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The Month-End Close Board

The Close tab of Ledger & Finance is the month-end close workspace. It shows every company's periods for a financial year on one board, works out from the books what still stands between each period and its close, and lets you close a period only when the checks pass or you record why you closed over them.

Where to find it

Admin Panel → Finance:

  • Ledger & Finance — the Close tab: the close board, each period's checks, tasks and history

Architect Panel → ERP - Finance:

  • Ledger & Finance — the same console for architects

Reading the board

  1. Open Close. Choose the Financial year, and under Show choose Every period or Periods to close.
  2. Read the four cards: Periods to close (and how many are ready), Checks failing, Close tasks open (and how many are overdue), and Closed in the year.
  3. The board has a row per period and a column per company you can read, with its currency. Each cell shows Locked, Closed, Not ended (with its end date), Ready or To close, how many checks are failing and how many close tasks are signed off. A company's other books are noted in the cell when their status differs.
  4. Select a cell to see that period's detail below the board. Re-check works every check out again.

If the board is empty, generate the year's periods on the Periods tab first; see General Ledger.

The system checks

Each check reads the books and says Passes, Fails, Review or Not applicable, in a sentence with the figures, and offers an Open button to the place it is put right. Checks marked blocking stop the close when they fail.

  • Trial balance balances (blocking).
  • Documents dated in the period are posted (blocking).
  • Time in the period is approved (blocking).
  • Bank accounts reconciled to the period end (blocking): each bank connection has a completed reconciliation to a statement dated no more than five days before the period end, or later.
  • Receivables and payables agree to their control accounts (blocking).
  • Goods received not invoiced is explained (advisory only: it reads today's position, so it cannot prove a past period end).
  • Depreciation charged for the period (blocking).
  • Foreign-currency balances revalued at the period end (blocking).
  • Last period's accruals reversed (advisory).
  • VAT return prepared (blocking): passes when a saved VAT return, draft or filed, covers the period end. Mid-quarter it is not applicable, and so is it for a company with no VAT returns in the ledger.

Checks that do not apply, such as depreciation for a company with no fixed assets, show as not applicable and never block. Cash, the sub-ledgers and VAT are read from the company's primary book; the trial balance and depreciation are read from the period's own book.

Closing from the board

  1. Select the period. The detail heading shows the company, month, period number and book.
  2. Read the panel at the top: Ready to close, or a list of what stands between the period and its close.
  3. Use each failing check's Open button to put it right, then Re-check this period.
  4. Press Close and the month name. The same dialog as the Periods tab confirms the checks. Closing over a failing check needs Close it anyway and a reason, which is recorded with what was closed over.
  5. Under Other books, close the same period in each other book the company keeps; each closes on its own.

A period that has not ended cannot be closed, from here or anywhere else.

Worked example

On the third working day of October the group controller opens Close for 2026. The board shows September as To close for all three companies. The UK cell says 1 check failing: the bank check names the deposit account, last reconciled to 31 August. They open Bank Feeds, import and reconcile September, press Re-check this period, and the UK cell turns Ready. The Dutch cell fails on revaluation; they post it on FX revaluation. Both close cleanly the same morning.

Recommendations

  • Work the board, not memory. The checks read the books, so they catch what a checklist on paper misses.
  • Close over a failing check only with a real reason; auditors read the recorded reasons.
  • Close every book's period, not just the primary one.
  • Re-check after fixing, rather than closing on an old result.