FloQast FAQs

What is FloQast AutoRec?

FloQast has released the industrys first AI-powered reconciliation solution that requires no rules definition whatsoever. FloQast AutoRec helps accounting teams automate the highly manual and error-prone process of reconciling transactions, which is core to the task of reconciling high-risk and high-transaction-volume accounts such as cash, credit card, and clearing accounts. Accounting teams can now accurately and efficiently reconcile one-to-many or many-to-many items across any type of general ledger (GL) account saving them hours, and in some cases, days of work every month.

For more info, please visit https://floqast.com/products/floqast-autorec/

How do I turn on AutoRec?

AutoRec must be enabled by your FloQast Setup Team. If you are interested, please contact your Customer Success Manager, Setup Lead, or [email protected].

Once enabled, FloQast AutoRec is turned on at the account level. Navigate to:

Admin Settings Manage Reconciliations Select applicable Entity and Folder Select account that you'd like to activate FloQast AutoRec for Turn on "Enable FloQast AutoRec" slider:

here

Where does AutoRec appear within FloQast?

The option to "Reconcile" will appear underneath your accounts in both the Close the Books tab and Reconciliations tab. The option will only appear for accounts that have had FloQast AutoRec enabled.

How do I begin reconciling transactions?

Hitting the "Reconcile" button will launch a window where you will be prompted to upload two files:

Primary Source file listing all transactions for given account and period (typically used as the list of transactions from your general ledger)

Secondary Source file (i.e. bank or subledger system) listing all transactions for the same period and account

Note: You may customize your file titles from the default "General Ledger" and "Account Number & Name." Learn more here ! Settings

If outstanding transactions exist in the prior period, you can choose to rollforward those transactions from the prior period as part of your upload to the current period. See here for more information on how Rollforward works

What format do these files need to be in?

Both files must be one of the following formats: .xlsx or .csv

Your files may contain up to one million rows of data each.

Both files must follow a specific template. You can use Settings to tell FloQast where to find your transactions in your files. Or you can use our default format:

Column A*= Date

Date must be in excel-recognizable format, such as MM/DD/YYYY

Column B*= Reference 1

Pick a reference field (i.e. description/text/memo) that is most likely to agree to the Reference 1 field in the other file

Column C*= Reference 2

Pick another reference field (i.e. description/text/memo) that is most likely to agree to the Reference 2 field in the other file

Column D*= Amount

Amounts must be listed in standard format with two two decimal places (ex: $12345.67)

Amounts from each file MUST be in the same currency

Any debit or credit columns must be consolidated into a single column

Consider the +/- sign of the amount as it must match the sign from the other file

*If your files are not automatically exported into this format, you may customize what columns FloQast pulls these four pieces of data from. Learn more here !

Once your files are selected, you can hit "Upload" and FloQast will begin reconciling your transactions! While FloQast is busy reconciling your transactions, the "Processing Files" message will appear. You can close out of this screen and still view that reconciling is in progress based on the "Reconciling in Progress" message immediately under the account:

What does it look like once my transactions are reconciled?

FloQast will search both files that you upload to identify transactions that agree, even when the reference fields do not agree 100%. This would include transactions that agree:

one-to-one

one-to-many

many-to-many

single-sided (such as reversal JEs)

When FloQast has finished reconciling your transactions, you will be greeted with a green banner that says "Your reconciliation is complete." You can click "View Results" on the right-hand side of this banner or click on "Reconciled" underneath the Account to launch the AutoRec module.

If there is an error reading your files or reconciling your transactions, the message will say "Uh, oh, something went wrong!" in orange instead of saying "Reconciled." You can click on the link to view the details of the error message. Please check the format of your uploads and your settings and try re-uploading your files again by clicking on "Acknowledge" button to re-launch the module. If you continue to receive an error, please contact [email protected] for assistance.

Once you click the "View Results" or the "Reconciled" link, FloQast will show you your reconciliation results for this account and immediately display the percentage of transactions reconciled:

How do I reconcile transactions that are listed as outstanding?

All outstanding transactions will be placed in the "Transactions" tab. The left-hand side will show the remaining transactions from the primary file, and the right-hand side will show remaining transactions from the secondary file.

All columns are sortable by clicking on Date, Amount, REF1, or REF2. The primary file transactions and secondary file transactions can be independently sorted on their respective sides.

The columns are also searchable using the Search Bar. Each side can be independently searched to narrow the transactions displayed.

Checking the box next to a transaction (or multiple transactions) will pull the information to the center of the screen so you can compare the primary transaction(s) to the secondary transaction(s).

You may also utilize the "select all" button to select all visible transactions with a single click!

If you would like to select multiple (but not all) visible transactions, you may click the first transaction and then shift-click the final transaction in your range. All transactions between will be highlighted as a result.

When the difference between the sum of transactions of the primary file and secondary file net to zero, thenyou'll be given a green "Reconcile" button!

Clicking "Reconcile" will move the transactions to the "Reconciled Transactions" tab and remove the selected transactions from the list of outstanding items.

How do I undo a set of transactions that were reconciled in error?

On the "Reconciled Transactions" tab, simply check the box next to the set of transactions that you'd like to undo. You can select one or multiple at once if you need to undo more than one set of transactions. Once the checkbox is selected, a button to "Undo" will appear and you'll be prompted with a window to confirm the action. Once you confirm the action to undo, the transactions will be added back to the "Transactions" tab as outstanding transactions.

Can I add additional transactions after my initial upload?

Yes, you can upload files containing new transactions using our Progressive Reconciling feature. Click to learn how to use the Add button.

How do I complete my reconciliation using AutoRec?

Once all possible transactions are reconciled in the module, AutoRec will automatically calculate your adjusted ending balance. You can export your reconciliation to Excel by hitting the "Export" button in the upper right-hand corner.

The exported Excel file will contain four tabs:

Tab 1 = Reconciliation template

#fq-[account number] reference will automatically be placed next to the ending balance after user manually inserts the ending balance from the secondary source (i.e. ending bank statement balance)

please ensure that FloQast Reconciliations tab has been refreshed in order to have the most up to date GL balance reflected in the template

This file can then be used as the Supporting Document that FloQast pulls the per-Excel balance from

Tab 2 = outstanding primary source transactions

Tab 3 = outstanding secondary source transactions

Tab 4 = list of all reconciled transactions

reconciled date, who reconciled (FloQast or specific user), and unique identifier for each reconciled set of transactions.

Note: If you uploaded 20,000+ transactions, the above report will export to a .zip file that contains four files. Each Excel workbook will contain one of the respective tabs above (total of four files in the .zip).

When you are done utilizing AutoRec for the specific account, you can hit the "Back to Reconciliations Page" or "Back to Close the Books Page" button to return to FloQast Reconciliations or Close the Books.

If you have any questions about FloQast AutoRec, please contact [email protected]

FloQast relies on the Reporting Periods that you set up in Intacct. These Reporting Periods align with the monthly periods in FloQast to ensure the correct balances are displayed.

