Integrity Check Guide

Explanation of Sage 50 Accounting integrity checks and how to load and run them.

You can use the Integrity Check utility to correct certain data-related errors when no other methods can correct them. If you don’t back up your data beforehand, the utility will remind you.

Only run this utility on data that has known problems.

Loading the Integrity Check

1. Change your accounting period to 1. See How do I change the accounting period?.
2. Go to Help, Support Utilities, Integrity Check.
3. Select Backup, enter a name for the backup file. (Example: IC10092013 - IC for Integrity Check and today's date).
   • When the backup is complete, it will open the Data Integrity Check/Repair Window
4. Select Continue if you have already made a backup. The Data Integrity Check/Repair Window will open.

Explanation of Integrity Checks

Run each test one at a time. If more than one test is needed, always run the first test then reselect Integrity Check to run the next one.

Section 1: File Tests

• Reindex Files
  • Corrects i/o errors
  • Reestablishes record data that is otherwise missing or out of sync
  • Reindex only the file with the error
  • An error during the reindex indicates the file couldn’t be repaired and requires restoring a good backup
  • To Reindex a file, select Reindex Files and then highlight the file in the Reindex File List
• Journal Balances
  • Corrects journal out of balance
  • It will not correct an entry where an account number or dollar amount is missing in a transaction
  • If an error noting a transaction can’t be posted, delete the referenced entry and re-key it back into the system
• G/L Balances
  • Corrects General Ledger Trial Balance when debits don’t equal credits
  • An adjustment to Retained Earnings is made to offset the balance error
  • A journal entry may be required to transfer the adjustment to a different account
  • Test runs fast

Section 2: Data Synchronization Tests

• Customer/Journal
  • Corrects customer sales history
  • Corrects customer receipts history
• Vendor/Journal
  • Corrects vendor purchase history
  • Corrects vendor payments history
• Employee/Journal
  • Corrects year-to-date errors on paycheck stubs
  • Recalculates W-2 ID fields which are causing erroneous payroll tax reports
• Chart of Accounts/Journal
  • Corrects General Ledger footing errors
  • Corrects out of balance errors
  • Verifies the general ledger account types, debits, and credits of each transaction
  • If synchronization errors are found and corrected, the errors will appear at the end of the test
  • Errors relating to problems inserting records indicate that the data is corrupt beyond repair. You’ll need to restore a good backup
• Inventory/Journal
  • Corrects costing errors in inventory items where Cost of Goods Sold appears to be grossly incorrect
  • Examines each transaction in the Sales Journal that uses a Stock or Assembly Item and recalculates the cost based on the costing method established
  • Unposts all journals and resynchronizes each beginning balance and all transactions related to inventory to reestablish an accurate cost
  • At the end of the test, a Chart of Accounts/Journal Sync test will be run automatically
  • This test can take a lengthy amount of time and will use several percentage bars on the screen. Sometimes, the window will even appear blank but the test is still running. Don’t interrupt the test

Section 3: Invoice/Payment Sync Tests

• Accounts Receivable
  • Finds broken links between invoice and receipt
  • Run a test if the amount paid on the invoice is incorrect
  • Works with Correction Strategy
• Accounts Payable
  • Finds broken links between invoice and payment
  • Run a test if the amount paid on the invoice is incorrect
  • Works with Correction Strategy
• Correction Strategy
  Works with Invoice/Payment Sync Tests
  • The invoice is Presumed Correct - Corrects or creates payment attached to the invoice to match the reported amount paid. If a payment is created, the reference number will be FIX
  • Payments are Presumed Correct - Corrects the invoice attached to the payment to match the reported amount of the payment
  • Ask each time - Gives user the choice to select Invoice is correct or Payment is correct. This is the best selection when there are a mix of broken links between invoices and payments

Section 4: Duplicate Reference Test

• Checks for duplicate reference numbers
• If it finds a duplicate, it adds an additional character to the end of the reference number to make it unique
• Run before running an Invoice/Payment Sync Test so that the incorrect invoices are recognized
• The Duplicate Reference test will only correct duplicates found for one customer or vendor at a time. If errors are encountered, keep running the duplicate reference test until no errors are encountered.