Preparing workpapers

In Workpapers, the client’s accounts and balances are reviewed. Using Workpapers, the balances within the accounts can be calculated and substantiated. Documents can be linked to accounts within the workpaper to substantiate each account’s balance. If the balance for the account is different to the client’s balance, an adjustment journal must be added.

An overview of the procedure involved in preparing a client’s workpaper:

• Import the client’s balances — the client’s accounts and balances are reviewed. If a financial data source for the client has been configured and selected, then the client balances are imported automatically. Configure the client (see Configuring a ledger) and accounting product location (see Preparing your practice for Client Accounting). If a new client company file has recently been received, then the client balances will need to be imported again and updated. See Importing the client's balances.

• Attach and complete workpapers — this must be done for each account to substantiate the balances for the account. See Adding workpapers for more information on attaching workpapers. See Opening workpapers for more information on completing workpapers.

• Link source documentation — source documents can be linked to each account to substantiate the calculated balances for the account. If Document Manager is installed, files are linked to accounts in the period using Document Manager. See Linking Document Manager source documents. If Document Manager is not installed, external files can be linked to the accounts in the period. See Linking external source documents. You can have multiple links to a single PDF source document by linking to different bookmarks.

• Rollover from prior period — include workpaper data from a previous period. See Rolling data over from a prior period.

• Update workpaper template — update the selected workpaper to the latest master template. See Updating your workpaper template.

• Add journals — if the balance calculated during workpaper preparation is different to the client’s balance, adjustment journals must be added to correct the client’s balances. See Adding a new adjustment journal.

• Review and approve the workpapers and source documentation — to track the progress on completing, reviewing and approving workpapers. When a workpaper or document requires review or approval it can be assigned as an approvals task to a responsible staff member. Once the workpaper or document has been reviewed and completed it is marked as approved. See Managing, tracking and approving workpapers.

• Post journals and accounts — the adjustment journals and new accounts that have been created must be exported. The ledger file must be updated. See Posting journals and exporting new accounts.

• Create PDF — produces a PDF file which contains the reports, workpapers and linked documents from the period. The PDF report can be printed for review or saved as a record on your system. See Creating the PDF report.

• Complete the period — once the Workpaper preparation has been reviewed, approved and completed, and the journals and new accounts have been posted to the client’s company file, the workpaper period can be marked as complete. See Completing the period.
  Once the Workpapers period is marked as complete, information within the period cannot be edited or additions made. Information within the period can only be opened and viewed and reports printed. This restricted access is controlled by a security task permission. The task permission can be modified to enable staff members to open and modify completed periods. See Security and task permissions for Client Accounting.