An Intacct Admin needs to manually create the Accounting Periods for the next Fiscal Year. To ensure that there is no interruption in your FloQast:Intacct sync, we highly recommend setting these Accounting Periods up prior to the start of the fiscal year! If you are unsure if they are set up, you can follow Step 1 to check. If you find that they are not created, please follow Steps 2-4 to create them in Intacct.

To create Reporting Periods for the next year, click:

1. Reports Setup Reporting Periods

You will see a list of your Reporting Periods that are already set up.

2. Click "Add" in the upper right-hand corner

3. Fill in the appropriate fields, ensure that the status is set to Active, and hit Save.

4. Repeat Step 3 for all months in the upcoming Fiscal Year so that all reporting periods are created in advance!

FloQast AutoRec now provides users with the ability to automatically include outstanding transactions from the prior period into the current period's reconciliation!

When users are uploading source files in a given period, they can choose to roll forward outstanding transactions from the prior period. FloQast will include those outstanding transactions from the prior period with the new transactions being uploaded for reconciling.

Where do I choose to roll forward my outstanding transactions?

When you upload your source files for a particular month, you will be offered a checkbox to "Pull in outstanding transactions from prior period." Checking this box will roll forward any outstanding transactions from last month to the month you are currently uploading files for.

Note: If there are no outstanding transactions from the prior period, then the option will not be presented and you will see the memo below.

2nd Note: If you are progressively adding new files to AutoRec and have already rolled forward the prior period's transactions, then you'll see the memo below.

What happens to the prior period after I rollforward its transactions?

Once you have rolled forward the outstanding transactions, the prior period will show as "locked" as pictured below. You will no longer be able to create new matches, add new files, or reset in this period since all transactions have been rolled forward to reconcile in the next month. Your AutoRec results can still be exported, of course!

If you need to unlock the prior month then you must first reset the AutoRec results for that account from the current period.

Progressive Reconciling enhances the effectiveness of AutoRec by allowing busy accounting teams to work on reconciliations throughout a given month, instead of all at once. Given the volume of transactions that many businesses face, often times, this process necessitates team members perform the task in chunks throughout the month often daily. This helps reduce the stress on employees managing the reconciliations and improves their efficiency overall.

How does Progressive Reconciling work?

FloQast users will still upload an original Primary Source file and Secondary Source file to begin Reconciling Transactions. Now, users can continue uploading additional files throughout the period after the initial upload by clicking the Add button within the FloQast AutoRec module.

same format

Users can upload just one file or two files, as needed, to complete the reconciliation.

What should the additional uploads look like?

The uploaded files should be in the as the original files.

The additional files uploaded can contain strictly new transactions, or a combination of already-imported transactions and new ones. If "repeat" transactions are included, AutoRec will ignore these for your convenience, and and only the new transactions will be taken into consideration.

Settings make it easier to upload your files in their current format and customize the display to reflect your data!

When you open the AutoRec module, you will see a tab for "Settings" here:

This Settings page will allow you to:

Change the titles of the transactions files you are reconciling

Tell FloQast which columns and rows to use in your files

Change the +/- sign of the transactions from your source files

You can update the default titles of your files (General Ledger and Account Number/Name) to best suit your uploads. For example, you can revise the names for a clearing account like so:

The titles will change throughout the AutoRec module:

You can also specify which columns/rows that FloQast should use for reconciling.

The default columns are:

Column A: Date

Column B: Ref1

Column C: Ref2

Column D: Amount

And you can specify which row your transactions start in, in your files (our default row is 2).

This allows you to upload your files as they are, rather than modifying them to meet our default format, and can be custom to each source if your two exports are in different formats.

If one of your sources has the amounts in the opposite sign to the other source, you can flip the +/- sign on one or both of your files by checking the box next to Primary Source and/or Secondary Source:

FloQast has an option to set up account reconciliations to tie out automatically if a certain value is met from the Trial Balance. This is helpful when there is no expected change in balance for an account period over period, such as a clearing account or fixed asset. Many companies use this for their zero balance accounts as well. The Fixed Balance amount entered will replace the need for a supporting document, and the value will therefore be displayed in the "Per Excel" column within FloQast for the respective account.

The system can even automatically sign-off for the preparer and reviewer on any Fixed Balance account if the value from the ERP matches the amount designated in the Fixed Balance field. This is possible using Auto Sign-Off in conjunction with Fixed Balance.

Admin users can set up Auto Sign-Offs by navigating to the Manage Reconciliations tab under settings, then clicking each individual account for which they would like this to be enabled.

Fixed Balance amounts can also be enabled on the Reconciliation Template, where they have a dedicated column.

Auto Sign-Offs must be enabled within the user interface under the Manage Reconciliations section of the Admin Settings. This can be enabled account by account, unless you want to enable Auto Sign-Off for all Fixed Balance accounts at once. In this case, the 'Default Auto Signoff' setting within the Reconciliations Settings will enabled Auto Sign-Off for all future accounts that have a Fixed Balance added. Selecting the "Apply this setting to all existing reconciliations" button will check the box next to any account that already has a Fixed Balance value specified.

As with all template settings, this will need to be Saved and applied to applicable months. Once applied, the Fixed Balance and any applicable Auto Sign-Offs will be displayed the next time the balances are Refreshed in FloQast.

TheManage Reconciliationspage will control the settings for Reconciliations you complete by folder. You can add new Reconciliations by easily searching the Chart of Accounts in your General Ledger.

Note: If you are an Intacct or NetSuite client, the GL accounts from the Chart of Accounts will be visible upon trying to add the new account. If you notice an account missing from the Add Account menu, click here.

If you are a TB upload client, make sure the account appears on the Chart of Accounts file in your FloQast folder before you add it in Manage Reconciliations.

To access the Reconciliations features, select the Reconciliation Settings drop-down:

How to Use FloQast Matching

Default Threshold Change the materiality for differences on reconciliations. Differences below the threshold set will be marked as complete. The Default threshold will be set on all Reconciliations, but you can change this on an account by account basis on the 'Manage Reconciliations' page.

Positive Reconciliation Value Enabling Positive Rec Value will display all account balances from the General Ledger as positive. This option should be enabled if all account balances in the source documents are listed as positive values.

Reconciliation Signatures Enabling this will give the ability to add assignments and deadlines directly on a reconciliation. If your organization would like to operate ina strict environment where you require the reconciliation to tie-out, you can enable the Strict Tie-out Mode within the Entity Settings.

Default Auto Signoff - Enabling this will automatically signoff all accounts going forward that have a Fixed Balance (Reconciliation Signatures must be enabled). See below for Fixed Balance.

Users can configure each reconciliation by completing the steps below:

1. Select the applicable folder which houses the Reconciliation:

2. From there, you can customize your Reconciliations for the following options:

Frequency Set how often the Reconciliation is completed (Monthly, Quarterly or Annual).

Currency Select the local currency to be displayed for the Reconciliation.

Fixed Balance- This setting will allow for a Reconciliation to be completed without uploading a source document. This feature is beneficial for balance sheet accounts where changes are not expected month over month. A good example is a clearing account or a deposit balance.

Auto Signoff- When enabled, this setting creates a system-generated sign-off for the preparers/reviewers of an account as the balance from the GL is the same as the reconciliation value listed in theFixed Balance field. No manual sign-off is required.

