e·silentpartner is a very flexible system. It maintains two+ years of general ledger data in detail. This means you can reprint any of your general ledger reports (general ledger details, P&L, Balance Sheet, etc.) for any period of this year, any period of last year, and the first two periods of your next fiscal year.

e·silentpartner retains details of other transactions, such as; client jobs, vendor invoices, etc.

e·silentpartner maintains your “books” in monthly summaries (12 months for this year, 12 months for last year and two months for next year). During the current year, any or all months can remain open (to receive additional financial information). Furthermore, you can post information to the first two months of your next year, before you must close the year.

When all financial transactions are processed for a specific period, you lock the month. Locking the month prevents any transactions added to financial accounts without your knowledge. When all financial transactions are processed for the fiscal year, you close the year.

Closing the year sets up your financial accounts for the next year – balance sheet account (asset, liability, equity) balances are carried over into the new fiscal year; income statement accounts (revenue and expense) are closed to Retained Earnings.

Within e·silentpartner, you can...

  • Keep as many months (periods) of the year open, as you require. This allows you to enter a transaction in February that occurred in January.

    A typical example of this occurrence is bank service charges. You receive a bank statement in February that lists your January deposits; January canceled checks, and January bank account service charges.

    Before you begin your account reconciliation, enter a journal entry for the services charges and use the transaction date noted on your statement.

  • Forward post financial information. This allows you to enter information that should be reflected on your books in the future – not today.

    A typical example of this occurrence is monthly rent or lease. You can enter the payment due every month for the next year. e·silentpartner updates your financial records to reflect all future payables due.

  • Add transactions to the next year for the first two months before you close the current fiscal year.
    Recognizing that end of the year closing does require interaction between you and your accountant and that this process may not be completed during the first period of the next fiscal year, you can enter information into the new year even though the prior year is not closed.

    However, “next year” entries can only be added for two months before you must close the prior year. In those instances where year-end adjustments only become available after the year has been closed, e·silentpartner permits posting to the closed year via Journal Entry - LY (last year).

Whenever a financial transaction is entered in e·silentpartner, the transaction date’s fiscal period is checked (is it open or is it locked?). If the period is locked, a you will be notified and posting cannot continue unless you change the posting date to an unlocked fiscal period or you go to GL >> Admin >> Lock/Unlock and unlock the fiscal period. Of course, you must have the security to do this.

The following sections discuss other operations of e·silentpartner.