Accountant Copy
The Accountant Copy is the workflow for handing your books to an external accountant for adjustments — typically year-end review, audit prep, or quarterly close — while you keep working in your file uninterrupted.
The model: at a chosen dividing date, your file becomes split. Transactions on or before the dividing date belong to the accountant; after it belongs to you. You both keep working in parallel; their changes merge back into your file when they're done.
The dividing date
Every Accountant Copy has a dividing date — usually December 31 for a year-end review or the last day of a quarter for an interim close.
| Side | What they can edit |
|---|---|
| Accountant (in their copy) | Transactions on or before the dividing date — adjusting JEs, closing entries, reclassifications |
| You (in the live file) | Transactions after the dividing date — normal day-to-day work |
The accountant can also read transactions after the dividing date (so they can see what's happened since) but can't edit them. You can read transactions before the dividing date but can't edit them either — that's the accountant's working window.
This split means you don't lose a week of bookkeeping waiting for your accountant. They review your closed period; you keep entering this month's bills.
Creating an Accountant Copy
In Solid: File → Accountant Copy → Create...
- Pick the dividing date — typically the last day of the period you're closing
- Save the copy file — produces a
.solidfile (a separate sealed file, not the same file you opened from) - Send to the accountant — email it, drop it in a shared folder, hand them a USB stick. They open it in their copy of Solid Accounting.
The accountant copy file has the same encryption as any .solid file; you set the password when you create it. Communicate the password through a different channel than the file (don't email both together).
After creation, your live file is now in Accountant Copy outstanding mode:
- Transactions before the dividing date are read-only in your live file (you can view but not edit)
- Transactions after the dividing date work normally
- A status indicator in the title bar shows "Accountant Copy outstanding · DD MMM YYYY dividing date"
What the accountant does
In their copy of Solid Accounting:
- Open the accountant copy file
- Make adjusting journal entries — Solid auto-flags them with
is_adjusting = 1andsource = 'accountant_adjustment' - Run reports against the closed period to verify
- File → Accountant Copy → Export Changes — produces a small
.solidchangesfile containing only their adjusting entries (not the whole file) - Send the
.solidchangesfile back to you
The accountant doesn't send back the whole file — just the changes. The change file is small (typically a few KB), encrypted, and validated to contain only adjusting-period changes.
Importing the changes
In your live file: File → Accountant Copy → Import Changes...
- Pick the
.solidchangesfile the accountant sent - Solid shows a preview of every adjusting entry — date, accounts, amounts, memo
- Review — for each entry, confirm or reject. Most users accept all; you can cherry-pick if a specific entry looks wrong.
- Import — accepted entries post to your live file marked with
source = 'accountant_adjustment'
After import:
- The Accountant Copy mode is dismissed; your file is back to normal
- The closed period is now editable again (though typically you've also locked it via Set Closing Date)
- Audit trail records every imported entry with the accountant's identity and timestamp
The whole import is one transaction — if anything fails, the file is left untouched and you can retry.
What carries through the dividing date
The accountant can post entries dated on or before the dividing date, even if the underlying accounts had post-dividing-date activity. That's the point: they're cleaning up the closed period regardless of what's happened since.
Common adjusting-entry types:
| Type | Why |
|---|---|
| Reclassifications | An expense was posted to the wrong account (Office Supplies → Software) |
| Accruals | Recording a December utility bill that arrived in January |
| Deferrals | Splitting a January-paid annual insurance premium into the months it covers |
| Depreciation | If you didn't run the depreciation runner for the period |
| Inventory adjustments | Year-end physical-count differences |
| Bad debt write-offs | Removing uncollectible AR balances |
| Closing entries | Moving the period's net income to Retained Earnings |
| Tax provisions | Year-end tax liability accruals |
Each entry posts as a normal journal entry; the only special thing about it is the is_adjusting = 1 flag and the source marker so it shows separately on the Adjusted Trial Balance report.
Cancelling an outstanding Accountant Copy
If you don't end up sending it (or you want to start over), File → Accountant Copy → Cancel. This removes the restriction in your live file (closed period transactions become editable again) and effectively voids the outstanding copy.
The copy file the accountant has, if they've already started working in it, becomes orphaned — they can keep editing but the changes won't import back into your live file because the dividing-date contract no longer exists. If they've done significant work, communicate the cancellation before they invest more time.
Single-user vs multi-user files
For multi-user files, the Accountant Copy is created from the Host or Dedicated Server authority. All connected clients see the "outstanding" status. Only the host/server can create or cancel; clients can read the status but not change it.
The accountant still works in their own single-user copy — they don't connect to your multi-user instance. This keeps their environment isolated and their adjustments uncommitted until you import.
When to use it (vs. just sharing the file)
| Situation | Use |
|---|---|
| Accountant needs to make adjustments to the closed period; you need to keep working | Accountant Copy |
| Accountant just needs to look at numbers — no changes | Read-only export (PDF reports, or TXF export) |
| You're handing over the books permanently | Send the live .solid file directly |
| Accountant wants to make changes you'll discuss before accepting | Accountant Copy — the import-time review lets you cherry-pick |
| One-off question about a single transaction | Email a screenshot — overkill to invoke Accountant Copy for one entry |
Common gotchas
Outstanding Accountant Copy and you can't edit a December transaction. That's by design. Either wait for the accountant to send back changes (then import and the lock dissolves), or cancel the copy if you no longer need the round-trip.
Accountant returned a .solidchanges file but the import says "no compatible changes found". Usually a date mismatch — the accountant edited transactions outside the dividing-date window. They need to re-export, this time only adjusting entries within the period.
Accountant added a customer or vendor that didn't exist in the live file. The change file carries new contacts where referenced; import handles them. If a referenced contact is genuinely missing (rare, indicates a bug), the import surfaces it as an error and you create the contact manually.
Lost the password to the accountant copy. Same as a regular .solid file — encryption is real, no recovery. Cancel the outstanding copy and re-create.
Multiple accountant copies outstanding at once. Solid only supports one at a time. To work with two accountants in parallel (say a tax accountant and an auditor), pick a single dividing date and have them coordinate, or do them sequentially.
The accountant's .solidchanges arrived but I've already closed the period via Set Closing Date. Importing accountant changes is allowed even into a closed period — the import logs every entry with the post-to-closed-period flag. See Period Close → Re-opening.
Cross-references
- General Ledger → audit trail — accountant changes flow through the same audit hook
- Period Close walkthrough — the close process the Accountant Copy supports
- Multi-User module — Accountant Copy interaction with multi-user files