Threshold Change the materiality threshold for differences between the GL and Source Document.

Assignee & Deadline Add assignments (preparer/reviewer) and deadlines for each Reconciliation.

Tags - assign organizational tags to specific reconciliations. This is great for filtering.

Enable FQ Matching - See in-depth articles on FQ Matching:

What is FloQast Matching?

3. Lastly, you can export your reconciliations, make changes in Excel and re-upload your template via the Add Revised Recs button.

This will download the template in Excel. You will have the option to save the file to your computer. A copy of this file will be automatically saved in your storage provider:

The Reconciliation Template folder will store all versions of your exported reconciliations list. That way if you make a mistake, you can go back at any time to make revisions.

Note: You must keep the same format (all users are tied to an e-mail address) and column headers for this file to work.

In the final column, there is a FloQast Internal ID. Please DO NOT change this. If you add a new account leave this column blank. Once you make your changes in Excel, you can then re-upload.

Once uploaded, please review the changes. You will then need to Save Changes and apply the template for the changes to gointoeffect.

Note: As acontrol feature in FQ we do not remove sign-offs or apply settings changes if the Reconciliation account has been signed off on. In order for a settingchange to be applied to a signed off on theaccount, then sign off will need to be removed, then the setting change reapplied and the reconciliation will need to be refreshed.

Overview

Admins and Managers have the ability to add, edit, and delete checklist items on the Close The Books tab and the Checklist tab. Perhaps most importantly, changes can be applied going forward to future months. This eliminates the need to navigate to the Manage Checklist page in the Admin Settings section of FloQast if you need to make minor changes.

Adding Checklist Items

Admins and Managers will see an "Add" button that appears on both the Close The Books tab and the Checklist tab (example in the Checklist tab shown below).

When pressing the "Add" button, a slide-out will appear.

As a user, you now have the opportunity to configure the following settings for your new checklist item:

Entity - You may select any entity that you have access to

Folder - You may select any folder that exists in the entity you selected for the month currently in view

Assignees and Due Dates - You may assign any users (besides Auditors and Sys Admins) to the checklist item as long as they have access to the entity you selected

Description - You can set the actual description of the checklist item

Frequency - You may select the frequency option. The options include Non-Recurring, Monthly, Quarterly, Annual, and Custom

Tags - You may select any tag previously created in the system or you may create a new tag

FAQs

Question: What month(s) will my checklist item get added to in FloQast?

Answer: If you select "Non-Recurring" as the frequency, the checklist item will only get added to the month you are currently looking at in FloQast (October 2019 in the screenshot above). However, if you select any other frequency (e.g. "Monthly", "Quarterly", etc.), the checklist item will get added to the selected month and all future months in FloQast in accordance with the selected frequency. For example, if you add a monthly checklist item to July 2019, the item will get added to July, August, September, and all months up to your latest month that exists in FloQast. You will also notice the checklist item will appear on the "Manage Checklist" page in the settings section of FloQast, which ensures the item will get added to future months in FloQast when those months are created. In a more complicated example, if you have a 12/31 year end, and you attempt to add a quarterly checklist item to July, the item will in fact not get added to July (since it is not a quarter end month), but the item will get added to September and future quarter end months.

Question: Can I add checklist items to locked folders?

Answer: For control purposes, you may not add checklist items to locked folders. The screenshot below shows that locked folders are not selectable when adding a new checklist item. If, for example, you have a folder (e.g. "Accounts Payable") that is unlocked in July, locked in August, and unlocked in September, and you attempt to add a monthly checklist item to a folder beginning July, the system will still not tamper with the locked folder; the checklist item will be added to July and September, but not August.

Question: I attempted to add a monthly checklist item to an old month (e.g. June 2019), but it does not seem to be getting added to all subsequent months. Why is that?

Answer: The item should in fact get added to all subsequent months if you selected the "Monthly" frequency. However, the item will not get added to subsequent months if the folder you added the item into is already locked in subsequent months or if the folder does not exist in subsequent months.

Editing Checklist Items

Admins and Managers also have the ability to edit checklist items already in the system, and optionally apply their changes forward to future months. These users can click the settings gear icon (see screenshot below) next to any checklist item in order to edit the item.

Similar to the process of adding a new checklist item, a slide-out will appear (see screenshot below).

This process works almost the exact same way as adding a new checklist item to the system. However, there are some key differences:

You will not be able to move the checklist item to a different entity. However, you will be able to move the item to a different folder in the same entity.

For recurring checklist items (i.e. monthly, quarterly, annual, or custom frequency items), you can select whether you would like to apply changes to "This period and going forward" or "This period only". If you select "This period and going forward", then FloQast will apply the checklist item settings to the current month in view and all future months in the system where that checklist item exists. The change will also carry through to the "Manage Checklist" page in the settings area of FloQast if the item exists there. If you select "This period only," then only the currently selected checklist item will be updated.

FAQs

Question: What happens if I remove an assignee, but they have already signed off on the checklist item in the currently selected and/or future months?

Answer: FloQast will not remove any completed signatures. However, if for example a user has signed off on an item in the currently selected period only, and you want to remove them as an assignee in future periods, you are still able to remove them as an assignee and apply your changes going forward and the user will successfully get removed as an assignee in future periods.

Deleting Checklist Items

Admins and Managers can also delete items and optionally apply the delete to future periods. This feature is accessible using the same settings gear icon that allows for edits (screenshot also included below for reference)

A delete button appears in the bottom left of the slide-out and users can decide if they want to delete the item only in the month they are viewing, or if they also want to delete the item in future periods.

FAQs

Question: What happens if I delete the checklist item and apply my changes to "This period and going forward" but the item is already signed off or locked in a future period?

Answer: If the checklist item is locked or partially signed off in a future period, the item will not be deleted in that period.

NetSuite and Intacct: Updating Credentials

When this happens for Intacct users, the Admin User needs to log in to FloQast and re-authenticate their credentials within FloQast with this new password.

[email protected]

For NetSuiteusers, FloQast now requires Token Based Authentication (TBA), eliminating the need for Admin Users to update their password.

If by chance the token gets broken or the integration role does not have access to all subsidiaries, please contact and our support team will walk you through reestablishing NetSuite TBA.

The FloQast Flux module now offers two new control settings!

1. The ability to designate a Report Reviewer that is responsible for signing off on a report to confirm it is complete.

2. The ability to restrict the aforementioned sign-off until all material accounts have an explanation.

Strict Sign-Off Mode

These settings can be accessed by: Clicking into the Flux tab, selecting your desired report, and opening the Settings section.

1. Enabling/Assigning a Report Reviewer:

You can assign one of your FloQast Admins or Managers as the designated Report Reviewer for a particular Flux report. Clicking 'Add a Report Reviewer' will open a menu that is populated with users that have a FloQast role of Admin or Manager. You may pick one of them toprovide the time stamped final sign-off of the Flux Report.

The Report Reviewer feature also provides a central point of accountability to complete the Flux Analysis.The Report Reviewer will receive email communication notifying them of the accounts that have material variances as well as accounts that have changed since an explanation has been written!

