How to: Close Years
When a fiscal year is over, you must close the periods that it comprises.
To close a year
In the Search box, enter Accounting Periods, and then choose the relevant link.
On the Home tab, in the Process group, choose Close Year.
If more than one fiscal year is open, the earliest one should be closed. A message appears to identify the year that should be closed and explains the consequences of closing it.
To close the year, choose the Yes button.
When the fiscal year is closed, the Closed and Date Locked fields are selected for all the periods in the year. At this point the fiscal year cannot be opened again, and you cannot clear the Closed or Date Locked fields.
Warning
You cannot close a fiscal year before you create a new one. When a fiscal year has been closed, you cannot change the starting date of the following fiscal year.
Even though a fiscal year has been closed, you can still post general ledger entries to it until you fiscally close the fiscal year. When you do this, the entries will be marked as posted to a closed fiscal year, and the Prior-Year Entry field will be selected. For more information, see How to: Fiscally Close Years.
After a fiscal year is closed, you must close the income statement accounts and transfer the year's results to an account in the balance sheet. You can repeat this each time you post to the closed fiscal year.
After a fiscal year is fiscally closed, it cannot be opened again, and general ledger entries cannot be posted.
See Also
Tasks
How to: Fiscally Close Years
How to: Post the Year-End Closing Entry
How to: Open a New Fiscal Year