The Year-End Close ON DEMAND
Available Until
Your Desk
3.0 Credits
Member Price $87.00
Non-Member Price $100.00
Overview
The most critical work product of the accounting department is the year-end close, resulting in the issuance of full-year financial statements. This close involves all of the usual month-end closing activities, plus a number of additional tasks. It also requires an inordinate amount of staff time that begins weeks before the last day of the year and may continue for over a month afterwards. This course discusses the actions needed to close the books at the end of the fiscal year, as well as other activities required at the end of the calendar year. There is a particular emphasis on several major areas of accounting, including receivables, inventory, fixed assets, payables, and payroll. Additional tasks required for the year-end close of a publicly held company are also described, giving you a full depiction of the necessary tasks to close the books at the end of the year.
Highlights
Year-End Close. Receivables Yea-End. Inventory Year-End. Fixed Assets Year-End. Payables Year-End. Payroll Year-End. Public Company Year-End. Closing Checklist.
Prerequisites
None.
Designed For
CPAs, CFOs, controllers, financial professionals, and auditors.
Objectives
Recognize the staffing policies needed to ensure that there are sufficient staff on hand to complete the year-end close. Identify the activities involved in archiving accounting documents. Specify the steps involved in the construction of the annual budget. Identify the contents of the year-end binder. Recognize the situations in which a soft close is more likely to result in financial statement errors. Specify how to verify the reasonableness of the balance in the allowance for doubtful accounts. Recognize the tasks involved in the year-end examination of open jobs. Identify the evaluation criteria stated in the lower of cost or market rule. Specify the methods used to recognize fixed assets reclassified out of the held-for-sale classification, and fixed assets that have been abandoned, and more.
Preparation
None.
Notice
None.
Leader(s):
Leader Bios
Steven Bragg, Western CPE
Steven M. Bragg, CPA, is a full-time book and course author who has written more than 70 business books. He provides Western CPE with self-study courses in the areas of accounting and finance, with an emphasis on the practical application of accounting standards and management techniques. A sampling of his courses include the The New Controller Guidebook, The GAAP Guidebook, Accountants’ Guidebook, and Closing the Books: An Accountant’s Guide. He also manages the Accounting Best Practices podcast.
Steven has been the CFO or controller of both public and private companies and has been a consulting manager with Ernst & Young and an auditor with Deloitte & Touche. He holds an MBA from Babson College, a Master of Finance from Bentley College, and a BA from the University of Maine (summa cum laude).
Non-Member Price $100.00
Member Price $87.00