2. Enabling Strict Sign-Off Mode:

This feature may sound familiar if you have enabledfor your reconciliations in FloQast. For Flux, this control feature will perform a slightly different function.

When enabled, the reportcannot be signed off until all material items on the report have explanations.This ensures that all material fluctuations have arequiredexplanation from you or your team!

Once signed off, this final sign-off provides a locked feature to let all users know the numbers will not change and the analysis has been completed for the report. When the Flux Report is locked, explanations cannot be modified, and the report cannot be updated or refreshed. The date of the sign-off will be displayed both in the app and on the Flux export.

FloQast regularly publishes blog posts with relevant company and industry insights. Visit the following link to read our recent posts: https://floqast.com/blog/

During the FloQast setup process,your current reconciliations were uploaded into FloQast and broken down byaccount. On each folder, your reconciliations will display the work for the period. Simply sign-off on the slider in the status column when complete. Reconciliations can be updated at any time in Settings by an Admin or Manager user. You can add assignees (Preparers/Reviewers), deadlines and track completion dates. A roll-up of all reconciliations can be viewed on theReconciliations tab. This view will give you insight into your account balances per Excel versus GL or ERP.

Note:Youcan manually refresh all reconciliations per company and/or on All Entities by clicking theRefreshbutton in the top right-hand corner of the Reconciliations page.

Calendar Settings(underManage Entities) have a number of features that can be configured.

Due Dates can be configured as Business or Calendar days.

Business days follow a normal Monday - Friday schedule. If a reconciliation or checklist item is due on Business day 2, but the second day of the month is a Sunday, the reconciliation will become due on the following Tuesday as that Tuesday is the second day of the month.

Calendar days make items due on the exact day of the month for which the due date is set, regardless of the day of the week that the due date falls on.

Regional Date Formatis simply a configuration as to how dates appear within FloQast.

Calendar Typeallows retail companies to set up a retail calendar with options of a 4-5-4, 4-4-5, 5-4-4, or 4-4-5 hybrid set up. Non-retail companies can set up a standard calendar.

Holiday Calendarallows the recognition of holidays and would remove that particular day as a business day. If a company is set up on Calendar days, a due date that falls on a holiday will be moved up one day.

Work Through Calendarallows due dates that fall on a weekend or holiday to override the adjusted due date associated with business days or holidays.

EnablingStrict Tie-out Mode(underManage Entities) will prevent sign-offs on reconciliations that are not tied out.

If a signed-off reconciliation happens to fall out of balance, the sign-off will be put into a "redo" state (denoted by an orange slider, rather than the normal green slider) and assignees will be notified that the account needs to be reconciled, including a new sign-off, upon the restoration of the originally signed-off balance.

Note: Reconciliation Signatures (under Manage Reconciliations > Reconciliations Settings) will need to be enabled in order for Admins to opt-in to this feature.

EnablingStrict Signoff Mode(underManage Entities)will restrict procedure sign-offs to assignees and admins only.

EnableShared General Ledger Setup(underManage Entities) if you use the same Trial Balance Excel file and credentials for each of your FloQast entities.

This feature must be disabled for all CAS teams.

If you would like to observe specific holidays during the close period, you can add them inManage Entitiesunder theHoliday Calendarsection.

If the holiday falls on a business day deadline, the checklist item or reconciliation will become due the day after the holiday.

If the holiday falls on a hard deadline, the checklist item or reconciliation will become due the day before the holiday.

TheLogin Reportfeature allows you generate and export an Excel file containing the following information: User Name, Event (i.e. Login, etc.), IP Address, Access, and Timestamp.

EnablingStrict Folder Locking(underManage Entities) will lock folders only when checklist items are signed off and accounts are reconciled. Including review notes designates that all review notes mustbe closed.

TheAudit Reportfeature allows you generate and export an Excel file, based on the time frame of your choosing, which contains the following information: Date, Action Performed By, Action, Action Detail, and Companies Affected. This is designed to allow Admins of FloQast to see what changes are being made in Manage Entities and Team Settings and who is making the changes.

Preparing a Mapping Document:

The mapping document is one of the most important aspects of the FloQast setup as it centralizes all of your financial close checklist items and reconciliations in one excel workbook. In addition, it includes your FloQast folder structure which will be the backbone of your engagement. Please follow these 4 steps to prepare your mapping document: Step 1: Create your Folder Structure, Step 2: Add Reconciliations, Step 3: Map Reconciliations to Folder Structure, Step 4: Add Checklist Items.

Step 1: Create your Folder Structure

Determine how many companies you will be setting up in FloQast, as each company will become a top-level folder. Next, list out the business processes related to each of your companies. Each of the business processes will become its own subfolder in FloQast. Refer to screenshot below of how your folder structure will appear in the application.

Manage Checklist

Please note that sharing and permissions of folders are granted at the company level. If a specific business process contains sensitive information (i.e. payroll information) where you would want to limit access to select individuals, then we recommend the following two options:

1) Create a separate company and share that folder with the select individuals.

2) Keep business process sub-folder within the appropriate company and protect excel files that you upload. FloQast will be unable to read protected excel workbooks as a part of the reconciliation process. As such, you will have to create a separate excel lead sheet to upload in order to reconcile your balances within FloQast. This lead sheet will be a summary of the data from the protected excel workbook, but will not contain sensitive information.

How to make Changes to Folder Structure after Initial Upload

If you wish to change the name of a company after it has been set up in FloQast, please contact an admin user on your engagement. As an admin user, you can update the name of the engagement by navigating to 'Manage Entities'. Dont forget to press the save changes button.

If you wish to update names of the business process sub folders within the application, please reach out to [email protected]

Step 2: Add Reconciliations

The next step in creating your mapping document is entering in all of the balance sheet accounts for which you perform reconciliations. We recommend generating a trial balance report directly from your ERP and copying and pasting the GL account string into the 'Reconciliation' column of the mapping document template. It may seem a little backward to start with the GL accounts, but we find this is the best way to come up with your process folders.

Note you will need to do this on a separate tab for each company that you plan to setup in FloQast.

Please ensure that your GL account strings and names are unique as the application will get an error for any duplicate values entered.

Frequency of Reconciliations

Add frequency of thereconciliation(i.e. monthly, quarterly, or annual). Reconciliations will appear in the applicationaccording to the frequency that is listed.

Subsidary, Location & Currency

Subsidiary - If you are a Netsuite client the subsidiary field will be necessary if you complete your reconciliations by the subsidiary.

Location - If you are an Intacct client, the location field will represent any entities or locations out of the GL that you need to reconcile.

Currency - If you are reconciling in a functional currency, please add a 3 letter currency code for each rec. The default state is USD.

Preparers, Reviewers, and Deadlines of Reconciliations

This step is optional, however, if your team does have preparers and reviewers on reconciliations, please include them.

Deadlines can be business or calendar days. Enter a number to indicate either the business day or calendar day you would like to have a deadline. FloQast will automatically calculate the actual date of the application. You can also enter in negative days to indicate pre-close procedures. For example, if you enter "-2" the application will calculate 2 days before the prior month end.

