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1. PREPARING FOR YEAR END - Preparing for Year End can begin long before the year is closed out. The following can be done at any point in a fiscal year, the earlier the better, but must be done before attempting to run any year-end reports.

All cash kept in the office to make change and all petty expense money must be recorded in the appropriate cash accounts (registers) in Quicken. For information on how handle these accounts see Change and Petty Cash Accounts . If all receipts are already being recorded in a Change or Cash register in Quicken (that is, NOT in the checking account register or savings/money market account register) and all petty cash expenditures are already being recorded in a Petty Cash register in Quicken then proceed to the next item on the Checklist.

Match categories to All Categories List and edit where necessary. Main categories “1 Property Tax,” “A Cost Share,” “B Payroll” must match the main categories on the All Categories List and Main Categories List . Be sure the main categories are in the same order as on the All Categories List. For definitions of what belongs in what category, see Definitions for County Accounting . Only when your Main categories match the Main Categories List should you proceed to the next step.

In addition, be sure that you have the correct sub-categories under “1 Property Tax” and “2 Other Tax and Replacements.” See Tax Credit vs. Replacements . If they do not match the Iowa Department of Management list, edit them before year-end. If your sub-categories match the Iowa Department of Management's list then proceed to the next step.

If wages are being paid from grant, contract or fee program dollars, then make sure you have the appropriate gross wage, employer Social Security, Medicare and IPERS sub-categories under the grant, contract or fee program. Gross wages in grant, contract or fee programs that have gross wages MUST be identifiable in the AFR 4 report. See Example of Identifiable Gross Wages . If no wages are being paid from grant, contract or fee program dollars OR they are readily identifiable in sub-categories then proceed to the next step.

If your county levies for Tort and/or Unemployment, make sure that the levy income is recorded in the appropriate income categories and that the expenses against that levy income are also recorded in the appropriate expense categories. See Recording Tort Liability and Unemployment Compensation Levies . If Tort Liability or Unemployment Compensation Levies have not been used or if they have been recorded correctly then proceed to the next step.

Verify that both Travel and Payroll transactions that are paid to the same person are all recorded using the same name, not variations such as first name and last name, and first name, initial and last name. In addition, each vendor should only be listed once on your payee list. See One Line Per Payee on Published Report . After this has been done, proceed to the next step.

Create a year-to-date Itemized Categories Report and review the following things. (This can also be done at any point during the fiscal year.)

Only after completing ALL the above steps is the county Quicken file ready to complete the final transactions to close the fiscal year.

Itemized Categories Report – For July 1 to June 30

Compare ending balances on above reports making sure they match one another. If they do not match one another, you cannot proceed with the Annual Financial reports as something is out of balance in the file and needs to be corrected. If you cannot figure out what is out of balance, please call your Area Director, before proceeding on to the next step.

4. Prepare Annual Financial Reports – PREPARE IN ORDER GIVEN for most accuracy.

To County Auditor:
One copy of AFR 1
One copy of AFR 2
One copy each of proofs of publication in two newspapers

To Area Director:
Two copies of Form AFR 1
Two copies of Form AFR 2
Two copies of Form AFR 3
Two copies each of Form AFR 4 Education Operating and Form AFR 4 Tort and/or Unemployment including Form Summary AFR 4, if used
Two copies of your Account Balances Report

Create a Permanent Record File – File all of the reports:

Forms AFR 1, AFR 2, AFR 3, and all AFR 4's, Account Balances Report , proof of publication in two newspapers and a complete fiscal year Itemized Categories Report .

Arrange deposit slips in order with their respective bank statements . Only those funds actually received between July 1, 2006 and June 30, 2007 are to be included. Add to the Permanent Record File.

File all bank statements for FY2006-07 with their respective Reconciliation Reports in the Permanent Record File.

Be sure bills are attached to their respective vouchers and canceled checks are also attached to their respective vouchers.

Archive your FY2006-07 Quicken data using these instructions – Archiving Quicken File .