When to close out fiscal year?

[Tara]

Hi,
This is the first year that we have used peachtree and I was wondering should we close the fiscal year this year or wait until next year? What's the difference? I know that you don't have to close it after one year because there is room for 24 periods. I was just wondering which is better.

TIA,
Tara

[Shari]

Do not close your first year out from time to time you may have to go back in that year to change some things. Like you may have put in the wrong GL account etc. When you close out there is no going back. It does not hurt to leave information in until you HAVE TO take it out. I have not closed my 2000 out as of yet and it is Dec. 28, 2001 I will wait till last min. and then back up before I do so.

[Diane Koers]

The general rule of thumb is to close out the company after all tax reports have been filed. I generally close mine out around June, but many of my clients wait until December.

For Shari:
Be sure to make a backup before closing and restore that backup to a new blank empty company that you can rename to "My Company 2000". That way, if you need to refer back to something that you did in 2000 you can open the My Company 2000 file and review your work.