Perm File Overview
FloQast Perm File is your centralized location for any document not tied to a particular period. It’s intended for documents required to help complete the close or prepare for an audit.
We created Perm File with the following types of documents in mind:
- Accounting Policies and Procedures
- Internal Controls descriptions
- Articles of Incorporation
- Bylaws
- Chart of Accounts
- Prior year Audit report
- Board minutes
- Lease agreements
- … and more
While most teams create these documents and need them for their monthly close and audits, they are frequently not kept in a centralized location that’s easily accessible to team members when they need them. FloQast Perm File is your team’s central repository for all important close-related documents - organized cleanly and stored securely in your cloud storage.
The FloQast Perm File is easily configured in FloQast Admin Settings and accessed in the Folders tab. You can easily configure your folders and add documents using your cloud storage provider, and all of it will be instantly viewable and retrievable from within FloQast.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to how it works:
Getting Started: Enabling Perm File
You must enable Perm File in Admin Settings for the feature to be active. Only Admins can access Admin Settings.
To enable Perm File, access Admin Settings by clicking on the Gear icon in the upper right corner on any page in FloQast. Then click on the Entities tab, click Manage to the right of one of your entities, and scroll to the Perm File section.
Depending on your company’s needs, you can set up Perm File for two types of documents:
- Global Level - These are documents that are relevant to any entity
- Entity Level - These are documents that are relevant to only one entity
You can enable just one (or both) in any entity.
For example:
- Your Policies and Procedures might be relevant to every entity, so those should be set up under the Global Perm File. You’ll need to enable Perm File - Global in Entity Settings for each entity where you want these global documents to be visible.
- Your company might have lease agreements that apply only to individual entities, so you would want to set those up within Entity Level Perm Files. Otherwise, they would probably clutter the Global Perm File for users working on other entities where these files are irrelevant.
Once enabled, you will see your Perm File in the Folders tab atop the left-hand navigation for Year, Period, and Folder.
Populating your Perm File
Once you’ve enabled the Perm File in FloQast, the application will automatically create a default file structure in your cloud storage provider where you can add documents immediately. You can add, delete, or edit folder names within your cloud storage provider, and those changes will automatically be reflected in FloQast.
You’ll see your Perm File folders in two places in cloud storage.
- If you’ve set up Perm File on a Global Level, you’ll see it in the storage provider’s root directory for FloQast (i.e., FloQast > Global Perm Folder > Folder Name)
- If you’ve set up a Perm File(s) on an Entity Level, you’ll see it in the directory for that entity, (i.e., FloQast > ‘Entity Name’ > Entity Perm File > Folder Name)
You can set up as many folders to organize your documents with the Perm File folders. For example, you may want to place all leases in a Lease folder, and all corporate documents (such as Articles of Incorporation) in another folder. You can create as many folders as you wish within your Global and Entity folders in cloud storage for this purpose. Those folders will be visible in FloQast.
NOTE: any sub-folders not directly under the main Perm File folder will not be visible in FloQast, so it’s best not to create them. For example, we recommend not adding sub-folders to the Leases folder from the example above.
All documents must be included in one of those folders to be viewable in FloQast. Anything you add to your cloud storage provider will automatically be viewable in the Perm File section on the Folders tab in FloQast.
Global documents are only added once and will be visible in FloQast for any entity where Perm File - Global Level has been enabled.
Finding documents you’ve stored in your Perm File
Documents stored in your Perm File are always one click away from inside FloQast.
Let’s say someone on your team has been re-assigned to Accounts Payable for this month’s close and wants to access relevant Policies and Procedures. A quick check of the Perm File for that entity will reveal if any guidance is available. If many documents are in the Perm File, the user can use the Search function to find the needed document by name.
If you have questions about your Perm File, please contact us at support@floqast.com