Posting the year-end closing entry and locking the year

What is this page about: How to run year-end closing, confirm what it posted, and correct something in a year that's already been closed.

# On this page

• Before you run the close
• Running the close
• Confirming what it posted
• How a closed year stays locked
• Handling a post-year-end adjustment
• FAQ and troubleshooting
• Related articles

Once every period in a fiscal year is closed, running year-end closing takes a couple of clicks. The parts worth walking through are checking that it landed correctly, and what to do if you need to change that year afterwards.

# Before you run the close

Every period in the fiscal year must be closed, with all five of its closing tasks done:

• Account Payables
• Account Receivables
• Journal Entries
• FX revaluation (revalues foreign-currency balances at period-end exchange rates)
• Intercompany documents

If any period is still open, the close is rejected.

# Running the close

1. Go to Accounting > Accounting periods.
2. Expand the fiscal year you're closing and check that every period in it is closed.
3. Click Post year-end closing at the foot of the year section.
4. If a Confirm posting to disabled accounts dialog appears, a disabled account still carries a balance. Read it and confirm to continue.

The close runs for every entity in the company together.

# Confirming what it posted

1. Go to Accounting > Accounting documents and set the Type filter to Year closing. You'll find one document per entity, or more than one if an entity has several ledgers or books.
2. Go to Accounting > Transactions and filter on the Retained Earnings account to see the year's net income or loss posted there.
3. Check the dates. The document is dated the day you ran the close, and its postings are dated the first day of the new fiscal year.
4. Balance sheet accounts (assets, liabilities and equity) are untouched by the close, so their balances should look exactly as they did before you ran it.

An entity with no profit and loss activity for the year gets no closing document. That's expected.

# How a closed year stays locked

Light has no separate "lock the year" step. A closed year is locked because every period in it is closed, so nothing new can post to it.

You can still reopen a period inside that year. Doing so reopens the year as well, along with every later period and any later years that were already closed. Reopening doesn't reverse the closing documents already posted.

# Handling a post-year-end adjustment

Three things to know before you change a closed year:

• Reopening a period cascades. Every later period, the year itself and any later closed years reopen too.
• Running Post year-end closing again posts only what changed. Light adds up what's already been posted for that year and posts the difference: just the correction amount if something changed, nothing if nothing did.
• Leave the original closing document as it is. Reversing it by hand before re-running the close can leave Retained Earnings misstated, because the close already accounts for what's been posted.

The steps:

1. Reopen the period that needs the correction and make the fix. Check which later periods and years the cascade reopened.
2. Close the periods again, completing their closing tasks.
3. Run Post year-end closing again for each affected year, oldest year first. Each run posts only the net difference.

Afterwards, check the Retained Earnings balance for every affected year.

# FAQ and troubleshooting

I reopened and corrected a period in a closed year. Why doesn't Retained Earnings look right?

Correcting the period doesn't change the closing document that's already posted. Close the periods again, then run Post year-end closing for that year. It posts just the correction amount and brings Retained Earnings to the right figure.

Will running Post year-end closing again double-post to Retained Earnings?

No. It adds up what's already been posted for that year and posts only the net difference, or nothing if nothing changed. Leave the original document as it is; reversing it by hand first can leave Retained Earnings misstated.

I clicked Post year-end closing again and nothing happened. Why?

Running the close again on a year that hasn't been reopened does nothing. Reopen the period you need to correct, make the fix, close the periods again, then run it.

Where do I find the document year-end closing created?

Accounting > Accounting documents, with the Type filter set to Year closing.

I only reopened one period. Why do later periods and years show as open too?

Reopening a period cascades forward through every later period in that year, the year itself, and any later years that were already closed. Check the full range before assuming only one period changed.

# Related articles

• Year-End Closing Entries
• Closing Periods and Month-End Close
• Fiscal Year and Accounting Periods