Another very important task you must complete before you close a fiscal year or payroll year is to perform a backup. After you start a new fiscal or payroll year, the only way to view the detail of transactions that were purged from the company file during the start a new year process is to restore a backup of the company file.
To ensure that the backup you make is a reliable backup, we recommend, that as a test, you restore the backup before you start the new fiscal year or payroll year in your company file.
We also recommend that you make multiple backups of your company file, that is, more than one copy of your company file at different locations. The purpose of multiple backups is simple: backups can fail as easily as computers. If the backed-up file is damaged, you're in just as much trouble as you would be without any backup at all.
We recommend that you optimize and verify your company files for errors before you begin the process to start a new payroll or fiscal year. Optimizing and verifying your company file can catch minor inconsistencies in your company's company file before they cause serious problems. For more information see Optimizing company files and Verifying company files.
Step by step