Closing an accounting period means changing its status from Open to Closed. When you close an accounting period, this indicates that posting transactions for the period have been completed. The Closed status prevents posting to the general ledger for any dates included in the period, by anyone. Closing a period should be a final step, after a process of accounts review and reconciliation to ensure correctness and balance.
To open the Manage Accounting Periods page, go to Setup > Accounting > Manage Accounting Periods. Click the magnifying glass icon to begin the checklist for a particular accounting period.
Note: We recommend to review this entire article before proceeding with closing your account periods.
Accounting Period Settings to Review
We suggest you review the below settings in your account:
Navigate to: Setup > Accounting > Account Periods > General > General Ledger > Allow Transaction Date Outside of Posting Period.
Note: We recommend this preference is set to Disallow. When you choose this setting, users are not allowed to save a transaction unless the transaction date is within the date range for the posting period selected.
Navigate to: Setup > Accounting > Account Periods > General > General Ledger > Enable Accounting Period Window
Note: Minimum period window size = 1. Automatically maintain a minimum number of unlocked current and future accounting periods. Use the Minimum Period Window Size preference to set the number of unlocked periods.
Using Quick Close to Close Periods
The Quick Close preference enables you to close one or more accounting periods with a single click. This time-saving preference is useful when you have reopened one or more closed accounting periods to make a change. With Quick Close, NetSuite marks complete all tasks in all reopened accounting periods, eliminating the requirement to close them one-by-one.
The Quick Close preference is also useful when you prefer a one-click method for closing accounting periods. For example, I am the sole proprietor of my business. I process all accounting transactions. I do not want to step through each task on the period close checklist to close my accounting periods. With Quick Close, I can close each period with a single click.
Granting Permission to Use Quick Close
Quick Close is automatically granted to Administrators and Full Access Roles. The Setup permission, Period Closing Management, must be added to other roles for users to use the feature.
Enabling the Quick Close Preference
If your user role is granted both the Set Up Accounting and Period Closing Management permissions and you want to use Quick Close, you must enable the Allow Quick Close of Accounting Periods preference. Go to Setup > Accounting > Preferences > Accounting Preferences. On the General subtab under the General Ledger section, click the Allow Quick Close of Accounting Periods box and then save.
Note: This preference does not appear in user roles that do not have the Period Closing Management permission.
Closing Accounting Periods with Quick Close
If you have the appropriate permissions and the Allow Quick Close of Accounting Periods preference is enabled, the Manage Accounting Periods page displays the Close Multiple Periods button.
To close one or more periods, click Close Multiple Periods. From the Periods to Close list, select the accounting period you want to close. If you are closing multiple periods, this period should be the last in the series of open periods.
Note: NetSuite maintains an audit trail of every changed task in every closed accounting period through system notes.
The Difference Between Locked and Closed Accounting Periods
Users with the Override Period Restrictions permission can add and edit posting transactions even if the transaction type has been locked for a period. By default Administrators and Full Access users have this permission. To allow other users to add or edit posting transactions, transactions must be unlocked for the period.
In the screenshot below, the gold locks indicate these transactions have been locked. However this period is still open.
No one can make G/L impacting changes to posting transactions in a closed period. The period must be reopened before these changes can be posted. In the screenshot below, the green check mark indicates the period has been closed.
Note: If the Allow Non-G/L Changes option is enabled for a period, users with the Allow Non G/L Changes permission can make non-G/L changes to posting transactions after the period has been locked to transactions, and after the period has been closed.
Note: Changes to addresses are not permitted in a closed accounting period. Changing the address on a transaction could alter the tax rate, and have an impact on the G/L.
Period Close Checklist
A Period Close Checklist for each period is available from the Manage Accounting Periods page. From this checklist, you can complete required tasks in sequence. To launch the checklist, click the icon with the magnifying glass to begin. Periods must be closed in sequential order from oldest to newest.
Note: If previous periods are still open, you can complete tasks to lock transactions for a period. You cannot, however, complete any other checklist tasks including closing the period until all previous periods have been closed.
Note: You must have Edit or Full level of the Manage Accounting Periods permission as well as the Override Period Restrictions permission to complete all tasks in this page.
To close a period, you must first lock out transactions that post to A/P, A/R and then review accounts and perform any necessary adjustments.
Note: Other tasks such as Resolve Date/Period Mismatches, Review Negative Inventory, Review Inventory Cost Accounting and Revalue Open Foreign Currency Balances provide necessary adjustments. To complete these tasks, users require related permissions.
The final task is to close the period.
Note: Depending on your NetSuite edition and modules their may be additional tasks. For example if you are using Fixed Assets Management you will need to run your depreciation schedules.
Note: Users with NetSuite OneWorld account should keep in mind that they have to actually click the Calculate button when they are in the process of performing the task "Calculate Consolidated Exchange Rates" for them to have reliable consolidated reports. The rates are not automatically calculated on the Consolidated Exchange Rates page.
Prior to closing off periods, it’s also advised to confirm the following points:
* If you’ve shipped goods, ensure you’ve also invoiced them
* If you’ve invoiced goods, ensure you’ve fulfilled
This will mean your costs and income will be within the same period