Enter previous year journals

Find this screen

Open: Nominal Ledger > Enter Transactions > Previous Year Journal Entry

How to enter a previous year journal

1. Enter a Journal title and Journal reference. This reference is added to all the nominal transactions in the journal batch.

2. Enter the Journal posting date. This defaults to the last day of your previous financial year. You can change this is the Nominal Ledger Settings.

3. Enter the transaction details.

   1. Specify the nominal account code (Code) to be used, or select it from the list, plus the cost centre (CC) and department (Dept).
   2. Enter a Narrative description.
   3. Specify the Debit or Credit values for the transaction.

4. If you want to keep a record of the journal entries before you post them, select Print.

   Note - information

   This feature is only available from Sage 200 Professional 2023 R1 version onwards.

5. Make sure the total debits and credits are the same, then select Post.

   Note: You can't save details and complete them later. If you select Close and then select Save to keep your unsaved changes, this has the same effect as selecting Post.

How previous year adjustment values are posted

Previous year journals are used to make corrections to your accounts after you have processed a year end.

Previous year journal values are recorded differently depending on whether journals are posted to Balance Sheet or Profit and Loss accounts. This is because in each financial year the Profit and Loss essentially begins again, but the Balance Sheet carries on. The balance of all Profit and Loss accounts is transferred to the Accumulated Profit account as part of the year end process.

You can't enter a previous year journal if the accounting period doesn't exist. To make sure that the journal is included in a prior year trial balance, previous year journals always have to update the balance of an accounting period. If you've never processed a Year End in Sage 200, the required accounting period(s) in the previous year may not exist. When this occurs you won't be enter a journal for that date.

Note: We recommend that you do not use this option if you are using consolidation. Adjustments to prior year journal values are consolidated into the current consolidated period and will distort current year values.

Journals to Balance Sheet accounts

If you enter a previous year journal to Balance Sheet account, this updates the following values

• The period balance of the nominal account for the date of the journal.

  This is shown when you run a prior year trial balance for that period.

  For example, if the journal is dated in November of the previous year, then November's balance is updated. When you run a prior year trial balance for November, then the new value is reported.

• The closing balance for the nominal account at the end of the previous year.

  This is shown as the YTD value for this nominal account when running prior year reports.

  For example, if the journal is dated in November (period 11), the YTD value for the previous year is updated. When you run a prior year trial balance for December (period 12), a new YTD value is reported.

• The current year to date balance.

  This is shown on your current year reports.

  For example, if the journal is dated in November of the previous year, then the YTD balance on the current year is updated. When you run a trial balance for the current year, a new YTD value is reported.

Journals to Profit and Loss accounts

If you enter a previous year journal to a Profit and Loss account, this updates the following values:

• The period balance of the nominal account for the date of the journal.

  This is shown when you run a prior year trial balance for that period.

  For example, if the journal is dated in November of the previous year, then November's balance is updated. When you run a prior year trial balance for November, then the new value is reported.

• The closing balance for the nominal account at the end of the previous year.

  This is shown as YTD value for this nominal account when running prior year reports.

  For example, if the journal is dated in November (period 11), the YTD value for the previous year is updated. When you run a prior year trial balance for December (period 12), a new YTD value is reported.

• The value of the Accumulated Profit nominal account (as this account would have been affected by the Year End).

  This is shown on your current Balance Sheet.

  For example, if the journal is dated in November of the previous year, the Accumulated Profit for your current year is updated. When you run the trial balance or Balance Sheet for the current period, then value of the previous year journal is reflected there instead.

Reporting on previous year journals

You can see a list of all the previous journals you've entered using the Previous Year Journal List report (Nominal > Nominal Reports > Account Analysis > Previous Year Journal List).

Fix it

Error - Previous year journal not enabled

Error - Previous year does not exist