Rolling a set of statements forward a year
What carries over when a firm rolls a client's statements forward a year in Achekam, what is rebuilt from the new trial balance, and what is redone.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Accountants & audit firms in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
The second year of a client's statements should be quicker than the first. The policies are written, the notes are set up, the client's odd line items have their own names. Roll-forward is how that work carries into the new year. Done well, it means the team starts from last year's thinking rather than last year's numbers.
The risk lies in the difference between those two. Some things should travel from one year to the next, some must be rebuilt from scratch, and a few must be redone by people because they belonged to last year alone. This article sets out what Achekam carries forward, what it rebuilds and what it deliberately leaves behind, and ends with a checklist for the first week of the new year's file.
What carries forward
Staff can roll a set of statements forward to the next year. The roll-forward carries:
- the set's settings;
- the accounting policies, including the firm's own;
- the notes;
- the wording the team has written or edited.
That is the bulk of the presentation work. A policy rewritten last year to describe the client's revenue properly, or a note expanded after a review comment, is there on day one.
Every figure rebuilt from the new trial balance
None of last year's current-year figures are copied as figures. Every amount in the new set is rebuilt from the new year's trial balance, through the same mapped lines, with the arithmetic done in code as it is for any draft.
That has a useful side effect. A roll-forward cannot carry a stale number into the new year, because there are no carried numbers to go stale. It also means the new trial balance has to be mapped before the rolled set means anything. New accounts the client opened during the year, or accounts renamed in its ledger, need mapping like any other.
Custom lines and row wording kept
A firm can add its own statement lines and groups and change the wording of any row title, and later builds keep those choices. They survive the roll-forward too. If last year the team gave a body corporate's special levy income its own line, or renamed "Trade and other payables" to suit a client's language, the new year starts with that structure.
Each custom line still totals into a standard line, so the notes and the cash flow stay consistent with it. Review the custom lines anyway: a line created for one unusual transaction last year may have nothing in it this year and can be removed.
What is not carried, and why
Three things are deliberately left behind.
| Not carried forward | Why it belongs to one year | What to do instead |
|---|---|---|
| Adjusting entries | They corrected last year's balances; the new trial balance should already reflect them | Check the opening balances agree to last year's adjusted closing figures |
| Typed comparatives | They were a judgement about a prior year that is now two years back | Take comparatives from the set just issued, or another proper source |
| Signatures | A signature attaches to one issued version | Run the full preparer, reviewer and partner sequence again |
The adjusting entries point is the one that most often catches teams out. If last year's adjustments were never posted in the client's own books, the new opening balances will not agree to last year's issued statements. That is not a roll-forward fault; it is a sign the client's ledger needs the entries posted, or the opening balances need explaining.
Signatures are equally firm. Each set names a preparer, a reviewer and an engagement partner, only a partner can sign, and the preparer or reviewer cannot issue it. A rolled set starts that sequence afresh.
Reviewing what came across
Carrying wording forward is efficient, but wording ages. Policies that were labelled for review before issue last year deserve the same review this year, especially where a standard has changed or the client's business has moved on. The IFRS Foundation's summary of IAS 8 covers the criteria for selecting and changing accounting policies, and how changes in estimates and corrections of prior-period errors are treated. Notes that take their figures from the trial balance will refresh themselves; the narrative around them will not. Any item still showing [to be completed] needs this year's facts from the client.
The directors' report deserves its own read. It describes the year, and last year's description of the business, its activities and events after the reporting date will be wrong in small ways even when the business has hardly changed. The same goes for going-concern wording, which should reflect this year's assessment rather than last year's conclusion.
A roll-forward checklist
- Import and map the new year's trial balance, including new accounts.
- Roll the set forward and confirm the settings and engagement level still apply.
- Agree opening balances to last year's issued closing figures, including adjustments.
- Set the comparative source, normally last year's issued set.
- Review every custom line: keep, rename or remove.
- Re-read policies and notes for changes in the client or the standards.
- Clear every [to be completed] marker with this year's facts.
- Prepare, review and sign as a new set.
Planning the new year's file
The best time to roll forward is as soon as the new trial balance arrives, so the team spends the first meeting on what changed rather than on rebuilding the set. Where the client's entity type has changed since last year, check the template first, as explained in statement templates for trusts, NPOs and bodies corporate. The source of this year's comparatives is covered in comparatives and the cash flow's current-year column.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
