Opening/Closing Accounting Periods

CUSTADMIN access only

Accounting and VAT periods must be opened separately, i.e. opening an accounting period does not automatically open the applicable VAT period. For more information, please see Opening a VAT Period.

When the accounting period is created, it is automatically available to be selected when posting payment information, or running reports and enquiries. Accounting periods need to be opened when they should be available to post to, and closed when a user should no longer post to the period. This is defined by the State set forsecurity role applied to each period. For more information, go to Period States .

1. Select Maintenance, then select Periods from the menu.
   
2. The Period Maintenance window is displayed. Select Expand (+) adjacent to the required financial year in the left-hand panel.
   
3. The list expands to show the individual accounting period. Select the period to be opened or closed, then EDIT, then set the required State.
   
4. To open the selected period, select Drill (...) in Post, then double-select to select PERIOD.3 - Period Access Level 3 from the Select a role for Period dialog.
   To close the selected period, double-select either of the following security roles:
   • PERIOD.8 - Period Access Level 8 - restricts anyone other than the person within your establishment/organisation who administers your system, i.e. has a CUSTADMIN login and the IFACE user from posting to the period. This allows automated postings such as accruals and prepayments. It is recommended you set the security role to 8 while preparing your monthly management accounts.
   • PERIOD.9 - Period Access Level 9 - restricts anyone other than the person within your establishment/organisation who administers your system, i.e. has a CUSTADMIN login from posting to the period. This also restricts automated postings such as accruals and prepayments. It is recommended you set the security role to 9 when you have completed and published your monthly accounts.
     PERIOD.3, PERIOD.8, and PERIOD.9 are the most commonly used security roles when opening and closing accounting periods, however you can select any security role. For example, you could chose PERIOD.6 to partially close a period, so it would still be available to senior finance staff.
     
5. In the following example, PERIOD 3 has been selected to open the period.
   
6. To confirm the security role changes, on the Period Maintenance window, select SAVE.