PARS annual-close checking notes
Turn a PARS or JA-PARS export into a close checklist and Program Summary prose without inventing a learner count or closing a series in the wrong year.
What you’re making
A working close packet: which activities still need to be entered or closed, which enduring records need a cumulative learner update, a draft of Program Summary prose from income figures you already have, and a list of numbers the tool must not touch.
The official buttons, videos, and Annual Reporting in PARS checklist stay at ACCME. The companion page is the map. This recipe is the checking half.
What to have open
The deadline, copied from accme.org today. An export or a summary table: title, format, start, end, status, physician learners, other learners, commercial support yes/no, joint-provider name if any. A list of RSS that run on an academic year. A list of enduring still within their three-year window. Last year’s Program Summary if you have it, for voice only.
No learner-level rows. No board IDs. Aggregates and activity cards only.
The prompt
I am preparing annual reporting in PARS / JA-PARS. I am the author of record. Do not invent any number. Do not tell me I have closed or entered anything. DEADLINE I COPIED FROM ACCME TODAY: [paste the date and time, including time zone, or "not yet published, I will confirm"] RECOGNIZED ACCREDITOR / STATE DEADLINE, IF ANY: [paste, or "ACCME-accredited, using the ACCME date"] REPORTING YEAR: [e.g. calendar 2026] EXPORT (do not add to these figures): [paste a table: title, format, start, end, status, physician learners, other learners, commercial support, joint provider] ACADEMIC-YEAR RSS (start and end I already know): [paste, or "none"] ENDURING STILL OPEN (original start, planned end, last cumulative count I hold): [paste, or "none"] Using only what I gave you, list: 1. Activities that started in the reporting year and do not yet appear, if I said they are missing. If I did not say they are missing, write [NEEDS: complete activity list]. 2. Activities whose end date is in the reporting year and are not yet closed. 3. Academic-year RSS that must stay open because they have not ended yet. Do not recommend closing them. 4. Enduring that need a cumulative learner update through 31 December of the reporting year, or through their end date if sooner. Say "cumulative from original start," not "new this year." 5. Fields a close typically still needs (outcome measure, commercial support yes/no, joint-provider name) where my table is blank. Mark those [NEEDS:]. Do not calculate a learner total I did not give you. Do not convert session attendance into a series total unless I already supplied both numbers and the arithmetic.
Draft Program Summary notes from the income figures I supply. ACCME asks for, at program level, for the most recent 12-month period I have: 1. Advertising and exhibit income (not commercial support) 2. Registration, subscription, or publication fees 3. Government monetary grants 4. Private monetary donations (not commercial support) Commercial support is reported on each activity, not here. INCOME FIGURES I HOLD: [paste, with the period they cover] JOINTLY PROVIDED ACTIVITIES: [whether we received funds or the joint provider did. I still report the same categories.] PRIOR SUMMARY, FOR VOICE ONLY: [paste, or "none"] Rules: - Every dollar figure is one I gave you. Do not round. Do not infer a category I left blank. - If I jointly provided, do not move the money off our books. - Mark missing categories [NEEDS:]. - Do not write promotional language. This is a data submission, not a board report.
What good output looks like
Turn one is a punch list with holes labelled. Academic-year RSS that end next June are on the “leave open” list. Enduring updates say cumulative. No new totals appear.
Turn two reads like last year’s summary, with this year’s figures, and [NEEDS:] where you have not closed the books.
How to check it
Deadline pass. The date in the draft is the one you copied from accme.org, or the draft says it is unconfirmed.
RSS pass. A July-to-June series is not closed in December. Credits, if mentioned, are for the whole series, not one session.
Enduring pass. Counts are cumulative from the original start. Downloads are not learners.
Arithmetic pass. If the draft multiplies sessions by headcount, you supplied both numbers and you redo the multiplication. ACCME’s own example is 20 physicians × 52 sessions = 1,040 physician learners. That is your arithmetic, not the model’s.
Then run the number audit.
Where it goes wrong
It closes the academic year early. Models like calendar years. Your tumor board may not.
It treats enduring like a course. It will want a new PARS record every January, or a “new learners this year” column. One record, up to three years, cumulative count, new record only on renewal.
It writes the Data Report. You are submitting your piece. You are not interpreting the national totals.
It fills PARS. Status changes happen in the official system. This recipe produces a list you work from.
PARS annual-close checking notes · bettermethod.ai/recipes/pars-annual-close/ · Last reviewed August 2026
These tools change often. Check the review date before you rely on anything
product-specific in here, and check the guidance against your own accreditor and
organization policies.