Month-end Processes

Once all offerings and payments have been entered for the month, you'll begin the month-end closing process. Once you work through the steps and Print Monthly Reports, the month is considered "closed", and no more changes can be made without the help of technical support. Closing the month protects the church's records from accidental changes, protects the church from fraud, protects the treasurer from accusations of misconduct, and ensures that once the Church Board has approved financial reports, those reports do not change.

There are multiple steps to close the month, and they must be done in order. But you have the NextStep button to guide you through the month-end processes. You don't need to remember what to do next!

Enter All Offerings

By now you should have entered into Jewel all your Sabbath offerings and both AdventistGiving reports for the month (one for the 15th and one for the last day of the current month). If you would like to take a peek at your bank statement and compare it with your current Deposit Report to verify that you are not forgetting anything, go ahead. But don't reconcile yet. There are still a few more steps before we are ready to do that.

Enter All Checks and Payments

Do you have all your checks and payments for the month entered into Jewel? If not, now is the time to do it. The only payment you should not enter yet is your conference remittance check, as Jewel will calculate that for you as part of the closing process.

Start the Closing Process

Once deposits and payments are entered, and you are ready to start the closing, the Next Step button is your guide. The Next Step button will always keep you on track by telling you where you are in the monthly process, and will lead you through each step.

Your Next Step button has said Start New Offering during this whole month and that means that you are still in the process of doing monthly things like offerings and checks.

Once you have all your offerings and payments entered, you will need to tell Jewel that you are ready to close. You do this by clicking on Start New Offering and then clicking on the No More Offerings in (whatever month you are in) button.

One Last Chance

Once you click on No More Offerings, Jewel will respond with a question, giving you a list of offerings that have been entered. Once you have remitted, which is the next step, you won't be able to enter any more offerings. So Jewel wants you to make sure.

Carefully look at the dates, comparing with the calendar. Do you have all the Sabbath offerings entered? Do you have both Adventist Giving offerings for the month entered? Be very sure of your answer, as you will need to contact technical support for assistance if you later discover that you missed an offering (one exception in the last section here).

Jewel will then confirm that you are ready to write the remittance check. From here on out, just follow the NextStep button. The extra guidance found here is just that: extra!

What If You Are Not Sure?

If, at any NextStep, you are not sure, don't hesitate to click on No. Jewel will save that as your NextStep until you come back to it. You can always come back and click on it when you are sure.

Remit to Conference

Once you click Yes or click on the Next Step - Remit to Conference, Jewel creates the remittance check for you, using the totals from the offering envelopes you have entered. You should never need to change the amounts! Jewel automatically accounts for any corrections that have been made, NSF checks received, etc. If you believe that something on the remittance check is incorrect, contact your technical support for assistance.

If you write your checks by hand, double-check that the Check Number is correct. If you send your remittance via ACH, verify that the Electronic Payment box is checked. If you need to change one of these things, click Edit Check and make your change.

NOTE: The remittance check CANNOT be written using Write Checks, as Conference Funds cannot be selected in that screen. In the unlikely circumstance that you need to write a remittance check outside of the monthly cycle, you must go to Accounting / Make Manual Remittance. But please confirm with your technical support or auditing team before using this option.

Send Remittance Report

If your conference uses Jewel as its official treasury software, your next step is to Send Remittance Report. This sends the breakdown of funds on the remittance check to the conference in electronic form. If you have not set up ACH with your conference, the report saves them from having to deal with a physical report in addition to your physical check. If you have set up ACH, the report tells the conference how much to withdraw from your bank account.

Make Budget Allocations

If you have set up budget allocations in Jewel, your next step will be to confirm those allocations for the next month. This screen shows the budget allocations that Jewel will make for the next month, based on what you have entered. Simply click OK to record the transfer. If you need to make changes, click Cancel, go to the menu bar at the top of the main screen, select Maintenance / Budget Allocations and make necessary changes.

If your church has no allocations set up, click Make Budget Allocations anyway. Then the Budget Allocations screen might show a zero amount, and you can click the Green OK in the top right corner. Or you may get a message that budget allocations have not been set up, and you can click No to skip allocations and move on.

Either way, consider zeroing out negative balances before finishing your month-end closing.

Reconcile Bank Statements

The Bank Reconciliation is an essential part of treasury work. Its purpose is to verify that your records in Jewel agree with what is actually happening in your bank account. Reconciling makes sure that you entered all transactions in Jewel and that you entered them correctly, as well as giving you a chance to catch any errors the bank may have made, or any fraudulent transactions.

Also, timing matters. Completing the bank reconciliation when the NextStep asks you to is important.

Please see Quick Start Guide to Bank Reconciliations for instructions on how to complete this critical step.

Finished All Bank Reconciliations

Once you have finished reconciling all accounts and printing the Bank Rec Report(s), your NextStep may still say Reconcile Bank Statements. Jewel is waiting for you to indicate that you are ready to move forward, so to do this, click on that Reconcile Bank Statements to return to the bank reconciliation entry page. Then click on Finished All Bank Reconciliations.

Print Monthly Reports

Jewel will ask if you are sure you are ready to print reports and close. If you have followed all these instructions, click on Yes. As noted in the pop-up, you cannot make any changes after the month has been closed. Make sure you have entered all transactions for the month before completing this step. The only way to make corrections after closing the month is for you to make a correcting entry in the following month, or to ask support for help.

Have your printer set up and the reports will print. These are the reports that you give to your board at the next board meeting.

Jewel is pre-set to print the typical monthly reports, which include: Financial Summary (month- AND year-to-date), Contribution Report, Deposit Report, Checks Written Report, and Transfer/Allocation Report. However, you can always change which reports will print by going to Properties / Reports Tab (see Reports). Check with your Church Board to find out which reports they require. Extra reports can be printed at any time via Reports & Graphs.

Back Up Data

Your next step is to make a backup of the data you have entered for the month. This will ensure that, even if something goes wrong with Jewel or your computer, you will have your data stored elsewhere, so as to not lose it. Simply insert a USB drive (memory stick) into the appropriate port on your computer, then click Back Up Data on the NextStep button. Keep your USB drive in a safe place but NOT with the computer. Click here if you need to change the backup path.

Send Backup to Conference

The last monthly step is sending a back up to your Conference server. This is one more assurance that you will not lose your data, and also serves as your month-end reports to your Conference. (If you bought Jewel independently of your conference, then your backup goes to Jewel's server. In this case it is not a report to your conference, but is still an extra assurance that your data will not be lost.) This option can be turned on and off in Maintenance / Properties / Internet tab.

Clicking Send Backup to Conference is the last step in closing the month. Once the backup has been received by the Jewel server, the Jewel NextStep button will again say Start New Offering and you will have advanced to a new month. Verify this new month by looking at the date in the bottom left corner of the home page, next to the name of your church. (Not the bottom right corner, which is the date of the last-entered offering and last-written check.)

Troubleshooting

Jewel Won't Let Me Move On to My Next Step!

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