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Friday Feature – Controlling Cash

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While cash is always important, this time of year the control of cash is imperative. Districts and County Offices of Education need to close cash and make sure that nothing changes in the closing fiscal year.
Fabulously, Escape Online gives you the control you need. Not only can you control when cash is closed, but also at what level. Let me explain.

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The When

The “when” is controlled through the cash and close dates in the Fiscal Year Status activities. (Districts only need to fill in these dates if they want cash to close on a date earlier than defined by their COE.)

For each month, you have two fields that control the closing of cash:

  • The Close Cash field defines the date when cash for the level can no longer be changed.
  • The Close field defines the date when the ledger is closed.

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At What Level

The “at what level” is controlled by the JE Check Cash Closed Option field in the Organization record. (COE control is in the System table.)

This field defines at what level users will be stopped from posting journal entries that move cash after the cash is closed. Levels include:

  • Any – JEs will not post if there are any cash accounts in the journal entry, as determined by the cash object.
  • Fund – The journal entry will not post if there is a change in cash at the fund level. For example, if a journal entry transferred between funds, the JE would not post. However, users can post JEs that transfer cash between resources.
  • Overall – JEs will not post if there is a change in overall cash across funds. Users can post JEs that transfer cash between funds as long as overall cash is not changed.
  • Resource – JEs will not post if there is a change in cash at the fund or resource level. Users can only post JEs with changes to cash where the accounts are within the same resource/fund combination. In other words, if a JE transferred cash between funds — or even across resources within the same fund — that JE would not post.
  • SACS Fund – JEs will not post if there is a change in SACS fund rollup cash.

What Happens

When you attempt to post a JE, Escape Online checks to see if the JE affects cash and at what level. Then, it checks the appropriate date in the Fiscal Year Status: the Close Cash Date or the Close Date.

  • Affects cash for level specified – Checks today’s date against the close cash date for the Fiscal Year status month of the transaction date. If today’s date is after the close cash date, the journal entry is automatically put on hold (instead of posted) and a history record is written.
  • Does not affect cash for level specified – Checks today’s date against the close date for the Fiscal Year status month of the transaction date. If today’s date is after the close date, the journal entry is automatically put on hold (instead of posted) and a history record is written.

Fabulous! Escape Online puts you in control of the cash!