You can enter in multiple preparers or reviewers by separating each user witha semi-colon. Also, be sure to enter the email address for each so that FloQast will assign each task to a specific user in the application.

How to make Changes to Reconciliations after Initial Upload

Please contact an admin user and they can make changes to reconciliation items for you. Please visit the following link for guidance: Manage Reconciliations

Step 3: Map Reconciliations to FloQast Folder Structure

The next step is to map the reconciliations from Step 2to a business process folder from Step 1. Simply add the folder name within column A of the mapping document. As a tip, we recommend hiding the checklist columns while you are mapping the reconciliations.

Note that folder names cannotcontain any special characters (i.e. &, -, etc.).

At this point you may not have entered every business process sub-folder which was created in Step 1. That is okay because you most likely will not havereconciliations for every business process in your engagement (i.e Reporting). You can add these folders in while you are adding in your checklist items during Step 4.

Once you are done mapping all GL accounts to a folder, we recommend sortingcolumn A using the 'A to Z' sorting tool.

Step 4: Add Checklist Items

Please add your financial close checklist items to the appropriate business process folder. Be sure to collaborate with your teams to ensure checklist items fully represent work that is being done in your close process. Also, you can add any new folders that were not included as a part of step 3.

Similar to reconciliations, you will need to do this on a separate tab for each company you plan to setup in FloQast.

Note that the application will list checklist items in the order in which they appear within the mapping document.

Frequency of Checklist Items

Add frequency of thechecklist item (i.e. monthly, quarterly, or annual). Checklist items will appear in the application according to the frequency that is listed.

You can also have custom procedures when checklist items are only performed in specific months. Please enter in "Custom: Month" to add this option. You can add multiple months to this custom procedure, but please separate each month with a semi-colon.

Preparers, Reviewers, and Deadlines of Checklist Items

Add in preparers, reviewers, and deadlines of checklist items. Note that reviewers and reviewer deadlines are optional for checklist items.

Deadlines can be business or calendar days. Enter a number to indicate either the business day or calendar day you would like to have a deadline. FloQast will automatically calculate the actual date of the application. You can also enter in negative days to indicate pre-close procedures. Forexample, if you enter "-2" the application will calculate 2 days before the prior month end.

You can enter in multiple preparers or reviewers by separating each user witha semi-colon. Also, be sure to enter the email address for each so that FloQast will assign each task to a specific user in the application.

How to make Changes to Checklist Items after Initial Upload

Please contact an admin user and they can make changes to checklist items for you. Please visit the following link for guidance:

You can add a new entity within the 'Manage Entities' page:

here

you will need to add the new entity name andadjustthe year-end if applicable. If the new entity has different Netsuite or Intacct company ID's you can update them here before hitting submit by clicking the Select Different Credentials Link. Some clients will have their Trial Balances coming from different ERP systems, depending on the entity.

Once you hit submit, you will be prompted to add a mapping document to create your entity. For more information on how to prepare a mapping document, please go .

FloQast can work with any General Ledger that can export a Trial Balance in Excel. Our development team can work with the trial balance format directly from your GL, reformatting is not necessary.

Once your TB is setup you can add it to each new close period. You can add the TB in the Trial Balance folder directly in your cloud storage provider or you can upload it through the FloQast application:

If you work off a master Trial Balance for all your companies, uploading through FQ will give you the option to copy to other companies:

If you are uploading the TB file through your storage provider, please make sure onlyonefile exists in the folder.

FloQast relies on the Accounting Periods that you set up in NetSuite. These Accounting Periods align with the monthly periods in FloQast to ensure the correct balances are displayed.

A NetSuite Admin needs to manually create the Accounting Periods for the next Fiscal Year. To ensure that there is no interruption in your FloQast:NetSuite sync, we highly recommend setting these Accounting Periods up prior to the start of the fiscal year! If you are unsure if they are set up, you can follow Step 1 to check. If you find that they are not created, please follow Step 2 and Step 3 to create them in NetSuite.

To create Accounting Periods for the next year, click:

1. Setup -> Accounting -> Manage Accounting Periods

You will see a list of your Accounting Periods, likely displayed as Fiscal Years.

2. Click: Set Up Full Year

The "First Fiscal Month" and "Period Format" should default to your normal FY settings, but please ensure that they are accurate.

3. Edit the "Fiscal Year End" to the next Fiscal Year -> hit Save

If your GL balances are not correct within FloQast this can be remedied by checking the settings on your reconciliations:

Netsuite:

The subsidiaries field in Manage Reconciliations will filter the data coming back from Netsuite. Please make sure the subsidiary matches the company information in FloQast.

If the subsidiaries field is correct and you are still seeing discrepancies in your balances, please contact [email protected].

Intacct

The locationsfield in Manage Reconciliations will filter the data coming back from Intacct. Please make sure the location matches the company information in FloQast.

If the locations field is correct and you are still seeing discrepancies in your balances, please contact [email protected].

If your documents are stored in your cloud storage and are not syncing back to FloQast, there are a few reasons why this could happen that should be researched.

First, is to ensure your file that contains the hashtag reference is saved as a .xlsx or a .xls file. If the document is saved as a .xlsm or an older version of .xls, then the file will not pull back into FloQast.

Occasionally, you may have to remove and re-save the document in your cloud storage provider and then refresh FloQast in order to see the document pull in. In this instance, we recommend logging into the web version of your cloud storage provider first to see if the document was synced back to the network cloud and if it did not, go ahead and re-sync the file.

Lastly, you cannot use the same account number multiple times with the hashtag reference in the same folder as FloQast will not know which balance to pull in.

Please reach out to [email protected] if you need a copy of the Admin user guide, Workflow user guide, or the Team member user guide.

Admins and System Admins are now able to generate temporary passwords for team members in FloQast without having to contact Support.

This option is found inthe Manage Teams tab under Admin Settings.When you click the "Access" drop down on the far right, select "Reset Password." This will give you the temporary password that you can then email or call the member of the team to share with them.

Note: This means FloQast does not automatically email the new password to the member of the team. Admins are responsible for supplying it to them.

If you are not receiving any email notifications from FloQast please first check your user settings:

From there, please check your spam. Also, please have your IT team remove [email protected] from your spam filter.

If you are noticing the incorrect balance is pulling into FloQast in the Per Excel column, one of the first things to look at is the Documents section within Close The Books to make sure you are not referencing the same account number twice in the same process folder.

If this happens, FloQast pulls in the first balance that appears within Excel per #-Reference.

In the Example below, account 1020000 has two #-References within the same process folder. The balance should be $9.87, but because the #-Reference to that balance comesafter a #-Reference to the $5.33 balance, the $5.33 is what FloQast pulls in.

FloQast works best with Chrome or Firefox. FloQast does not support Internet Explorer or Microsoft Edge due to security concerns.

Supporting documentssaved in FloQast each close period through your cloud storage provider can be rolled forward to the new close period. FloQast automatically creates the new folder structure on the first of the month. However, the supporting documents are not automatically rolled forward.

To roll documents forward to the new period, select the given accounting period and select the accounting process folder. Once the folder is selected, the application automatically navigates to theClose the Bookstab.

