The document outlines key strategies for effective ERP accounting, presented during a 2017 user conference by Brenda Spanier, an experienced financial consultant. Topics covered include collections management, reconciling subsidiaries, bank reconciliation processes, year-end closing procedures, and practical tips for system navigation and usage. It emphasizes the importance of maintaining accurate records and employing systematic approaches to financial management for improved decision-making.

1. ERP Accounting –
Tips and Tricks
2017 AFS USER CONFERENCE
“Practical Analytics for Everyday Decision Making”

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Speaker Introduction
Brenda Spanier, Sr Implementation
Consultant and Trainer
• More than 25 years of experience as a financial
controller in a variety of industries including:
Food Distribution, Food Retail and Professional
Services.
• 9 years as a Software Implementation
Consultant/Trainer in various ERP systems.

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Agenda
• Collections – Turn AR into
• Reconciling Subsidiaries
• Bank Reconciliation
• Year-end
• Fiscal Periods
• Tips & Tricks

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Collections – Turn AR into
• Where do I start? So many people owe us money!
FILTERS / SORTS

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Collections – Turn AR into
• How do I stop them from owing me more?
CREDIT HOLD

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Collections – Turn AR into
• Information Available
AR INQUIRY

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Collections – Turn AR into
• Recording Collection Efforts
COLLECTION COMMENTS and COD PLUS COMMENTS

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Collections – Turn AR into
• Reminders
TICKLER REPORT

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Reconciling Subsidiaries
• Accounts to Reconcile
• Why should I reconcile?
• What causes it to be “out-of-balance?”
• What are all these different dates?

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Reconciling Subsidiaries
• Accounts to Reconcile
• Accounts Receivable
• Vendor AR
• Inventory
• Accounts Payable
• Clearing Accounts (Inventory, Freight and Cost Elements)
• Cash
• Sales
• Cost of Goods

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Reconciling Subsidiaries
• When should I reconcile?
• After all postings are done
• No one should be posting when running reports
• Monthly at a minimum
• Why should I reconcile?
• To catch a variance before too much time goes back
• To understand how, when and why transactions impact the GL
• To verify that entries are posted to correct accounts

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Reconciling Subsidiaries
• What causes it to be “out-of-balance?”
• Human Error
• System going down during posting
• Code files set-up with incorrect GL mapping
• Not completing AP/PO tieback
• Selecting incorrect dates when running reports
• Selecting incorrect dates for transactions
• Creating journal entries in these accounts
• Entries no posted

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Reconciling Subsidiaries
• What are all these different dates?
• Entry Date – the date that the event was entered
into the system
• Transaction Date – the date the event actually occurred
• Fiscal Period - timeframe that items go into the GL for reporting purposes.
In many cases, you are not asked for a fiscal period so the system uses the
Transaction Date to determine the fiscal period.

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Reconciling Subsidiaries
• Reports to Run
• Detailed Journal Reports (Exclude Consolidated Journals)
• Unposted Consolidated Journal Reports
• Summary Trial Balance
• AP Aging Report
• Receiving Clearing Reports
• AR Aging
• Vendor AR Aging
• Inventory Value (set-up on scheduler)
• Sales Margin

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Reconciling Subsidiaries
• What to check?
• Look for entries that didn’t consolidate or post
• Make sure reports are run for the same period of time
• Print Detailed Trial Balance for account that is off
• Look for manual journal entries
• Look at transactions and then print Detailed Journal Reports Grouped by-1 “Transaction
Date” and Group by-2 “Entry Date” to see if you have entries in the wrong period
• If you have checked everything, then contact AFS Support.

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Bank Reconciliations
• Clear Checks
• Clear Deposits
• Clear Journal Entries
• Make Adjusting Entries
(v2016.3)

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Bank Reconciliations
• Clear Checks
• Select each one manually
• Auto Load
• Import

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Bank Reconciliations
• Clear Deposits and Transfers

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Bank Reconciliations
• Record Bank Adjustments
• Create AP Adjustments within Bank Reconciliations

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Bank Reconciliations
• Well that was easy!!!

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Year-End Close
• Create Closing Journals
• Makes an entry to clear all Income/Expense Accounts and record to
Retained Earnings
• Post Closing Journals
• Posts the journal entry created above
• Close the Fiscal Period
• This will prevent any transactions from going into the prior year

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Year-End Close
• What if you have more entries?
• Re-open the period
• Make the entries
• Close the year-end again
• Why should I do this instead of a manual journal entry?
• Less room for errors
• No missing year-end entries
• Better audit because it is system driven instead of manual entries

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Fiscal Periods
• Prevents Posting to Past Periods and
Future Periods
• What do they all mean?
• Open Date – First Day entries can go into the period
• GL Close Date – Last Day entries can go into the period
• AP Close Date – Last Day entries can be entered through AP into the period
• Distribution Close Date – Last Day entries can be entered through Order
Entry, Purchasing, Inventory Control, Production, etc. into the period

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Tips and Tricks
• Export to File
• Search Capabilities
• My Favorites
• My Applications
• Short-cut Keys

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Tips and Tricks
• Export to File (v2016.4)
• Right-click on grid – Export to File – select file type)
• Select Location to File
• Index Grids
• Products on an Order
• Products on a Purchase Order
• Exports wherever you focus is

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Tips and Tricks
• Search Capabilities (v2016.4)
• Appears at the top of the menu
• Shows all menu items that match and
what main menu they appear under
• Only shows item once
• Launches menu item

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Tips and Tricks
• My Favorites (v2016.2)
• Right-click on Menu Component – My Favorites
• Bottom of menu – My Favorites will have all your favorites

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Tips and Tricks
• My Applications (v2016.02)
• Any windows application that doesn’t
require login/password
• Added through Menu Maintenance
• Menu Option Type – External
• External Program – find program in your program files
• Launches Application

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Tips and Tricks
• Short-cut Keys
• F1 – HELP f – Moves to Module Above
• F2 – g – Moves to Module Below
• F3 – h – Moves up within a module
• F4 - i – Moves down within a module
• Shift–Tab – Back to previous field g – Open Submenu
• - Select all items in index f – Closes Submenu
• First Letter in a drop-down

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