Fiscal Calendar, Fiscal Year and Periods Setup in MS Dynamics Ax 2012

The Fiscal Calendars provide a base framework for the financial activity. Each Fiscal Calendars contains one or more fiscal years, and each fiscal year contains multiple periods. Fiscal Calendars can be based on any financial year eg 1^st April to 31^st March of next year (as in the case of FY at India), or on any range of dates. There is no limit to the number of fiscal calendars that can be created, and no limit to the number of fiscal years that can be created for a Fiscal Calendar. Each Fiscal Calendar is independent of organization, and can be used by multiple legal entities in the organization. For example, an organization has 6 legal entities. Out of them 4 entities share the same fiscal calendar and 2 entities may use different fiscal calendars. So one fiscal calendar can be created for the 4 legal entities that share the same fiscal calendar, and a separate fiscal calendar can be created for the 2 other legal entities.

Fiscal Calendar is used in different modules. Fiscal Calendars are used with fixed asset depreciation, financial transactions, and budget cycles. When a fiscal calendar is created, it can be used for multiple purposes. The Fiscal Calendar can be selected for a value model or depreciation book to make it a fixed asset calendar. The Fiscal Calendar can be selected for a ledger to make it a ledger calendar. The Fiscal Calendar can be selected for a budget cycle to make it a budget calendar.

To create a Fiscal Calendar that includes one fiscal year,

§  Click General ledger > Setup > Fiscal calendars.

§  Click New fiscal calendar.

§  Enter a name for the fiscal calendar, such as FY1213, AprToMar, or 2012-2013

§  Enter a description such as April 12 To March 13

§  Enter the starting and ending dates for the first fiscal year that will be added to the fiscal calendar. The default dates are January 1 and December 31. Also a fiscal year may starts in one calendar year and ends in another calendar year. But remember, that a fiscal year later, that fiscal year must start on the day after the previous fiscal year ended. For example, if a fiscal year of 2012-13 that starts on 1^st April 2012, and ends on 31^st March 2013. The next fiscal year must start on 1^st April 2013.

§  Enter the name of the fiscal year that you are creating.

§  Enter the length of the period and select the unit for the periods in the new fiscal year. For example, enter a period length of 1 and select Months in the Unit field as shown above. The fiscal year will include 12 periods, each being one month long. A period length of 2 and a unit of Months will create a fiscal year that has six two-month periods, so do not create.

§  Click Create.

When a fiscal year is created, the periods are automatically created, based on the length of the period unit and the number of period units that was specified. To use the fiscal calendar, assign the Fiscal Calendar as shown below in the Ledger Account of the entity or organization.

Therefore, before posting any transactions, a new fiscal year must be divided into periods as transactions cannot be posted unless a period is created for the posting date.

How to add a fiscal year?

A Fiscal Calendar can contain any number of fiscal years. Therefore, after creation of a Fiscal Calendar an unlimited number of fiscal years to a Fiscal Calendar can be added or created. The starting and ending dates of the fiscal years cannot overlap. Also, cannot have gaps between the ending date of one fiscal year and the starting date of the next fiscal year.

To add a fiscal year to an existing Fiscal Calendar, do the followings:

1.    Click General ledger > Setup > Fiscal calendars.  In the left pane, select the fiscal calendar where want to add a fiscal year to.

2.    Click New fiscal year.

3.    Enter an ending date for the new fiscal year. The starting date for the new fiscal year is the day after the ending date of the previous fiscal year. For example, the 2012-13 fiscal year starts on 1^st April 2012, and ends on 31^st March, 2013. The new fiscal year of 2013-14 that you create starts on 1^st April 2013. The starting date cannot be changed.

4.    Enter the name of the fiscal year, say for example 2013-2014

5.    Select the Copy from last fiscal year check box to have this fiscal year use the same periods as the previous fiscal year in this fiscal calendar. If the previous fiscal year or the new fiscal year is a leap year then do not check this checkbox. If want the new fiscal year to have different periods than the previous fiscal year, then enter the length of the period and select the unit for the periods in the new fiscal year.

6.    Click Create, and this will create a new fiscal year.

How to divide a period?

The period can only be divided if it has a status OPEN.  The period can be divided into two periods. The division of period is required when a period is divided into two equal or unequal parts for the purpose of information generation. When a period is divided, the original period is deleted, and two periods are created. The first period uses the starting date and name of the original period. The ending date is one day before the starting date that you enter for the second period. The second period uses the starting date that you enter in the Period start field. The ending date is the ending date of the original period. For example, want to divide Period 1, which starts on 1^st April and ends on 30^th April. After division of Period 1, Period 1 starts on 1^st April and ends on 15^th  April. Period 2 starts on 16^th April and ends on 30^th April.