Once in the folder and the Close the Books tab, select theRoll Forwardicon in the Documents section seen below:

Reconciliations article

Upon selecting the Roll Forward icon, any corresponding documents from the previous period will be shown. All applicable documents from the previous close can be selected and rolled forward. Additionally, all documents can be renamed when they are moved to the new period. To rename the document, simply type into the name area and replace existing naming conventions or add in additional digits.

When the documents have been selected and re-named, as needed, click the Roll Forward button to move them forward to the new period in FloQast. In addition to the documents being moved forward in FloQast, these documents will also be replicated in your cloud storage system. The prior period does not have to be closed in order to use the roll forward functionality.

Keep in mind that you can only roll forward documents into a process folder that currently does not currently contain any documents. If by chance you only roll forward a few of the documents you need, you can actually roll forward again, once the excel sheets are removed from the corresponding cloud storage folder.

Note: All document types are supported but you can only reconcile .csv, .xls, .xlsm, and .xlsx files. For additional Reconciliations questions, please see the for users. The document size restriction is 20 MB per tab.

Create-a-Report simplifies the report creation process for Flux Analysis while also allowing for greater flexibility.

If your team wants to focus on analysis that aligns with your controls (specific comparisons and thresholds, for example) while having greater autonomy over creating your reports, our Create-a-Report was built with you in mind.

How to Create a Flux Report:

Anytime you choose to create a new report, you will be greeted with the screen below. Admins and Managers can build new reports from the settings pages or you may be defaulted to the Create-A-New-Report page if it is your first-time visiting Flux Analysis.

Creating a Flux Analysis or any kind of analysis report tends to drive fear into the hearts of their creators. It takes too much time and planning, or requires a upward management to get these reports created/edited. Fortunately, we can walk you through it below and get you up and running very quickly allowing you to spend time on data analysis, and not building requirements!

[email protected]

1. Your first step is to name the report. At FloQast we typically name ours (as above) using a Company name, Report Type, Comparison. If you have many reports, we would advise you name the report in a similar fashion to make the reports easier to identify and select from the Flux Reports Drop Down.

2.The next step is to select the comparison period of the report. The Comparison Type is specific to the report you create. Therefore, if you select the Month-over-Month comparison, the only comparison available on that report will be current month vs. the immediately preceding month.

The available Reporting Options are:

Month-over-Month

Month-to-PYMonth (Same Month from the Previous Year)

Quarter-over-Quarter

Quarter-over-PYQuarter (Same Quarter from the Previous Year)

Year-to-Date

Fiscal Year to PYE (Previous Year End)

Custom (Current Options with dual drop down)

3.Once all the required report information has been filled in (Report Name, Comparison Type, Report Type, Base Entity*), you will be presented with two options, Do It For Me or Select/Upload Template

*TB Upload Companies* will be given the option to select a base entity. Selecting a base entity will let the Flux Analysis module know which Trial Balance and corresponding Chart of Accounts to use for Flux Reporting.

Do It For Meallows FloQast to take a first pass at the grouping with the click of a button. Do It For Meis a great option if you want to get started immediately and are open to tuning your report as you progress.

Select/Upload Templateallows the user to select a previously created Flux Template or to create an entirely new grouping. Uploading your own template would be advisable if you have a complex flux analysis, or if you would like to leverage the best practices knowledge of our FloQast team.

4.Once the desired comparison period and method of creating the new grouping template has been selected, the report creator will be able to select the settings for the report.

Settings that can be added/edited:

Report Name

Locations/Subsidiaries included (NetSuite & Intacct)

Report Materiality Thresholds

Reporting Book

Flux Completeness

Departments

All of the above items are fully editable and always accessible to Admins and Managers through the Flux Settings.

Lastly, you may create as many reports as necessary. Theyll all appear in the Flux Analysis Report Drop down and you can start fluxing once you arrive on the report.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact and well be happy to help get you setup!

When all work is completed in a folder in FloQast, you will have the opportunity to lock the folder on the Close The Books tab. Locking a folder will set all checklist items and reconciliations to a read-only state, ensuring all sign-off dates remains intact. Locking folders is restricted to users with the Admin or Manager role.

In order to lock a folder, all checklist items and reconciliations in that folder must be completely signed off. Note that if you have the Strict Folder Locking feature enabled (see screenshot below), then additional conditions must be satisfied before a folder can be locked. Specifically, the accounts in the folder must be reconciled and review notes must be in a closed state.

For the following cloud storage integrations, FloQast will also lock down information directly in the cloud storage environment.

Box - FloQast will set all files in the folder to a locked state upon locking the folder in FloQast

Google Drive - FloQast will set the permissions on all files in the folder to read-only for all non-admin users

Egnyte -FloQast will set all files in the folder to a locked state upon locking the folder in FloQast

If you prefer to lock all folders for a given month at the same time, you can do so on the Dashboard tab, as shown in the screenshot below. In order to do this, work in all folders must be completed.

If you have multiple entities in FloQast, then the All Entities view in the Dashboard tab will give you insight as to which entities can be locked down.

Retrospective and Close Trends

In addition to placing the current close under a microscope, Close Analytics provides all the data you need tofine-tuneyour close process from period to period.

Where are the repeated bottlenecks in your process that are causing certain items to habitually fall behind? Which staff members are consistently late in their assignments? Are you seeing improvement in the number of days it takes to close the books? How should youbest adjustworkload assignments or due dates? The Retrospective and Close Trends tabs in Close Analytics have the answers.

The Retrospective tab displays a view similar to the Current Close, but for any priorperiod, your team used FloQast. Unique to this viewistotal days to complete the close and a final tally of status across all Checklist items and Reconciliations. Use this as a look-back guide to how a prior close was executed, and engage the team in adiscussionof how to improve.

The Close Trends tab shows a longer-term perspective of how your close process has evolved over time. This tab only applies to individual entities and does not apply to the all entities view. Teams focused on shortening the number of business days to complete their close use this page to track progress and celebrate improvement. It can show trends overall, or by specific groups of folders. In each case, the pace line for Set Deadlines shows how the team performed vs. its overall goal of days to complete the close.

Each of these - Retrospective and Close Trends - also displays data by folder and team member for late assignments to spot trends and zero in on where to make impactful adjustments to improve your close timeline.

You can now upload and link a document to your checklist items in FloQast!

Simply hover over a checklist item, and you'll see a new option in the "Tools" column on the right-hand side. You can utilize this feature from either the Close the Books tab or the Checklist tab.

Clicking this new icon opens a window where you can click to select your file:

Clicking "Select File" will launch your computer's File Explorer. You can upload a file from anywhere- it doesn't matter if you have it stored locally or somewhere in Cloud Storage.

You will see a number displayed on the document icon if there are any linked documents (just like you have always seen the number of Review Notes displayed).

You can click on the icon to display:

The name of the document(s) uploaded

The date the document was added

The person that uploaded the document

The option to add another document to that checklist item

The documents that you link to Checklist items will be automatically added to a brand new folder in your Cloud Storage. A subfolder named "Linked Documents" will appear in the process folder in which you added the document.

