How do I record late entries for an earlier period?

Sometimes you may need to post transactions into a period after you've run your reports and completed your month end or year end procedures. For example, in January you may receive a purchase invoice dated in December. These are called late entries, and to make sure the values appear in the correct place on your accounts, you must post adjustments.

There are two ways of dealing with a late entry:

• Post an accrual - If you're expecting to post a late entry and you know the approximate value, before you run your period end processes you can post an accrual. This is an adjustment to post an estimated value into the accounting period until you're ready to post the actual transaction.
• Post a late entry after running your period end process - If the late entry is unexpected or you don't have an approximate value, you can post it once you receive it. As you've already completed the previous accounting period, you must then post an adjustment to move the value into the current period.

Let's take a look at these two methods.

Posting an accrual for a late entry

If you know the expected values of your late entries and you haven't finalised your profit and loss and balance sheet reports for the period then you can post an accrual. When you receive the invoice in the next period, you can reverse the accrual and post the invoice correctly.

To accrue the value of the invoice

NOTE: In this example, a purchase invoice of £/€100 is to be accrued. Don't include any VAT amounts in the accrual.

1. Nominal codes > Journal entry.
2. Enter a reference > enter a date within the period you're completing > enter the relevant information for the journal. For example:
   
   

   N/C	Name	Details	T/C	Debit	Credit
   5000	Purchases	Late entry accrual	T9	100.00
   2109	Accruals	Late entry accrual	T9		100.00

3. Save > Close.

You've now accrued for the late entry and can complete your period end. When you receive the purchase invoice in the next accounting period, you should reverse the accrual and post the invoice correctly.

To reverse the accrued value of the invoice

TIP: You can also use the Journal reversal option to reverse the original accrual journal. 

1. Nominal codes > Journal entry.
2. Enter a reference > enter the same date as the original accrual you posted > enter the relevant information for the journal. For example:
   
   

   N/C	Name	Details	T/C	Debit	Credit
   5000	Purchases	Late Entry accrual	T9		100.00
   2109	Accruals	Late Entry accrual	T9	100.00

3. Save > Close.

You've now reversed the accrual. When the purchase invoice arrives, you should post it with the correct date and details.

Posting a late entry after finalising your accounts

If you've finalised your profit and loss and balance sheet reports and VAT Return and subsequently receive a late invoice, you can still post a late entry.

To complete this process you need to:

• Post the late entry using the correct tax point date, for example, the invoice date.
• To reverse the value from the previous accounting period, post a journal for the value of the late entry using the same date as above.
• To show the value in the current period's financial reports, post a journal for the value of the late entry using a date in the current accounting period.

NOTE: If you're posting a late purchase invoice, and need to run a retrospective aged creditors report, the figure on the report won't agree to the creditors control account.

To remove the value of the late purchase invoice from the previous period

NOTE: In this example, you posted a late entry purchase invoice of £/€200 plus VAT.

1. Nominal codes > Journal entry.
2. Enter a reference > enter the same date as the original transaction you posted > enter the relevant information for the journal. For example:
   
   

   N/C	Name	Details	T/C	Debit	Credit
   5000	Purchases	Late entry adjustment	T9		200.00
   2201	Purchase Tax Control Account	Late entry adjustment	T9		35.00
   2100	Creditors Control Account	Late entry adjustment	T9	235.00

3. Save > Close.

You've now posted the adjustment to remove the value of the late entry from the previous accounting period. You should now post another journal to record this value in your current accounting period.

To post the value of the purchase invoice into the current period

1. Nominal codes > Journal entry.
2. Enter a reference > enter a date in the new accounting period > enter the relevant information for the journal. For example:
   
   

   N/C	Name	Details	T/C	Debit	Credit
   5000	Purchases	Late entry adjustment	T9	200.00
   2201	Purchase Tax Control Account	Late entry adjustment	T9	35.00
   2100	Creditors Control Account	Late entry adjustment	T9		235.00

3. Save > Close.

You've now recorded the value of the late purchase invoice in your current accounting period. The next time you run your financial reports for your current period, this value will be included.

NOTE: Making adjustments after the year end has been ran may cause discpreapncies with any archives created as the procedure was run.

Posting into a previous financial year

For more information about posting into a previous year, refer here >