Close a month

The Ledger dashboard shows your fiscal year as twelve tiles, with how many months are closed. A closed month is filled bronze with a lock. A past month that is still open fills up as its checklist gets done, the month you are in is outlined, and months still ahead are dashed.

Click any month to see its checklist:

1. Reconcile every bank and card account through the month's last day. Every account you had by the month end and were still using needs a completed reconciliation dated on or after the month end, even if that month's statement isn't imported yet. A reconciliation completed with an accepted difference doesn't count.
2. Categorize every bank and card line dated in the month. A line marked as a transfer or a store deposit that nothing was matched to counts too, because nothing is in the books for it yet.
3. Review every bill and receipt dated in the month that is still waiting for review.
4. Bring in every store and processor payout for the month. If Shopify, Square, PayPal or Stripe is connected, its payouts must have synced at least 7 days past the month end (a payout can arrive that long after the days it covers), and every payout covering a day in the month must be in the books. Books with no store or processor connected skip this step.

Each step that is not done says how many items are left, with a Fix link to the screen that clears them. Anything dated before your books' opening date doesn't count.

Below the steps, the month may also list foreign purchases paid on someone's own card that have no card charge entered yet (a receipt shows in the month it was paid). That is a reminder, not a step: it never stops the close. When the card statement arrives, enter Actually charged (CAD) on each one; a charge entered after the close is recorded on the first open day.

When every step is done, the next month to close shows a Close button. TALISK_HQ asks you to confirm, because closing locks everything dated on or before the month end: bills, bank matches, opening balances and manual journal entries in that window can't be posted or edited. Someone with full access can still record a late entry as an exception, with a reason. Automatic postings dated in a closed month, such as store and processor payouts, are moved to the next open day or skipped. After the close you'll see how many days after month-end you closed it, and when that is your quickest close so far.

When all twelve months of a fiscal year are closed, the dashboard links to the year-end handover pack, and the pack page shows the same count for its year.

To reopen a month, go to Ledger › Accounting › Period Lock and move the lock date back before that month. The month shows as open again straight away.