For example, the document above was added to a checklist item within the Restricted Cash folder. In the Restricted Cash folder for November, the following subfolder was created:

All documents that are linked to Checklist items within this process folder will be added to the same Linked Documents subfolder.

The document titles will be hyperlinks that can be clicked to view the documents, just like your other documents in FloQast.

Overview

We are excited to announce that you can now upload/delete reconciliation files to/from your cloud storage provider without everleaving FloQast!

Uploading Documents

Previously, in order for documents to populate on the Close The Books tab (see screenshot below), users were required to first save files in their cloud storage environment (e.g. OneDrive, Box, Google Drive, etc.) and then return to FloQast and push the "Refresh" button.

Now, users may upload one or more files at a time directly in the FloQast application by selecting the upload button highlighted below. The files will be automatically placed in the corresponding folder in your cloud storage provider. In addition, after uploading the files, FloQast will automatically sync your reconciliation balances.

The file will get uploaded to the same location as all other documents in the cloud storage provider

Deleting Documents

Users with the "Admin" or "Manager" role may also now delete documents in FloQast directly. Users with the plain "User" role may only delete documents that they personally uploaded. (Note that if you have implemented a control in your cloud storage environment to prevent document deletions, FloQast will respect this and not be able to delete documents).

If you have any questions or concerns about this new functionality, you can always feel free to reach out to [email protected].

What is SADL?

SADL(Same Account Different Location) has been released to allow our NetSuite and Intacct clients to reconcile the same account number with different locations/subsidiaries* in just one entity/folder, using just one workbook.

*Intacct = location, NetSuite= subsidiary

Previously, the same account with multiple locations had to be split out into different entities to reconcile. For example, let's say account "2000 Accounts Payable" is used in multiple locations like US, Canada, and Mexico. Separate entities were required for the US, Canada, and Mexico locationseven if the reconciliation otherwise would have belonged in the same process and workbook.

Many clients like splitting the locations/subsidiaries out into unique entities. But in other cases, this creates extra steps such as:

Requiring users to make extra clicks to navigate to different entities in FloQast

Requiring users to upload duplicate workbooks so balances are referenced in each entity

Now accounts with the same name can be reconciled in a single entity and single process folder with their respective locations assigned.

How do we turn on SADL?

Please Contact [email protected] for assistance! We will schedule a call to turn on SADL and make all necessary changes with you.

SADL is enabled by a FloQast admin on the Manage Reconciliations page under the Reconciliation Settings. Once it is enabled, it is a permanent fixture and you must contact [email protected] to disable. This is enabled on an entity-by-entity basis.

Once it is enabled, reconciliations can be added as usual. If there is a duplicate account number (as shown below in the AR folder, 1100 Accounts Receivable) a location/subsidiary must be selected.

Upon selection, a unique identifier provided (from Intacct and NetSuite, respectively) will be added to the account number.

You can reference these accounts in the same document with their new, unique #fq references.

For example:

#fq-1100-3

#fq-1100-1

#fq-1100-8 etc.

While the close process can often feel chaotic, Close Analytics offers a clear view of where things stand overall and helps to quickly identify any problem areas to address. It allows the controller to confidently communicate progress on the close to the team, as well as to company management. Moreover, Close Analytics provides the insights to drive continuous improvement and accountability for the entire close process.

Current Close

A key new addition to the visualizations in Close Analytics is a pace line that shows how the close of each entity is progressing vs. the cumulative deadlinesyou'veset. A gold line of set deadlines shows your expected pace of task completion throughout the close process, and the shaded area shows how many tasks your team has marked as completed. When the shaded area is above the gold paceline, the team is ahead of pace. Good news! If the shaded area falls below the gold line, the team must catch up to regain pace. Below is how that looks in the Current Close view.

This view of the current close can serve several purposes. Use it to:

Get a quick view of status to know how the team is doing overall, and know whether the close is on pace or if adjustments are needed to close on time.

Filter the view to see only certain folders, or Checklist items or Reconciliations only, or some combination of all those and zero in on a view that offers the most insight into your particular situation.

Quickly communicate status to team members, or to company executives who require regular progress updates.

That quick view is critical for a high-level summary. But Close Analytics goes much deeper. As a controller, you need to identify which specific Checklist items or Reconciliations are reasons to cheer vs. causes for concern. Close Analytics has all that and more.

A more detailed, drill-down view is available just by scrolling down the page to a chart showing the number of completed and outstanding tasks for each folder, and where to identify which tasks are late, already completed or on track to be done on time.

From the same grid, you can quickly toggle to a similar view of team members: howthey'reprogressing against their overall workload of Checklist items and Reconciliations and who is responsible for items that are late.

These charts offer up ideas for where your focus should be as a manager because your intervention will have the greatest potential impact on the timeline. Some ideas:

Dig in on the tasks that are most late, most often. Check on the procedures your team follows to complete a task thats chronically late to complete. Reach out to department heads who too often are habitually late supplying required documents, forcing certain tasks to be routinely late.

You can quickly see which team members are still assigned too many items to complete, and which others may be in a position to take on more work. Look for ways to distribute assignments so that the workload is optimally distributed. Identify areas for additional staff training to smooth out bumpy pieces of the process. Adjust due dates as required to provide more time for the most time-intensive tasks.

In sum, Close Analytics gives the controller the tools to get better at the close process by making sense of the close youre in and simplifying the process of tuning the process for greater performance over time. If youre seeking to build a culture of continuous improvement on your accounting team, youll find Close Analytics an important tool in your toolbox.

For FloQast users with multiple entities, Close Analytics now includes an "All Entities" view to easily view the progress of multiple entities at once. You can easily navigate between entities and to the All Entities view via the entity navigation in the blue bar atop the page, just below the FloQast logo.

The first thing youll notice in this view is the now-familiar goldpaceline in the Individual Entity Status section, which has the same at-a-glance value as it does throughout Close Analytics. This time, though, the gold lines show how each entity is uniquely progressing against its close deadlines. For any entity, when the shaded area is to the left of the gold line, that entity is behind pace relative to the due dates in its close process. If the shaded area extends to the right of the gold line, then that close is ahead of pace. If the shaded area extends to the right of the gold line, but it colored orange, that means that as a whole, the entity is operating ahead of pace, but that at least one individual checklist item or reconciliation is in fact late.

The Combined Entity Status wheel view on the left side of the page summarizes how many entities have successfully closed the books, are on track to get there, or are already late.

Theres also a Retrospective view to see the same data for prior periods.

Just like before, Close Analytics gives the controller the tools to get better at the close process by making sense of the close youre in and simplifying the process of tuning the process for greater performance over time. If youre seeking to build a culture of continuous improvement on your accounting team, youll find Close Analytics an important tool in your toolbox.

For a copy of your recorded Admin Training or Team Training, please contact your Account Manager or [email protected].

To view a library of FloQast resources, please visit https://floqast.com/resources/

The "Spotlight" section will highlight some of the recent resources available to FloQast clients!

Below the Spotlight section, you will see a full library that is filterable by content type, including:

Best practice templates

Webinar recordings

Case studies with FloQast clients

Video testimonials

White papers from industry thought leaders

And much more!

