Accounting Periods and Closing

A journal belongs to an accounting period as well as a date. Nothing can post until a period covers the date, and once a period is closed nothing more can be posted into it, so the figures reported for that month stay true. The Periods tab of Ledger & Finance is where periods are generated, closed, reopened and locked, with every change recorded.

Where to find it

Admin Panel → Finance:

Ledger & Finance — the Periods tab: generate, close, reopen, lock and unlock periods, and close the year

Architect Panel → ERP - Finance:

Ledger & Finance — the same console for architects
Accounting Periods — the periods as a datastore, for inspection

Generating a financial year

Choose the company and the book at the top, and open Periods.
Under Generate a financial year, set Year it starts in. The periods follow the company's financial year end, set on its company record.
Choose the Pattern: 12 calendar-style months, 12 months + adjustment period 13 or 13 four-weekly periods.
Press Preview to see every period and its dates, then Generate. Existing periods are left alone.
Repeat for each book the company keeps, choosing the book at the top first.

The three statuses

Open: postings are accepted.
Closed: postings dated in the period are refused. It can be reopened.
Locked: closed and protected. It must be unlocked (which makes it closed again) before it can be reopened. Use it once a period has been audited or filed.

Closing, reopening and locking

Choose the year in the Financial years table to list its periods.
A period that has not ended shows Ends and its last day; it cannot be closed early. For an ended open period press Close….
The dialog works out the close checks. If every check passes and every close task is signed off, press Close period.
If something fails, the dialog lists it under Not ready to close. Put it right, or tick Close it anyway and give a reason; the reason is recorded with what was closed over.
On a closed period, Reopen… asks for a reason and accepts postings again; anything already posted stays posted. Lock… protects it. On a locked period, Unlock… asks for a reason.

Each period's Checklist link opens it on the Close tab, and Processes shows any close-checklist workflow run on it. The checks, close tasks and the board of every company's periods are covered in Period Close.

History

Under History, every period change for the company is listed newest first: when, what (generate, close, reopen, lock, unlock, year-end close), the period, the change of status, the reason and who did it. Reasons can be long; a full explanation is kept.

A transaction that arrives late

Post it into the current open period rather than reopening the old one. Reopening changes figures that have already been reported from that period. If the amount is material to the closed month, discuss it with whoever signs off the accounts before reopening, and give the reason when you do: it is recorded in the history.

What goes wrong

"No accounting period covers" a date on the journal form or dashboard: generate that year's periods.
"No accounting periods yet": the company has none in the chosen book.
A posting refused into a closed period: date it in an open period, or reopen the period with a reason.

Worked example

A company with a 31 March year end generates 2026/27 with 12 months + adjustment period 13, so year-end adjustments can be kept apart from March trading. On 5 May the controller opens Close… on April; the bank check fails because the last statement is dated 21 April. They import the statement to 30 April, reconcile, and close April with every check passing. In June the auditors sign off the year, and they lock every 2025/26 period.

Recommendations

Generate next year's periods before it starts, or postings on its first day are refused.
Close every ended month, so nothing is posted into it by mistake.
Never reopen for one transaction. Post it into the open period.
Lock once audited or filed, so a reopen needs a deliberate unlock first.