.

Select one of the following for Allow Transaction Date Outside of Posting Period:

Review Negative Inventory

When closing a period, you must identify any negative inventory values that can be corrected by a positive adjustment. Reviewing negative inventory items is a required task for the period closing checklist.

This task does not create a physical count. A physical count should already be completed before you begin this task.

To open this task on the checklist, you must have completed the Resolve Date/Period Mismatches task.

To reconcile negative inventory:

  1. Go to Setup > Accounting > Manage G/L > Manage Accounting Periods.

  2. Click the Checklist icon Checklist icon for a period.

  3. Click the Go To Task arrow icon next to Review Negative Inventory.

    The Review Negative Inventory page opens. This page shows your progress for this task. The System Notes subtab displays a record of each change and the name of the user that entered the change.

    The first time that any task is viewed, System Notes logs a Create entry.

  4. Click Review Negative Inventory.

  5. On the Review Negative Inventory page, in the As of Date field, enter the date through which you want to review inventory. For example, if you enter January 1, 2014, the list shows inventory that has a negative count as of January 1, 2014.

  6. If you use the Multi-Location Inventory feature, you can filter the list by location in the Location field.

  7. The list of inventory items that shows identifies any items that have negative inventory.

    Use the list to adjust the amounts for those items so they are no longer negative. For details about entering an inventory adjustment, see Inventory Adjustments.

After you have reviewed the negative inventory items and entered the necessary adjustments, you can mark the task complete.

Completing the Task

To mark the task as complete, go to Setup > Accounting > Manage G/L > Manage Accounting Periods and click the Go To Task arrow icon next to Review Negative Inventory. On the Task: Review Negative Inventory page, click Mark Task Complete.

Note:

NetSuite permits you to mark the task as complete even if some inventory counts remain negative. If the task is marked complete when inventory counts remain negative, the Close Period Checklist logs the date and the user who marked the task as complete.

You can also access the Review Negative Inventory page at Transactions > Inventory > ReviewNegative Inventory.

Review Inventory Cost Accounting

When closing a period, you must run the costing accounting process for the period close. To complete this task, ensure that there are no costing items to be corrected and that inventory costing calculations are not already currently running.

To open this task on the checklist, you must have already completed the Review Negative Inventory task.

To review inventory cost accounting:

  1. Go to Setup > Accounting > Manage G/L > Manage Accounting Periods.

  2. Click the Checklist icon Checklist icon for a period.

  3. Click the Go To Task arrow icon next to Review Inventory Cost Accounting.

  4. Click Review Inventory Cost Accounting.

    Please note the following:

    • To run inventory costing calculations, there must be no items on the Review Inventory Cost Accounting page in the list of outstanding items to be corrected. If any items show on the list, you must wait until they are resolved. If an item on the list cannot be resolved, you are prompted to contact customer support.

    • If inventory costing calculations are currently running or are deferred, you cannot click the Review Inventory Cost Accounting button.

    • If inventory costing calculations are currently deferred, you must wait until the scheduler runs inventory costing calculations.

    • If inventory costing calculations are disabled, you are prompted to contact customer support.

  5. After the inventory costing calculations have finished running, click Mark Task Complete.

You can also reconcile transactions that are not dated within the corresponding financial period and set a preference for handling mismatched transaction entry. For details about this checklist requirement, read Using the Period Close Checklist.

Inventory Costing and Closed Accounting Periods

Be aware that if you open a previously closed period and then edit an inventory transaction from that previously closed period, the costing changes you enter for items on the changed transaction do propagate to all subsequent related transactions. This requires an inventory costing recalculation to run and be completed.

Note:

Before you go back and close the accounting period again, verify that the recalculation is complete. If you close the period while inventory costing is being calculated, it can affect the accuracy of your costing and potentially cause errors.

For more information, read Inventory Costing Recalculations

Review Inventory Activity

If you use NetSuite OneWorld, this task opens a customizable version of the Inventory Activity Detail report. This report provides a view of specific inventory values. The report details are based on the item level total inventory value in a specific subsidiary context.

Reviewing inventory activity is a required task for the period closing checklist.

To open this task on the checklist, you must have already completed the Review Inventory Cost Accounting task.

To review inventory activity:

  1. Go to Setup > Accounting > Manage G/L > Manage Accounting Periods.

  2. Click the Checklist icon Checklist icon for a period.

  3. Click the Go To Task arrow icon next to Review Inventory Activity.

  4. Click Review Inventory Activities.

  5. Review the Inventory Activity Detail report, filtering and customizing the report, as needed. For information about using Report Builder to customize this report, see Report Customization

    Filter the report by subsidiary context, location, and From and To date. By default, the dates reflect the accounting period that is being closed.

    The standard report includes the following columns:

    • Item

    • Transaction Type

    • Date (of transaction)

    • Document Number

    • Description

    • Qty. (item quantity remaining)

    The report rows are grouped first by inventory activity under the Item column. For example, you have an inventory activity group for Inventory Items. When you expand the Inventory Items group, you see the #10 Envelopes subgroup. Beneath this subgroup are rows for a variety of number 10 envelopes. The last row of the subgroup provides the total of #10 Envelopes you hold in inventory.

    Click Refresh to update the report.

  6. When you have completed your inventory review, exit the report and then complete the task.

Completing the Task

To mark the task as complete, go to Setup > Accounting > Manage G/L > Manage Accounting Periods and click the Go To Task arrow icon next to Review Inventory Activity. On the Task: Review Inventory Activity page, click Mark Task Complete.

Related Topics

Accounting Period Close
Non-Posting Transactions in Locked and Closed Periods
Using the Period Close Checklist
Unlocking Period Transactions
Reopening a Closed Period

General Notices