FloQast Users and Admins have the option to receive 4 different types of email notifications:

Close Progress Emails:These emails update a given user on the progress of the close by providing a snapshot of the current dashboard along with a personalized task list for theopen checklist and reconciliations tasks. A user can customize the frequency of notifications by navigating to their user settings page and selecting Weekly, Daily, or Never within the Close Progress Email section.

Review Note Emails: This notification alerts users that a Review Note has been assigned, edited, or resolved that they are associated with.

Reconciliation Emails: This option will send a notification to the user when a Reconciliation was previously tied-out but no longer ties in the current period.

Late Notification Emails: A user can also opt to receive past due emails when deadlines are missed from the previous business day. Note: the Past Due email is not cumulative; it will show the specific items that are Past Due from the previous day.

Ready for Review Email: This option will send a an email to the user when an item they are assigned is ready for review.

Each of these alerts is completely optional but recommended for users that want to be notified immediately when there are changes within the application.

Note:If users are not receiving emails, ensure emails coming from [email protected] are not going to spam or being blocked by IT.

If you experience any sort of issue when refreshing the data in FloQast, you or a team member may need to update the cloud storage credentials for your account.

This can be done by navigating to the Integration Settingssection of Manage Entities, which is anAdmin Settings page. Manage Entities is only available to Admin users or System Admin users.

Any new cloud storage credentials sync will now be illustrated within FloQast to show which user last synced their credentials, along with the day they successfully synced.

Note:This is beneficial if the credentials associated with the cloud storage account have been changed, and needs to be refreshed in FloQast. As a best practice, the cloud storage account that is linked to the FloQast documents should be the one linked to this account and have access to all entities that are in FloQast. FloQast now requires that teams use one set of cloud storage credentials to connect FloQast with cloud storage.

Admins and System Admins are now able to generate temporary passwords for team members in FloQast without having to contact Support.

This option is found inthe Manage Teams tab under Admin Settings.When you click the "Access" drop down on the far right, select "Reset Password." This will give you the temporary password that you can then email or call the member of the team to share with them.

Note: This means FloQast does not automatically email the new password to the member of the team. Admins are responsible for supplying it to them.

TheReview Notesmodule is a way to facilitate communication between team members. This is beneficial when collaborating during the monthly close process as all documentation will be housed in FloQast. A user can leave a review note on any line item (checklist, document, account reconciliation) and designate an assignee. When an assignee is designated, the status of the review note will be unresolved.

The person who is assigned to the note will receive an email with a link to the review note. The assignee can then log in to FloQast, reply to the note and change the status to resolved.

Note:If users are not receiving emails when review notes are assigned, ensure emails coming from [email protected] are not going to spam or being blocked by IT.

When a note is changed to "resolved" status, the initial creator of the note will receive an email notification back indicating the note was resolved.

Thereviewercan either close thenoteif complete or change the status back to unresolved if there are additional items to address.

All review notes in the close period will be rolled up on the Review Notes page to show the workflow.

In addition to leaving review notes assigned to other individuals, you can also leave a review note to yourself. This type of review note will show up as 'closed' in the application. You might want to leave this type of review note for the following options:

1)to remind yourself of a unique situation during the current close period;

2)provide additional support that review occurred;

3)as a reminder to complete a task at a later date; or

4) to leave a general comment on the supporting document. Note: when you leave a review note to yourself, there will not be an email notification.

When searching for Review Notes in the application, you can use our All Companies view and see notes across all companies or you can select a specific company and only see review notes for the one company at a time.

Note:The creator of the review note can delete it by clicking the edit button and then delete.

Export Review Notesallows teammembers to download their Review Notes on a per company basis. However, review notes as a standalone do not account for much, which is why FloQast provides a report that allows users, management and auditors to see which review notes are associated with their specific procedure, reconciliation, or document.

This feature, like the FloQast Checklist and Reconciliations exports, can be accessed by Admins, Managers, and users alike, and can be found on theReview Notestab. FloQast continues to enhance our internal/audit support of the close process by providing exports of the details in the application, either for management updates or auditors requests for support. For example, during an audit, evidence of review is required for many actions completed within the application, and our report now offers that function.

The Exportdrops down to give users the option to export the Review Notes report in either Excel or PDF.

Note:The report isNOT all encompassingand is broken down by review notes attached to Checklist Procedures, Reconciliations, and Documents on a per company basis.

The information will be the same for the Excel and the PDF output. Below is a screenshot of a sample PDF output for the Reconciliations. The report highlights all the critical information, the folder, reconciliation account number and review note content.

If you have access to several entities in FloQast, your entity drop-down menu may be very long! Up until this point, that list of entities has always been sorted alphabetically. But now you can pin entities as your "favorites" to move them atop the list!

To add an Entity as one of your Favorites:

Navigate to the Dashboard tab in FloQast (#FloQast logo)

Ensure that you are looking at the All Entities view

Click the Star icon next to the entity or entities that you want to favorite!

Your new "favorited" entity will be moved to the top of your Dashboard. All non-favorite entities will remain in alphabetical order below:

Favorite Entities will be pinned atop the entity drop-down menu throughout the application.

Before, your entities appeared in alphabetical order:

Now, your favorites are pinned to the top for convenient access:

If you choose multiple Favorite entities, those will be displayed in alphabetical order among your favorite selections. Then your non-favorite entities will be sorted alphabetically below those.

Supporting documents can be saved in FloQast each close period through your Cloud Storage provider. Most Cloud Storage providers support a desktop sync function; these documents can be worked on through your desktop and automatically synced into FloQast. All document types are supported but you can only reconcile .xls, .xlsx, and .xlsm files. The document size restriction is 20 MB per tab in Excel.

To reconcile your Excel files, all you need to do is add a #FQ reference to the right of any balance in your workbook.

Opening Documents through FQ:

Each document in FQ will display a link to the document in your storage provider. Clicking the link will open a read-only version of thefile,if the document does not open make sure pop-ups are not blocked in your browser. Certain storage providers have partnerships with Microsoft Office 365 & Excel Online. If you have an Office 365 account you can then open and edit an Excel document through your web browser.

FQ Tips & Tricks:

The #FQ functionality can help youidentity any key item within your workbook, regardless if it is being used for a reconciliation. For example #FQ-employeecount would highlight the employee count out of the workbook. This reference will highlight the key metric to all users without having to dive into the details of the workbook.

Notice that the#employeecount is in orange text, signifying that this #-Reference is not tied to a specific reconciliation, but nevertheless it does pull in the quantity of employees as noted on the excel sheet, in this case, 3.

During the FloQast setup process,your current close checklist was uploaded into FloQast and broken down byprocedure. On each folder, your checklist will display the work for the period. Simply sign-off on the slider in the status column when complete. Any characteristics of the checklist can be updated at any time in Settings by an Admin or Manager user. On each checklistitem, you can add assignees (Preparers/Reviewers), deadlines and track completion dates. A roll-up of the entire checklist can be viewed on theChecklisttab. This view will give you insight into what each team member is working on at any time: