Closing the Month

Learn to close the month. Following the correct closing procedure at the end of each month is critical for a smooth transition from month to month. By follow these steps, your accounting will stay balanced. This goes a long way to ensure that your books and owner statements are correct.

• Balance Reservations
• Pay Out Cancellations
• Owner Charges and Adjustments
• Close the Month

The first step is to ensure all reservations with a departure date during the month have a zero balance. You cannot close a month with money owed on a reservation or an overpayment on a reservation. Reservations must have a zero balance to close the month.

Calculate Month

Navigate to: Reports > Calculate Month

To determine if there are any reservations with a balance, run Calculate Month. This calculation lets you know which reservations need attention. In the following screenshot, you can see that a “guest paid” reservation still has a balance due. This must be resolved before you can close the month.

NOTE: You may run Calculate Month as many times as you want during the month. So after taking care of the reservations with a balance, run it again.

When a reservation is cancelled, any money not refunded to the guest remains in escrow. At the end of each month, we recommend moving this to earned income by following the steps below.

Move Funds from Escrow

Navigate to: Management > Pay Out Cancellations

This is a list of reservations cancelled during the month. Previous months are included if you failed to pay them out prior. Any funds not refunded to the guest when the reservation was cancelled, remains in escrow and you can see those figures in the report. The amounts in the Escrow column need to be moved to earned income.

1. Tick the box next to the reservation(s) you want to pay out.
2. Select the payout date in the lower right hand corner of the page. The date needs to be the same accounting month you are closing.
3. Click “Post”

The funds are now in your earned income. Include these paid out amounts when you transfer funds from your escrow account into your operating account at your bank.

NOTE: While it is not required to move funds into earned income every month, it is highly recommended.

If you are cancelling reservations and allowing guests to rebook, we advise you to use the rebooking status or a gift certificate unit to park the reservation instead of cancelling it and leaving it in cancelled status for months.

Finally, the “Company” column is the money automatically moved into earned income at the time of cancellation. This includes travel insurance payments that are not refundable.

Before closing the month, make sure you enter any charges the owners need to pay. BrightSide provides a way to enter recurring charges, so those charges automatically show up according to how you set them up. However, on occasion, you may need to enter a random charge that is deducted from the owner’s statement.

Enter Owner Charges

Navigate to: Properties > Charges and Adjustments

1. Enter the date of the charge. Make sure it is in the same accounting month you are closing.
2. Start typing the name of the unit and it will populate the field.
3. Select the category of this charge. Categories may be added if needed.
4. Enter the description of the charge.
5. Enter the amount of the charge. A positive amount takes money from the owner. A negative amount gives money to the owner.
6. Click “Add.”

The charges entered here are listed on the owner’s statement and the amount is deducted from what you owe the owner.

Calculate Month

Navigate to: Reports > Calculate Month

If you entered any new charges into BrightSide since you last ran Calculate Month, you must run it again for it to show up on the owner’s statement. Just before you close the month, run Calculate Month again. This will update the owners’ statements with the most current charges and payments ensuring an accurate statement.

Close the Month

Navigate to: Management > Close Month

When you are ready to close the accounting month, click Close Month. You are required to tick four boxes indicating that you reviewed the following reports, they are correct, and you want to close the month.

1. Owners Reports are complete and correct.
2. Rental Report is complete and correct.
3. Summary Report is complete and correct.
4. I am certain that I want to close the month.

NOTE: Owner calculations may be different when rolling back the accounting month and re-calculating. For this reason, opening a month back up should be done as soon as possible after closing, and going back multiple months is not recommended. You MUST contact support if you need to reopen a month after closing it.