To start using Brightpearl Accounts you will firstly need to set up your Accounting Periods. A Period is usually a calendar year for which you will want create your end of year financial statements to see how well your company has performed and what the current financial position is. You will only be able to create transactions for open periods, so until a period is added you will not be able to add sales, purchases, payments, etc.
Learn more about the balance sheet and profit and loss statements
Your First Financial Year
Your financial year doesn't have to run from January to December, you might choose to run inline with the tax year, from April to March. There are, of course, other options which you can use. The point is, Brightpearl won't restrict you to using specific periods, you enter the start and end date for each period. You don't need to worry about making an immediate decision either. If you want to crack on and get start using Brightpearl but haven't decided from when and to when your financial year will run you can use the default year that's added for you then re-create it later for the dates you want to use.
Creating an Accounting Period
Follow these steps to create an accounting period:
- Go to Accounting > Year End.
- On the right-hand side enter the dates From and To which the account period will run. Brightpearl will automatically use the dates that follow on from any existing periods.
- Click the Create new financial year button.
The period is added to the list. You will now be able to start creating transactions for the dates within this range. You cannot post to dates which are not within an open period.
Editing / Deleting Accounting Periods
It is not possible to edit a financial period. If you want to change the start and end dates you will have to delete the period and re-add it. This will, however, increment the period number by 1.
End of Year
What do I need to do for year-end?
There are a number of things that will ensure that your year-end profit and balances are correct:
- Reconcile all your bank accounts
- Do a stock take on the last day of the year and make sure that Brightpearl is up to date
Closing an Accounting Period
Once you have entered all you need at the end of the year, then you can close the accounts. Usually your accountant will post some journals to account for depreciation, losses and so on, as well as any tax adjustments, before you close the year. Once the year is closed, no further adjustments can be made.
Of course your accountant should just log on and do this for you - there is no need to export information or send a backup! You can create a new financial year and can continue working in the new period whilst your accountant is preparing the previous year's final accounts.
They may wish to lock the accounts for that previous year before closing the period, which will prevent you from entering transactions into that period whilst they are working on it.
Locking Accounts for Edit
Any member of staff with accounts privileges can lock a period for their exclusive access. You can use this to ensure that nobody enters data into your previous financial year, without actually closing the period. To lock the accounts and prevent entry prior to a particular date go to Accounting > Year end and select the date, up to and including, to lock the accounts for.
The Year End Journal
When you click Close for an accounting period, Brightpearl will post your year-end journal automatically to clear down the balances ready for the next period.
All the balances on the Sales and Purchase accounts are summed, to give your profit, which is transferred onto your profit account. Your asset balances are not affected. The year-end journal is type "YE", and will not be included on a P&L or Balance sheet report if you are viewing those reports for a previous year.
