Period Close
Books locked with confidence — every period a clean, auditable record.
Period close locks an accounting period so that no transaction — invoice, bill, journal, payment — can be posted into it. Every close produces a Trial Balance snapshot, every adjustment carries a reason, and every change after closing is written to the period's history.
Without period close, anyone with posting access can backdate transactions into any prior period. A closed period refuses them.
Two Screens
| Screen | Where | What It Is For |
|---|---|---|
| Financial Close (see Financial Close) | Finance → Financial Close | A year grid of months. Pick a month to see its eight close tasks — Receivables, Payables, Uncategorized income, Uncategorized expenses, Bank reconciliation, Prepayments, Accruals, Depreciation — with a Trial balance tab. The two Uncategorized tasks block the lock. Lock <month> opens the close wizard. |
| Period close | Reporting → Period close | The list of closed and open periods and the four-step wizard that locks one. |
The Period Close List
Columns: Title, Period (from — to), Type, Center ("All" when consolidated), Status, Closing date, Adjustments. Filter by type, center and status; search by title. Close period starts the wizard; click a row to open the period.
The 4-Step Close Wizard
Configure → Trial balance → Adjustments → Confirm
A step indicator at the top shows where you are; completed steps show a check. Back returns to the previous step.
Step 1 — Configure
| Field | Required? | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Period title | Yes | Placeholder "e.g. February 2026 Close". Picking a month, quarter or year fills a title for you if it is empty. |
| Period type | Yes | Monthly, Quarterly, Yearly or Custom. |
| Dates | Yes | Monthly: pick a month. Quarterly: pick a quarter. Yearly: pick a year. Custom: Period start and Period end. |
| Note (optional) | No | Placeholder "Reason for closing this period". Shown on the period page. |
| Center (optional) | No | "All centers (consolidated)" by default. Pick a center to close that branch only. |
Continue creates the period (status Open) and computes its trial balance. An open period can be resumed later from its page with Continue closing.
Step 2 — Trial Balance
Every account with activity to the period end, headed Balanced or Out of balance, with tabs All accounts · Assets · Liabilities · Equity · Income · Expenses (each with its count).
| Column | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Code | Account code |
| Ledger | Account name |
| Type | The element badge (All tab only) |
| Subtype | The type or group name |
| Debit / Credit | The net balance on its side |
| New Balance | "Adjust" opens the adjustment modal; once an adjustment is queued the cell reads "New bal: …" and reopens it |
A totals row shows total debits and credits. Review adjustments advances.
The Adjustment Modal
Ordinary Accounts — "Adjust account balance"
| Field | Required? | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Debit total · Credit total · System balance | — | Read-only reference figures |
| Adjusted balance | Yes | The balance the account should show. The difference and its side (debit or credit) are shown; "No adjustment needed" when they agree. |
| Contra account | Yes | Searchable. "New account" creates one inline with a code and name. |
| Reason for adjustment | Yes | At least 10 characters. Stored with the adjustment. |
Receivables and Payables — "Adjust Debtors" / "Adjust Creditors"
For the AR and AP control accounts the modal lists every party with an outstanding balance — Name, Docs, Outstanding, New Balance, Adjustment — with Write off (sets the new balance to zero) and Keep per party, and a search box. A party you do not touch carries its full balance forward. The summary shows System balance · Carry forward · Write-off. Allocations must be assigned to specific parties; no blanket posting is allowed.
Add adjustment queues it and returns you to the trial balance.
Step 3 — Adjustments
Pending adjustments, grouped by element. Each shows account → contra, three boxes — Former balance, Adjustment (Dr or Cr), New balance — the reason, the party allocations for AR/AP, and a remove icon. + Add more adjustments returns to Step 2; Continue advances. You may proceed with none.
Step 4 — Confirm
Confirm period close lists what will happen — lock the period, post the adjustment journal (when there are adjustments), save a trial-balance snapshot — and summarises Period, Date range, Center, Adjustments and Trial balance (Balanced / Out of balance). An Adjustments to be posted table repeats the queue with former and new figures.
Close period runs the close: adjustments post as one journal, documents written off are marked, the snapshot is saved, and the period is locked.
An out-of-balance trial balance is a data problem, not something an adjustment should paper over. Investigate the ledger before closing.
Viewing a Closed Period
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Open | Configured but not closed. Editable and deletable; Continue closing resumes the wizard. |
| Closed | Locked. Nothing can post into the period. |
| Reopened | Unlocked again, with the reason on record. Can be edited and closed again. |
| Button | Available When | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| Download Excel | Closed | The snapshot, adjustments and affected documents as a workbook |
| Edit | Open / Reopened | Title, type, dates and note |
| Delete | Open / Reopened | Removes the period and its queued adjustments |
| Reopen period | Closed | Starts the reopen flow |
Cards: Status · Adjustments · Documents affected · Closed at (or Created at). The note and any reopen reason follow.
Trial Balance: the stored snapshot — Code, Account, Type, Debit, Credit, Adjustment, Balance Dr, Balance Cr — with the same element tabs. If a snapshot is missing, Recalculate snapshot restores it.
Adjustments: Account, Contra, Former Dr/Cr, Adjustment, New Dr/Cr, Reason, with party allocations beneath AR/AP rows. Adjustment journal links to the posted journal.
Affected documents: Document, Type, Original balance, Written off, Previous status, New status — the invoices, bills and opening balances written off at close; click one to open it.
History: Period created · Period closed · Period reopened, each with the user, the time, the reason, and counts of adjustments and documents.
Reopening a Period
On the closed period's page.
"This will void the adjustment journal and restore affected document statuses." Transactions will be allowed into the period again.
Reason for reopening — at least 10 characters. It is stored in the history.
Reopen period voids the adjustment journal, restores the documents, and unlocks the period. The status becomes Reopened.
Post what was missing, then Continue closing: the wizard recomputes the trial balance, takes fresh adjustments, and saves a new snapshot. The history keeps the original close, the reopen and the new close.
Yearly Close
A Yearly period uses the same wizard and does exactly the same things. No closing entry is posted: Retained Earnings is derived by the reports from prior-period income and expenses, so income and expense accounts keep their history and the new year's P&L simply starts from its first date.
Related
- Financial Close — the month checklist and what blocks a lock
- Classifying uncategorised money — clearing the holding accounts
- Bank Reconciliation — proving book against bank, one period at a time
- Reversing a journal — taking a posted journal out of the books
- Account ledger — one account’s full history with a running balance