Sage 100

My client is being acquired on Tuesday, and they want to create a new company code so they can ""start fresh"" with a copy of the old company code. They have asked me if it is possible to do a Year-End processing on Tuesday so they can clear out the P&L and get all the closing reports. Has anyone done this before? I suggested just closing out September to get those reports, then manually making the JE's to close out the P&L accounts, but they are unsure. Any words of wisdom?

Is the fiscal year changing? If so, change the GL fiscal year to end as of August 31? You will also have to create or modify future GL period settings.

No, the fiscal year is not changing, unfortunately.

I think you're right in thinking that if the new company wants to start with a new P&L in the middle of the fiscal year they need to JE out the balances as of Tuesday.

I think it will create the best paper trail for them as well, Ron. Working on convincing them of that now. We created a test company so they can play around will possible options. gotta love reinventing the wheel! Thanks @RonGouveia and @AllynConway

Depending on their Financial Report tool, it is fortunate. We just did about the same thing for 8 companies 2 weeks ago. We created the new company, exported the current balance sheet and inported to the new company, instead of Retained Earnings we posted to Goodwill. Used BB source journal for 8/1/15. We tried a 5 month fiscal, it didn't work for the financial formats and we had to change them back. Also, budget will need to be imported for only the remainder of the current fiscal.

@MichelleNichols, the first thing I always determine when clients go through something similar is the nature of the purchase. If the purchaser bought the stock of the company, then the legal entity continues to exist. If the purchaser bought the assets of the company and possibly assumed some of the liabilities, then a new company must be set up. Either way, I always find it better to create a new company in Sage 100 for the after-purchase entity. The only question is if the new company only has master files transferred or the entire database. If a stock purchase, make a copy of the existing company as of the date of the purchase. Next, close the current accounting period and process all remaining transactions in the next period. We create a 13th period in Fiscal Year Maintenance and break the period the purchase occurred into two periods (ie 9/1 - 9/15 and 9/19 - 9/30). We then have the client process all adjusting and closing transactions in the new, short period so they can be identified, summarized, and then transferred to the new copy of the company data at a later time. If an asset purchase, you will need to make entries to transfer the assets purchased and liabilities assumed including open AR and open AP but remember, with an asset purchase, more often than not, the assets need to be revalued based upon the net price paid. AR and AP usually aren't adjusted but fixed and intangible assets are almost always revalued and new depreciation / amortization periods are established. Hows that for a long answer to a short question?

I wrote a huge comment and now it's gone so please excuse this if you see it twice in the future. This is the more streamlined version. I've done this three times in the last year. For my customers, the new owner didn't want to see ANY history form the old company at all. They wanted to start fresh, and they did buy the open AR and AP. For removing history in GL by closing, it will remove the details of the balances, but not the balances, themselves. If they want to go this route, enter transactions to get balances to 0, change years to keep history to 2, close two years. Check that there is no history. However, there is still so much history in AR, AP, Inventory, PO, SO that is most impossible to get right of everything 100%. I recommend using svtrna (File--Run--svtrna) utilities to move the ""static data"" to a new company. Do exports and imports to move opening balances for AP, AR, Inventory. Imports for Open SO and Open POs. You can fix anything you'd like, like fiscal years, before you enter any data. I manually created new form codes w the same names as the old form codes and manually moved them over. I can give you more information and VI jobs if you'd like. I'll give you hints on moving Paperless emailing addresses (svtrna doesn't move them). The only thing we ""lost"" was credit card info. Roberta.chase@compudata.com

How many years of history???? My thought would be to change the GL calendar and have two short years. One year ends on Monday and the other year ends on 12/31. You may have to change the calendar back to the beginning so the years align, but I am pretty sure I did this about five years ago for a client.

In most cases, they want a new company with no balances but access to blank GL accounts, vendors, customers, inventory copied from the old company? SVTRNA

These are all great ideas guys! Thank you so much! @ShawnSlavin and @RobertaChase are you guys ok if i copy/paste your suggestions and send them over the the CFO? This will open the lines of communication and give them all their options. I like the SVTRNA idea!

Sure. Wayne was just more succinct than me. SVTRNA really is the BEST answer by far; it's the only way to truly start with a clean slate, without any hidden ""history"" files.

Absolutely Michelle.

Consider copying the company to create the new. Journal entrying the GL as of date of purchase to your purchase opening entry. Then adjust subsidiary modules as necessary (many times these do not change...ar,ap,inv,etc. Old company remains in propriety and can be used for old ownership for post closing transactions. New company has all history, but new GL starting point. So you can even run comparative financials. Oh and almost forgot. Re initialize tax reporting files like AP 1099 and payroll. Beats the heck out of all that importing and exporting. As a previous auditor, I have used this method many times and it survives an audit. Feel free to call with any questions.

Copy to a new company and then reinitialize GL files that have financial data in Done this many times. CRM involved?

@JohnnyPabian That could work too. No CRM in place,

@MikeDeRosa yours is the winner because they do want to keep the history files. Thank so much! I will contact you if I run into any hiccups. @ShawnSlavin great thought on the assets, this had not been brought into consideration yet, so they are looking into it. Thanks again guys! Is it February yet???