To divide a Period, do the followings:

1.    Click General ledger > Setup > Fiscal calendars. In the left pane, select the fiscal calendar and fiscal year that includes the period to divide. In the Periods grid, select the period to divide.

2.    Click Divide period. As shown above a modal window will arise asking for the Period Start and a Period Name. Enter a starting date and a name for the second period. The name must be unique in the fiscal calendar and fiscal year.

3.    Click Divide.

How to delete a period?

A Period can be deleted if it is not a closing period, and if it does not include financial transactions. Furthermore when a period is deleted the period gets merged with the period immediately before it. For example, Period 1 is 1^st  April to 15^th April and Period 2 is 16^th April to 30^th April if Period 2 is deleted then it will merge with the Period 1.

To delete a Period, do the following:

1.    Click General ledger > Setup > Fiscal calendars. In the left pane, select the fiscal calendar and fiscal year that includes the period to delete.

2.    In the Periods grid, select the period to delete.

3.    In the lower pane, click Delete.

How to delete a fiscal year?

To delete a Fiscal Year make sure that delete the fiscal years in sequential order, starting with the fiscal year that was most recently created. The fiscal year cannot be part of a budget cycle time span. No periods in the fiscal year can include financial transactions. The fiscal year cannot include source document lines that have not been journalized for the fiscal calendar that is assigned in the Ledger form.

To delete a Fiscal Year, do the following:

1.    Click General ledger > Setup > Fiscal calendars. In the left pane, select the fiscal year to delete.
 

2.    In the upper pane, click Delete.

How to delete a fiscal calendar?

Before deleting any Fiscal Calendar make sure that all the fiscal years that are included in the fiscal calendar will also deleted. Furthermore the fiscal calendar cannot be the selected fiscal calendar for the ledger in the Ledger form. The fiscal calendar cannot be assigned to a budget cycle time span in the Budget cycle time spans form. The fiscal calendar cannot be assigned to fixed asset depreciation books or value models in the Depreciation books or Value models forms.

To delete a fiscal calendar, do the following:

1.    Click General ledger > Setup > Fiscal calendars. In the left pane, select the fiscal calendar to delete.

2.    In the upper pane, click Delete.

How to create a closing period?

In the end of a Fiscal Year the books are closed so as to ascertain the Profit and Loss and to carry over the balances to next Fiscal year. Thus a closing period is used to separate general ledger transactions that are generated when a fiscal year is closed. When the closing transactions are in one fiscal period, it is easier to create financial statements that either include or exclude different types of closing entries. If a fiscal year is divided into 12 fiscal periods, the closing period is usually the 13th period. However, a closing period can be created from any period that has a status of Open. When a closing period is created, selected period that has a status of Open and that has the dates that to use. The new closing period will copy the starting and ending dates from the existing period. The original period will continue to exist. For example, if Period 12 is selected, which is the last period in the fiscal year, and that has dates of 1^st March to 31^st March. Enter a name for the closing period, such as Close. After that create the new closing period, now have the original period and the closing period. Both have dates that start on 1^st March and end on 31^st March.

To create a Closing Period, do the following:

1.    Click General ledger > Setup > Fiscal calendars. In the left pane, select the fiscal calendar and fiscal year where want to add the closing period to.

2.    In the Periods grid, select the period with the dates that want to use.
 

3.    Click Create closing period.

4.    Enter a name for the closing period. The name must be unique in the fiscal calendar and fiscal year.

5.    Click Create.

How to specify which users can post to a period?

A user can only post any transaction to a period if and if only that user has credentialed to post in the period. Therefore specify which user groups can post to a period by using the Ledger calendar form. For example, at the start of a new period, might want a group of users to finish posting financial transactions in the previous period, while other groups work only in the new period.

To specify which users can post to a period, do the following:

1.    Click General ledger > Setup > Ledger. Verify that a calendar is selected in the Fiscal calendar field.  

2.    Click Ledger calendar. In the Ledger calendar form, select a fiscal year in the left pane.

3.    On the Periods FastTab, select the period to set up permissions for.

4.    Click the Module access level FastTab.

5.    In the Name column, select the module to set up permissions for.

6.    Select a value in the Access level field to indicate which users can post to the module for the period: all users, no users, or only users in a specific user group. If the value in the Period status field on the Periods FastTab is On hold, Closed, or Year closed, no users can post to that period. The period status takes precedence over the selections on the Module access level FastTab.

7.    If selected User group in the Access level field, select a value in the User group field to specify the user group that can post to the module for the period.