View and manage accounting periods

Find this screen

Open: Settings > Organisation and Financial > Accounting Periods.

How to

Open accounting periods

You open an accounting period to make sure that all new transactions entered within this period's date range are posted to this period. Any deferred A transaction dated in a period marked as Future. Deferred transactions are posted to the Nominal Ledger when a period is opened. transactions, that have been entered previously, are also posted to the Nominal Ledger for this period.

When a transaction is posted, it's assigned to a period The accounting period associated with a transaction. This is usually a calendar month within a year.. Once posted, a transaction can't be assigned to a different period.

You can only open a period if:

  • There are no earlier periods with a status of Future. The previous period must be Closed or Open.
  • You have appropriate permissions in Accounting Periods User Permissions.

To open a period:

  • To open a period for a single module, select the period and click Change Period Status.

  • To open a period for all modules, select any module in that period and click Open All.

    This will open all modules in that period that are currently set to Future. The Open All option will only be available if there are modules set to Future in that period.

Period 2 (01/02 - 28/02) is marked as Future.

  1. You enter a sales invoice dated 05/02. As this is for a Future period, it has a Deferred status and is not posted to the nominal ledger.
  2. You open Period 2. The sales invoice is posted to the Nominal Ledger and the relevant nominal account balances are updated.

Close accounting periods

You close a period to make sure that you can no longer post transactions to it.

You will close a period most commonly at the end of the month so that you can move forward into the new month or working period.

Once the period is closed, any nominal ledger transactions for that module (dated in the 'closed' period), are posted to the next open period.

If the next period is Future, it is changed to Open.

Note: Before closing a period, it is essential that you back up your database. Do not carry out a close period procedure if any other user is logged on to Sage 200.

Note: Do not close the last accounting period 12 if you intend to post more transactions to this period before your year end. If you close period 12 and still have deferred postings to move into this period, please contact Sage 200 Technical Support.

You can only close a period if:

  • The previous period for that module is Closed.
  • You have appropriate permissions in Accounting Periods User Permissions.

To close a period:

  • To close a period for a single module, select the period and click Change Period Status.

    You'll be asked to confirm that you want to close the period.

  • To close a period for all modules, select any module in that period and click Close All.

    You'll be asked to confirm that you want to close the periods.

    This will close any module in that period that is currently set to Open. The Close All option will not be available if there are any modules set to Future in that period.

When you close a period. Sage 200 performs the following tasks

  • Prints a summary report detailing the number of transactions, the turnover, credit limit and balance of each account. All values are printed in the base currency.
  • Opens the next period if it is marked as Future.

Change a period date

To change the dates of an accounting period, you only have to change the end date. Your new start date is always the day after the end of the last period.

You can change the period end date if:

  • The period is Open and no transactions have been posted into that period from any of the modules.
  • The period is Future.
  • The new period dates do not overlap with any other period.
  • The new period end date is not the same as the end date of another period.

To change the period date, click Change Period date and enter the new end date.

Open a closed period

You should only re-open a closed period if you want to post subsequent transactions to that period.

You can only re-open a closed period if:

  • The period after the one you want to re-open is Open.
  • The period you select is Open for nominal adjustments. If the nominal adjustments period is Closed, re-open this period first.

  • The period is not the last accounting period of the year, period 12. You should not close period 12 if you intend to enter more transactions in this period, before completing your year end.

    Note: If you have re-opened period 12 and still have deferred postings to move into this period, please contact Sage 200 Technical Support.

When a transaction is posted, it's assigned to a period. Make sure that you post a transaction to the correct period. Once posted, a transaction can't be assigned to a different period.

Period 1 (01/01 - 31/01) is closed. Your next open period is Period 2 (01/02 - 28/02).

  1. On 5th February, you enter sales invoice A, dated 25th January. This is posted to Period 2, as this is your next open period.
  2. On 10th February, you re-open the Period 1. Sales invoice A remains in Period 2, as it's already posted.
  3. On 11th February, you enter sales invoice B, dated 28th January. This is posted to Period 1 as this is now open.

See the changes made to a period

Use the Period Control History tab to see the history of closures, date changes and other alterations made to the accounting periods.

You can see which module was changed, what was done, when it was done and who did it.

This is useful for looking for issues such as discrepancies in your aged balances. For example, if you have changed a period end date, you may find that some transactions move to a future period. In this case the transactions would appear on the Aged Debtors report, but not the Trial Balance report.

To see the changes made:

  1. Choose the module and the type of change from the Module and Action Performed drop-down lists.
  2. To see all changes, select All from the drop-down lists.

You can also to print these details.

Control who can make changes to periods

You can choose which users can make changes to your periods. You do this from Accounting Periods User Permissions.

You choose whether a user can:

  • Change a period end date.
  • Open, Close or Re-open a period for each module.

To do this

Open: Settings > Organisational and Financial > Accounting Periods User Permissions.

  1. Add or Edit the relevant user.
  2. To allow the user to change a period end date, select Change periods dates.
  3. To allow a user to Open, Close or Re-open periods for each module, choose the relevant options.
  4. Click OK to save.

For more information, see Set accounting period permissions.

Useful info

Why use accounting periods

Accounting periods help you to control how you report on your company's financial position. Using accounting periods gives you an easy way to measure your income and expenses in small chunks.

In Sage 200, you can also control when and if transactions can be posted to a period. Once a period is Closed, no further transactions can be posted to that period, regardless of the date of the transaction. This means that you can print a Profit and Loss report for a period, knowing that this will never change.

A transaction is assigned to a period when it's posted to the Nominal Ledger. It can't be assigned to a different period, even when a period is re-opened. Transactions dated in Future periods are not posted to the Nominal Ledger but are stored with a separate Deferred status. These transactions are posted when the period they are dated in is opened.

