Fiscal Years & Close Year

Fiscal Years (Company → Fiscal Years...) is where you define your accounting years, lock finished months so nobody posts into them by accident, and close a year.

For the month-end checklist that comes before locking a period, see Month-end close.

Set up a fiscal year

Open Company → Fiscal Years... and click New Fiscal Year.
Enter a Name (for example "FY 2026"), a Start Date and an End Date.
Click Create. Solid Accounting creates twelve monthly periods for the year.

Click a year to expand it and see its periods, their dates, and whether each one is Open or Locked.

Lock and reopen periods

Locking a period stops anyone from entering, editing or voiding a transaction dated inside it. Only an Accountant or an Admin can lock or reopen periods — on this computer, from another computer over multi-user, and through the API. Each lock, reopen and refusal is recorded in the Audit Trail.

Lock one period: click the lock icon on that period's row. Click it again to unlock.
Close through: locks every open period up to and including that one, in every fiscal year.
Reopen from: reopens that period and every later period in the year.

Before locking, Solid Accounting checks Ledger Health (Reports → Ledger Health). If there are serious findings, it asks whether to Lock anyway. Fixing them first is usually the better choice.

Close Year

Closing a fiscal year:

locks all periods in the year, so entries dated inside it are rejected, and
records the close in the Audit Trail.

It doesn't post a closing entry. The year's net income already rolls into the retained earnings account you choose, on every Balance Sheet dated after the year. Reopen from doesn't apply to a closed year's periods.

To close a year:

Finish the year's work first: reconcile, post adjusting entries, and send your accountant the Year-End Package or an Accountant's Copy if they need one.
In Company → Fiscal Years..., expand the year.
In the Close box for that year (for example Close FY 2025), choose the Retained Earnings Account.
Type the confirmation phrase shown (for example CLOSE 2025) and click Close Year.

Back up your company file before you close a year.

Reopen a closed year

If a late adjustment turns up, an Accountant or Admin can reopen the year:

In Company → Fiscal Years..., expand the closed year.
In the Reopen box, enter the Reason for reopening (for example "Late supplier invoice for June").
Type the confirmation phrase shown (for example REOPEN 2025) and click Reopen Year.

All the year's periods unlock. The reopen, your reason and your name are recorded in the Audit Trail. Close the year again when the adjustments are done.

What it needs

Fiscal years, period locking, Close Year and Reopen Year work on every tier (Standard, Professional, Accountant). Locking, closing and reopening need the Accountant or Admin role.
They don't need Updates & Cloud Services.