Using Dynamics NAV to Report Unclaimed Property
Unclaimed Property Laws
Unclaimed property laws have been around since the 1930s, but have become much broader and more strongly enforced in the last 25 years or so. Most recently a concerted effort has been made by many states to locate and assist in resolving Unclaimed Property. As a result, newer requirements for filing Unclaimed Property are being put in place each year. It is each business’ responsibility to review Unclaimed Property found, and file returns to remain in compliance with the established laws.
According to the NAUPA (National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators), some of the common types of unclaimed property include:
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If processing any of these are a part of normal business in your organization, reach out to your state to understand the requirements and practice of filing and returning property.
Several states have established a coordinated effort to standardize the reporting process. As a result, a freeware application called HRS Pro was developed to assist in filing claims with each state. Basically this application will allow you to export an Excel template, load data into the template and then import the template. The application will then allow you to print a report in a format that has been accepted by some states. If your state doesn’t participate in the NAUPA File format, you may need to purchase the enterprise edition of the application.
How can Dynamics NAV assist with Compliance?
Dynamics NAV is a great tool to help you identify and prepare Excel files of any Unclaimed Property in the form of Uncleared Accounts Payable checks and Accounts Receivable Credit balance. Users can also easily identify any Accounts Receivable Credit balances by using NAV’s great filtering capabilities.
Use of the bank reconciliation tool makes it easy to identify AP checks that have been issued and not cleared the bank. When printing a check, NAV creates a record in the Bank Account Ledger entry. This entry is updated during a bank reconciliation when the transaction is marked as having cleared the bank. A very simple analysis of bank account entries can be performed where the Document type = Payment and the Field Open = yes. This will represent the entries that have not cleared the bank account.
The examples below will provide a high level overview of how to use the Customer Ledger and Bank Ledger to identify possible Unclaimed Property. In the examples I will be using Dynamics NAV 2017, but these features are common in older versions of the NAV product. The only assumption made is that you are using Bank Reconciliations to regularly review and mark transactions that clear your bank accounts.
Using Bank Ledger entries to Identify Uncleared Payments
- From the CRONUS USA, Inc./Departments/Financial Management/Cash Management menu select Bank Accounts
Figure 1 – Navigating to the Bank Accounts Section of Dynamics NAV 2017 - Select the Bank Account that you use and on the Navigate tab of the ribbon menu, select Ledger Entries
Figure 2 – Navigating to Ledger Entries from Bank Account in Dynamics NAV 2017 - Using a detail filter, set the appropriate filters for identifying outstanding payments. Highlight the lines and send the list to Excel.
Figure 3 – Send Selected Ledger Entries from Dynamics NAV 2017 to Excel
Using Customer Ledger Entries to Identify Uncleared Credits
You can easily access all of your outstanding customer ledger entries from any customer card by setting a filter for all open transactions that are less than 0.00. This represents the outstanding credits that can be investigated for meeting the filing requirements.
- From the CRONUS USA, Inc./Departments/Sales & Marketing/Order Processing menu select Customers
Figure 4 – Opening the Customer List in Dynamics NAV 2017 - On the Navigate tab of the Ribbon menu, select Ledger Entries.
Figure 5 – Navigating to Customer Ledger Entries in Dynamics NAV 2017 - Set a filter for all open transactions that are less than 0.00, and send to Excel for your analysis
Figure 6 – Filtering on Open Transactions in Dynamics NAV 2017
Understanding how to use Dynamics NAV to ensure you are compliant with Unclaimed Property laws is just one of the many ways Dynamics NAV can help your business. For more on the many capabilities of Dynamics NAV, please visit our resource center. And, be sure to subscribe to our blog so you’ll never miss another update.