Carry out month-end activity
It is important that all transactions are processed appropriately prior to the month-end. Refer to the Departmental Checklist and Timetable for Key Tasks for guidance. This includes:
- Receipting
- Raising purchase orders
- Review of donations deferral
- Review of posting of ‘goods received not invoiced accruals’ etc
The Finance Bulletin email issued monthly by the Finance Division includes a reminder of the activities required and the associated deadlines. Please contact the Finance Administration Team if you wish to be added to the distribution list for this communication.
Run pre-month-end reports
As per the Reports Library: Monthly Reporting it is important to run a number of key reports including:
Adjust transactions
Where the reports identify incomplete transactions it is important to manage these transactions appropriately and where necessary generate correcting journals. You should maintain a full audit trail and supporting documentation for such journals. This can be done by running and filing a Print an Audit Report in the General Ledger, or by completing a Journal Log.
If you are unclear about how to handle any of the incomplete transactions please contact the Financials Helpdesk (financials@admin.ox.ac.uk).
Identify accruals
Accruals are required, as a minimum, for committed values over £5k at year end. Monthly Accruals accounting has been introduced in 2018/19. Refer to the Accruals process documents for further detail on the accrual requirements and how to manage these. Your Divisional Financial Controller can also provide advice.
Month-end close
The closure dates for each module are provided in the Finance Month-End Timetable . Month-end deadlines are also included in the monthly Finance Bulletin email. Departments should ensure that all necessary transactions are processed in that period ahead of the scheduled closure time. A new period will be opened at the beginning of the month and the Oracle Financials home page will be updated to reflect this.
