End of Month Processing - by Area Closing

These steps should be used when Tenant Management's Closing Mode has been set to Area Closing.  

The end of month process will update the current period and create a balance brought forward for tenant history. When in area closing mode, complete the process for each area until all areas are closed.

Until the month is closed, no transactions can be posted for the new month.  

Verify Global Closing Settings

NAVIGATION: SETUP menu > Tenant Management Settings > Accounting

  1. MAIN tab > CLOSING MODE: selection should show AREA CLOSING.
  2. If Area Closing is selected, follow the steps outlined below.
  3. If another closing option is selected, please follow the End of Month closing instructions for that mode.

Review Pre-Closing Reports

Review the Pre-Closing Reports prior to closing the month.  Make any corrections needed before proceeding.

Pre-Statement Processing

This process will purge the open item file for the next statement cycle. The Pre-statement process will affect Tenant Activity in one of two ways:  

  1. If in Open Item Mode, Tenant Activity will be cleared of all transactions and charges that have been paid. If charges have not been paid, Tenant Activity will retain those transactions.  
  2. If not in Open Item Mode (Class Mode or Standard Mode), running the Pre-statement Process will clear ALL transactions from the Tenant Activity and create a Balance Forward in Tenant History.

NAVIGATION: END OF MONTH menu > End of Month > Pre-Statement Processing

  1. Area Number: enter or select the area; leave blank to see all areas
  2. Last Statement Date should auto-fill with the date of the last statement run.  
    1. The date will either be the last day of the previous month or the first day of the month that is being closed
      1. For example, if the month of September is being closed the Pre-Statement date will either be 8/31 or 9/01 depending on when the statement process was run for the previous month
    2. The Last Statement date is updated in Tenant Accounting Settings when statements are printed or previewed during the closing process.
    3. If your effective date is not correct, please call the Horizon Help Desk.
    4. There are two options for the Last Statement date:
      1. Housing Authorities who do not print statements and only preview them to set the date in the Community Master generally use the first day of the month they are closing.
      2. Housing Authorities who DO print their statements generally use the last day of the previous month or the date they actually printed the statements.
  3. Click START PRE-STATEMENT PROCESSING
  4. If this process has already been run for the area for the Last Statement Date, the program will not allow the process to continue.
  5. When the process is complete, click OK.

Rent Change Review

The Rent Change Review is a report showing pending charge changes for tenants that are to occur on the shown effective date.  This information pulls from the future date and future amounts in Tenant Auto Bills (Auto-Bill Setup) based on the Review Mode selected.

User should verify all Rent changes on this report.  The user may make changes to rents and run the report again.  The user may also change the review mode and run the report again.

NAVIGATION: END OF MONTH menu > End of Month > Rent Change Review

  1. Area Number: enter or select the area; leave blank to see all areas
  2. Community Number: enter or select the community; leave blank to see all communities
    1. A community cannot be selected if the Area Number was left blank.
    2. A Community Number may be selected to review information for that community only or this field may be left blank to review all communities within the selected area.  The Update process will update all of the communities.
  3. Effective Date: the Effective Date is defaulted by the system.  
    1. The Effective Date will populate with the date the changes will be charged based on the last time the Rent Change Update was processed.  
    2. This is also the date the auto-bills will post to the tenant's account for the new month.
  4. Review Mode: select the appropriate mode
    1. Mode 1: Review Against Current Effective Date Only
      1. The program will only look at the rent calcs that match the effective date entered.
    2. Mode 2: Review Against Current/Most Recent Rent Calc
      1. The program will look at a wider range of rent calcs
    3. Mode 3: Review Against Current/Most Recent Rent Calc (Show Changes Only)
    4. The Review Mode will default to the mode set in Tenant Management Settings.  
      1. If no default mode is set the program will default to Mode 1.
      2. The default Mode is usually not changed; however, if you have made changes to a prior rent calculation mode 2 or 3 may be selected to see if there are changes that mode 1 may not show.
  5. Create Merge Interface: Enter a check mark in this field before running the report to have the report information available to print batch letter or forms based on this report.
    1. Preview or print this report and then go to Batch Letters and Forms and press the Build from Last Report button to populate the grid
  6. Preview or print the report (see Report Preview, Print and Save Options).
  7. Review the report carefully as changes can easily be made at this point.  
    1. If changes need to be made, please recall the tenant's account in the Tenant Master for editing purposes or contact the Help Desk for assistance in making changes.
  8. If the report is correct, move on to Rent Change Update.

Rent Change Update

Rent Change Update will process and update Tenant Auto-Bill information for all areas and communities.  The Update Mode should be the same as the Review Mode used in order to process the changes that were reviewed.

NAVIGATION: END OF MONTH menu > End of Month > Rent Change Update

  1. Area Number: enter or select the area; leave blank to see all areas
  2. Community Number: enter or select the community; leave blank to see all communities
    1. A community cannot be selected if the Area Number was left blank.
  3. Effective Date: the Effective Date is defaulted by the system.  
    1. The default date should be the date the auto-bills should be posted for.
    2. If your effective date is not correct, please call the Horizon Help Desk.
  4. Update Mode: make sure you select the same mode you reviewed and approved
    1. Update Against Current Effective Date Only
    2. Update Against Current/Most Recent Rent Calc
    3. The Update Mode will default to the mode set in Tenant Management.  
      1. If a different mode was used in Rent Change Review, the same mode should be selected here.  
      2. Generally the default modes should not be changed.
  5. Click START RENT CHANGE UPDATE.
  6. When the update process is complete, click OK.

