I have just started at a company who use Sage 50 Professional. The clients year end is Jan 13. The previous bookkeeper ran the year end process at the end of July, because he says he couldnt key any more items on without doing so. I can find no reports for the year end on their files. The customer has only just appointed an Accountant and he has been given a memory stick with the latest version on it and he has just sent an email stating '' These are current year only and do not include the prior periods''.
How would he/I get back to the prior periods?
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Joanne
Winner of Bookkeeper of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017
Thoughts are my own/not to be regarded as official advice,which should be sought from a suitably qualified Accountant.
You should check out answers with reference to the legal position
I don't see why Sage would refuse to let the previous bookkeeper post further transactions without running a year-end - and at the wrong time of the year, at that.
My guess is that they'd set up Sage with the wrong year end (with a year running from August to July) and, come August, when Sage pops up a little warning box to say some transactions are outside of the financial year, they thought that meant they couldn't post any transactions at all, so ran the year end. But that IS just a guess.
So, accessing the prior periods. If what the accountant says is correct, and the data really is just the current period, then you obviously aren't going to be able to access what isn't there - you and the accountant will need to go back to the client/previous bookkeeper and press them for older backups
(If they didn't take regular backups they should be shot, and if they didn't take one immediately before running the year end that they deserve a good kicking before being shot. Not that I'm a violent man. Honest.)
However, maybe more confusion is at play, and the data is there and they just don't realise it. Go to the file menu, and choose Open --> Company Archive. With a bit of luck, what you've been sent does include the archive that should have been created when the year was closed down.
Also, it's possible that the transactions themselves are still in the database (running the year end and clearing the audit trail aren't the same things) - if so, you should be able to see the transactions by looking at the "Activity" tab for any given nominal account. Make sure that where it says "Show" near the top left, you have it to something suitable: Prior year would show the transactions for that year, or click on "Custom" and set a date range. Unless Sage have added "All transactions" lately, to get all transactions use "Custom" and go from a suitably early date to a suitably late one - I usually go for 01/01/1980 (the dawn of Sage-time) until 31/12/2099 (the end of Sage-time).
You can obviously get the balance sheet figures at the faux-year end by going to financials and running the balance sheet with the period set to "Brought forward" - and ditto the opening trial balance (which is just the balance sheet broken down by nominal code in this case). If those transactions are there, though, you can recreate the P&L by establishing the transaction range for the journals Sage posted to close the year, and running the Nominal Ledger day book report to pull them off. (A journal debit on that report would have been a credit balance on a P&L code, such as sales, and a journal credit would have been a debit on a P&L code, such as purchases.)
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Vince M Hudd - Soft Rock Software
(I only came here looking for fellow apiarists...)
The previous bookkeeper apparently advised that he was getting the warning boxes to say things were outside the financial year for months, but then says Sage just stopped letting him key things further due to the volume of transactions. I thought it odd as I picked up a client last year, who hadnt had a year end routine done for 5 years on sage, but I just thought it was the version of sage he was using.
I know there are lots of backups, although have no idea if he did one prior to the year end and drat and blast it I received the email asking for the stuff when I got home and Im not in at this customer's again until Friday, so cant look until then and typically time is relatively short. Plus the Accountant is more used to Quick Books - no idea what his experience is like with Sage, although Ive been told he has a few customers who use it and he has the latest version! I will certainly make your suggestions to the Accountant in the meantime and hope I can locate a backup when I go in - otherwise I might have to shoot someone or just jump from a high bridge myself!!
Thank you for your very detailed response.
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Joanne
Winner of Bookkeeper of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017
Thoughts are my own/not to be regarded as official advice,which should be sought from a suitably qualified Accountant.
You should check out answers with reference to the legal position
Is there nothing there in financials for the prior year? He must have cleared the audit trail after the year end. Also, even though he ran the year end in July, are the year end journals dated January?
Hi Chris
Unfortunately I cannot see anything from home - now have to wait until I go in to see the customer on Friday. But I managed to get hold of the previous bookkeeper who had the backups at home (phew and double phew!! although annoyed I wasnt told!) so he saved into dropbox and I copied them straight on to a USB stick and dropped them off at the Accountants. (I have an earlier version of sage so cant open them at home!)
Ive just bought a spare USB to back them up again when I get in to their office.
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Joanne
Winner of Bookkeeper of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017
Thoughts are my own/not to be regarded as official advice,which should be sought from a suitably qualified Accountant.
You should check out answers with reference to the legal position
Hi Chris
Absolutely loads has been done since year end - its a very busy business with lots of entries, but its a bit of a mess, so keep fingers crossed for when I go in on Friday that I can get to the bottom of it, although no word from the Accountant so Im guessing the dropbox back up has worked!
Im very choosy about my clients -only deal with limited companies and only work with people I like. Ive gained clients from a mix of approaches, probably most from recommendations although this latest one I got after advertising on Gumtree - thought it might be a waste of time and to be fair did get mostly dodgy calls, then this one popped up. Just shows that you never know what you might get and when!! The only downside is that its in Manchester and most of the new clients seem to be based in Manchester City centre these days, or perhaps thats just my bad luck - its something I dont want any more of as I worked there for 16 years and hated the commute. Im fortunate in that I do most of my work from home. I even gained one as I just picked up the phone 3 weeks after a business takeover and asked if they needed a book-keeper. I knew about the takeover (local knowledge is always good) and left it long enough for them to be up to their eyes in it and realising they might need help!
Have you found it tough going to get new ones? Sometimes they pop up when you are not looking although I would say - dont be afraid to try a different range of approaches including asking existing clients. Good luck finding your extra couple, Im sure you will.
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Joanne
Winner of Bookkeeper of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017
Thoughts are my own/not to be regarded as official advice,which should be sought from a suitably qualified Accountant.
You should check out answers with reference to the legal position
Yeah, Ive picked up a few, Ive more or less got a full week or regulars, just need a couple of small ones to do at night/saturday morning. Still better than work! I finally got some business cards this week, so I spent yesterday calling round local small businesses having a chat and handing them out, never know!
