RFMS Month-End Close: Troubleshooting Balance Mismatches

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Use this article when a month-end report total does not match the related journal or General Ledger balance.

Do not continue making corrections until you identify the source of the difference. Making manual corrections before you know the cause can create additional reconciliation issues.

Before You Troubleshoot

Before reviewing a specific balance, confirm the report was run with the same comparison settings used for the journal or General Ledger balance.

Check the following first:

Item to Confirm	What to Check
Accounting period	Confirm the report was run for the month being closed.
Report date	Confirm the report date matches the close date or comparison date.
Store selection	Confirm the same store selection was used across reports.
Combine selection	Confirm Combine was selected or not selected consistently.
Report version	Confirm the correct month-end report was used for your company setup.
Posting status	Confirm all required activity was posted before the report was run.
Activity after reporting	Confirm no activity was posted after the report was run and before comparison.

If these settings are not consistent rerun the report before troubleshooting individual transactions.

Inventory Does Not Match

Use this section when the Month-End Inventory Balance Report does not match the inventory journal or General Ledger balance and you have already checked that reports were run with consistent settings.

Review Inventory

check for:

• inventory adjustments posted after the close date;
• physical inventory adjustments;
• uncosted inventory;
• inventory received outside the period;
• inventory invoiced outside the period;
• material that was cut or delivered;
• percentage billing activity;
• activity that was entered after the report was run.

Check ERRM or Non-ERRM Behavior

Inventory report logic may differ depending on whether your company uses Enhanced Real-time Revenue Management, or ERRM.

If your company uses ERRM, review the ERRM inventory report article for date and value logic.

If your company does not use ERRM, review the Non-ERRM inventory report article for date and value logic.

Accounts Receivable Does Not Match

Use this section when the Month-End A/R Report does not match the A/R journal or General Ledger balance and you have already checked that reports were run with consistent settings.

Review A/R Activity

check for:

• customer payments posted to the wrong period;
• customer deposits not posted correctly;
• undelivered orders;
• partially billed orders;
• orders billed or job costed outside the expected period;
• manual journal or General Ledger entries affecting A/R.

Review Order and Payment Status

For individual order differences, confirm:

Question	Why it matters
Was the order billed or job costed?	This affects whether the order should appear in A/R.
Has money been posted to the order?	Payments and deposits affect the open A/R balance.
Was the order paid in full?	Pain-in-full orders may no longer appear as open receivables.

Accounts Payable Does Not Match

Use this section when the Month-End A/P Report does not match the A/P journal or General Ledger balance and you have already checked that reports were run with consistent settings.

Review A/P Activity

check for:

• invoice dates outside the expected period;
• date paid outside the expected period;
• checks posted after month-end;
• open payables included or excluded unexpectedly;
• paid payables included or excluded unexpectedly;
• payables posted to the wrong account code;
• manual journal or General Ledger entries affecting A/P.

Review Invoice Status

For individual invoice differences, confirm:

Question	Why it matters
Was the A/P invoice posted?	Unposted invoices may not appear in the expected balance.
Has the invoice been paid in full?	Paid invoices may no longer appear as open payables.
Was the payment posted after month-end?	Payments after the close date can create timing differences?

Sales/Use Tax Does Not Match

Use this section when sales/use tax reports do not match the related tax liability balance and you have already checked that reports were run with consistent settings.

Start with the Tax Report Status

Confirm whether you are reviewing unpaid tax records or previously posted tax records.

If you need to review...	Use...
Unpaid tax records before posting	Print Tax Due
Tax records that are ready to be marked as paid	Print & Post Tax Due
Previously posted tax records	Tax History

Important: Print & Post Tax Due marks unpaid tax records as paid. After records are marked as paid, they do not appear as unpaid in the next report.

Review Tax Report Settings and Activity

check:

• tax due month;
• store selection;
• city, county, or state subtotal options;
• sales tax base;
• sales tax collected;
• sales tax due;
• use tax cost basis;
• tax-exempt customer setup;
• resale customer setup;
• whether tax records were already marked as paid.

GST Does Not Match

Use this section when GST collected or GST paid does not match the related journal or General Ledger balance and you have already checked that reports were run with consistent settings.

check:

• A/P invoice date range;
• customer order delivery date range;
• store selection;
• GST paid distribution from A/P;
• GST collected from customer orders;
• exempt or resale customer order status;
• manual journal or General Ledger entries affecting GST;
• activity posted after the GST Report was run.

If GST totals still do not match, review the source A/P invoices and customer orders included in the GST Report for the period.

ERRM WIP or Accrual Balance do not Match

Use this section only if your company uses Enhanced Real-time Revenue Management, or ERRM.

ERRM balances may depend on whether material has been received, whether an order has been delivered, whether billing is complete, whether job costing has occurred, and whether labor or provider records have been posted.

Important: The accrued labor account in the journal is debited during payroll. Because of this, there may be a timing difference between the Accrued Labor Report balance and the journal balance.

Accrued Inventory

check:

• whether material was received from a bill of lading;
• whether the material has been costed;
• whether receiving and costing dates fall in the expected period;
• whether the report date matches the journal comparison date.

Accrued Labor

check:

• whether the provider record was posted;
• whether payroll has been processed;
• whether payroll timing created a difference between the report and journal balance;whether the report date matches the journal comparison date.

Unbilled A/R

check:

• whether the order was job costed;
• whether the order has been billed;
• whether billing occurred after the report date;
• whether manual journal or General Ledger entries affected the balance.

WIP Material

check:

• whether the delivery ticket was printed;
• whether lines moved to delivered status;
• whether the order was booked;
• whether the order was job costed;
• whether final billing has occurred;
• whether billing group status affects the balance.

WIP Labor

check:

• whether the provider record was posted;
• whether the order was booked;
• whether the order was job costed;
• whether final billing has occurred;
• whether billing group status affects the balance.

Percent Billed Reports

If your company uses percent billing, review percent billed reports as part of the WIP review.

Check whether percent billing, final billing, or job costing occurred in a different period than expected.

When to Contact RFMS Support

Contact RFMS Support before making manual corrections if:

• the difference cannot be identified;
• the same difference appears across multiple reports;
• activity appears to have posted to the wrong period;
• a closed month may need correction;
• inventory, A/R, A/P, tax, GST, WIP, or accrual balances still do not match after reviewing the source activity.

When contacting Support, provide the report name, report date, store or Combine selection, journal or GL balance, report total, and the amount of the difference.