Tenant Auto-Bill Edit List

The Auto-Bill Edit List is a report showing all of the billing charges that will be posted to the listed tenant's account on the Effective Date when Post Auto-Bills is run.

NAVIGATION: END OF MONTH menu > End of Month > Auto-Bill Edit List

  1. Area Number: enter or select the area; leave blank to see all areas
  2. Community Number: enter or select the community; leave blank to see all communities
    1. A community cannot be selected if the Area Number was left blank.
  3. Effective Date: the Effective Date should default to the correct date.  
    1. This is the date the auto-bills should be posted to the accounts for the new month.
  4. Transaction Code Selection: Check one or more of the transaction codes that are to be included in the report.  
    1. Select All: Click the Select All button to check mark all transaction codes that are shown in the window.
      1. If information is entered in the code field, the select all button will use the entered information when selecting codes.  
    2. Unselect All: Click the Unselect All button to remove all checkmarks from the transaction codes.
    3. Code: Enter a two digit Code and use the select all button to select all codes that begin with the numbers entered.
      1. For Example: Enter 02 and click the Select All button.  All Transaction Codes that begin with 02 will be checked.
  5. Frequencies to Process: Always and Monthly are checked by default. Additional frequencies include:
    1. Quarterly
    2. Summer Months
    3. Winter Months
  6. Sort Order Within Community: select one of the following orders for the generated report:
    1. Tenant Number
    2. Tenant Name
  7. Preview or print the report (see Report Preview, Print and Save Options).
  8. Review the report carefully.  If changes are to be made, return to the Tenant Master and make corrections or contact the Help Desk for assistance.  
  9. Auto-bills must be corrected before posting or adjusting entries will be needed to correct.
  10. Review the edit list again if changes were made.  
  11. When the edit list is correct, continue on to Post Auto-Bills.

Post Tenant Auto-Bills

This process will charge the amounts that were on the edit list to the tenant's accounts if the same frequencies used for the edit list are used.  Posting of the auto-bills should be done for each area and community.

NAVIGATION: END OF MONTH menu > End of Month > Post Auto-Bills

  1. Area Number: enter or select the area; leave blank to see all areas
  2. Community Number: DO NOT select a Community Number
  3. Effective Date: the Effective Date should default to the correct date.  
    1. This date is the date the auto-bills (first of the month) will be posted to the tenants' accounts in the new month.
  4. Frequencies to Process: Always and Monthly are checked by default. Additional frequencies include:
    1. Quarterly
    2. Summer Months
    3. Winter Months
  5. Click START AUTO-BILL POSTING
  6. All transactions listed on the edit list will be posted as long as the same frequencies were selected for the edit and posting procedures.
  7. If a STOP appears, namely "Pre-Statement Process has not been done for this area", please stop and contact the Help Desk.
  8. When the process is complete, the option to Print the Auto-Bill Register appears.  Press YES to bring up the Tenant Auto-Bill Register dialog box. (recommended)
  9. Preview or print the report (see Report Preview, Print and Save Options).
    1. Printing or saving a PDF copy of the register is recommended.

Tenant Rent Statements

Rent statements must be previewed even if they are not printed for tenants.  When statements are previewed or printed, the default date of the Last Statement Date will be updated and correct for the next month.

Do not cancel out of the previewed statements as they should finish. Cancelling the preview will affect the ACH pull.

NAVIGATION: END OF MONTH menu > End of Month > Print Statements

  1. Area Number: enter or select the area; leave blank to see all areas
  2. Community Number: enter or select the community; leave blank to see all communities
    1. A community cannot be selected if the Area Number was left blank.
  3. Statement Date: same as the default Effective date.
    1. If statements are printed, this date is generally the last day of the month you are closing.  
    2. If statements are not printed for tenants and only previewed, enter the first day of the new month which is the same date used to post auto-bills.
  4. Due Date: enter or select the due date for payments
  5. Sort Order: select one of the following orders for the generated report:
    1. Unit Order
    2. Alpha Within Community
  6. Include Credit Balances: check this box to include tenants with credit balances in the report
  7. Statement Comments: type a standard comment that you want printed on every statement
  8. Preview or print the report (see Report Preview, Print and Save Options). 

End of Month Processing

NAVIGATION: END OF MONTH menu > End of Month > Close Month

  1. Area Number: enter or select the area; leave blank to see all areas
  2. Review the Current Period and New Period After Close information for accuracy.  
  3. Do not close if periods are not listed correctly. Please contact the Help Desk if the dates are incorrect.
  4. Click PROCESS END OF MONTH 
  5. The Closing Month Verification window opens if all other steps were completed and asks "Did you Check Your Dates"
    1. If you verified your dates and they are correct, press YES.
    2. If the dates are not verified or they are incorrect, press NO.
      1. Pressing NO will take the user back to the End of Month Processing screen showing the current period and new period dates.
      2. Review/verify the dates and then click Process End of Month.  
      3. Press YES to the verification question if your dates are correct.  
  6. Click OK on the "Process Complete" info box
  7. Repeat these steps for each area that is to be closed.  

Some housing authorities have each community run all of these steps except the End of Month Processing.  The End of Month Processing is run by one person at the authority.

7/2023

NEED MORE HELP?  Submit a ticket to the Help Desk or call (814) 535-7810 or (800) 889-3388