  • Sales.

    This controls sales transactions that do not affect your bank accounts. These are sales invoices, sales credit notes and discounts.

  • Purchases.

    This controls purchase transactions that do not affect your bank accounts. These are purchase invoices, purchase credit notes and discounts.

  • Cash Book.

    This controls all transactions that affect your bank accounts, such as sales receipts, purchase payments, direct debits and standing orders.

  • Stock.

    This controls stock movement transactions that create a nominal journal. This also covers all transactions created by the Bill of Materials module.

  • Nominal Adjustments.

    This controls transactions directly entered into the Nominal Ledger, such as journals, prepayments and accruals

What if I don't want to use accounting periods?

You don't have to close your accounting periods if you don't want to. In this case we recommend that you open all periods at the beginning of each financial year. You will then need to close them before you can run your year end.

Although you can report on deferred (future period) transactions but they're not included in the balance of any nominal accounts. Deferred transactions are posted to the nominal account when the relevant period is opened.

If they are customer or supplier transactions, they are included in the balance of the customer or supplier account.

Setting up accounting periods

When you first set up Sage 200, you specified the dates of your financial year. Using this date, 12 accounting periods were automatically created. These periods correspond to the calendar months from the month and year that you specified.

You can change the dates of your periods, as long as your haven't entered any transactions.

You use the Accounting Period User Permissions to control who can open, close and change the accounting periods.

What each status means

Transactions are posted to your nominal accounts depending on the posting date of the transaction and the status of the period.

Each period can have a status of Open, Closed or Future.

  • Transactions are posted to the relevant period based on the transaction date.

  • If more than one period is open, the date of the transaction is used to determine which period the transaction is posted into.

    For example, your financial year starts in January, so January is period 1, February is period 2, etc. You post two transactions one dated 20th January and one dated 4th February. Both periods are open. The first transaction is posted to period 1 and the second to period 2.

  • You can't change the dates of an open period if any transactions have been posted into that period from any of the modules.
  • You can't post any transactions into a closed period.

  • Any transactions which have a date in a closed period, are posted to the next open period.

    For example, you have closed period 1 (January) for sales transactions, but period 2 (February) is still open. You enter a transaction dated 20th January. The transaction is posted to period 2 (February), because it is the next open period.

  • You can't change the dates of a period if any of the modules are Closed for that period.
  • Transactions dated in a Future period are not posted to your nominal accounts but are held in a kind of limbo called Deferred.
  • Deferred transaction are posted to your customer, supplier and bank accounts but are not included in the balance of nominal accounts.
  • Deferred transactions are posted to the nominal account when the relevant period is opened.
  • You can change the dates of a Future period.

Periods in future financial years

The Future Financial Years tab shows the period numbers, the end date and the status of each period for up to five future financial years. The period dates automatically follow on from the current financial year.

All the periods are marked as Future and this can't be changed until you have completed a Year End for the existing financial year.

You can change the dates of the periods in future years. The period dates in future years don't have to be the same as the current year, although the start date of a year will always be the day after the last day of the previous year.

Note: You cannot save a transaction with a future date if the accounting period does not exist. For example, if the end date of the last period in your final financial year is 30/03/2015, you cannot save a transaction dated 05/04/2015.

Posting transactions to closed periods

If you post a transaction with a date in a closed period, that transaction is automatically posted to the next open period. This means that the value of transaction with a date in one period may be reported in a different period.

If the there are no open periods, such as at the end of your financial year, then the transaction will be held as Deferred, and will be posted when that period is opened.

There may be occasions when you want to post a transaction to a closed period, when you're posting a reverse transaction for example. In these cases you can re-open the period, post the transaction and close the period again.

You have posted a transaction dated in December and the period has been closed. You realise in January that you this was an error and you need to reverse it. As you want to reverse transaction value to appear in the same period as the original, you open the period for December, post the reverse transaction and close the period again.

Fix it

I can't change the status for any periods

You can't change the period status, if:

  • You don't have appropriate permissions in Accounting Periods User Permissions.
  • The period is Open and transactions have been entered for that module and period.

I can't change the period date

You can't change the period date if:

  • You don't have appropriate permissions in Accounting Periods User Permissions.
  • The period is Open and transactions have been posted into that period from any of the modules.
  • The new period date overlaps with any other period.
  • The new period end date is the same as the end date of another period.

I can't open a period

You can't open a period if:

  • You don't have appropriate permissions in Accounting Periods User Permissions.
  • The previous period is Future. Set all previous periods to Open or Closed first.

I can't close a period

You can't close a period if:

  • You don't have appropriate permissions in Accounting Periods User Permissions.
  • The previous period is Open.
  • Plus, if you want to close the Nominal Adjs period, all the other modules must be set to Closed first. This is because closing the Nominal Adjs period prevents transactions from any module being posted to this period.

I can't open a closed period

You can't open a closed period if:

  • You don't have appropriate permissions in Accounting Periods User Permissions.
  • The period after the one you want to re-open is Closed.
  • The Nominal Adjs for the period is Closed. Re-open the Nominal Adjs period first.

What happens when I

Close a period?

When you close a period, Sage 200 performs does the following:

  • Prints a summary report detailing the number of transactions, the turnover, credit limit and balance of each account. All values are printed in the base currency.
  • Opens the next period if it is marked as Future.

  • Updates the turnover values for each customer and supplier account. The next period value is moved to the current period, the current period value is moved to the previous period, and so on.

    If the period being closed is the last one in the financial year, the year to-date turnover figures are reset. Period 1 of the new financial year now reflects the turnover in the current period.

Open a period?

  • Transactions that have been previously entered (Deferred) for this period are posted.
  • Subsequent transactions entered for this period are also posted.
See also

Related information

Month end

Year End

View closed period balances