> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.hitaji360.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Closing a Period > Closing a period freezes a calendar window so no one can post transactions dated inside it. Closing a period freezes a calendar window so no one can post transactions dated inside it. You close a period once you've finished booking and reconciling that month (or quarter) and want the reported numbers to stop moving. You'll find this at: `/accounting/periods` (navigation: **Finance → Periods & Close**). > 📷 *Screenshot: A period row in OPEN status with the "Close period" button — to be added.* *** ## When to close a period Close a period when: * All invoices, bills, expenses, payments, and payroll for the period are entered and posted. * Bank and sub-ledger reconciliations for the period are done. * You've reviewed the trial balance and statements for the period and they're final. Closing is the control that prevents a "finished" month from quietly changing because someone back-dates a new transaction into it. *** ## How to close a period 1. Open **Finance → Periods & Close** (`/accounting/periods`). 2. Find the period in the **Accounting periods** list. Open periods show a green **OPEN** badge. 3. Click **Close period** on that row. 4. The badge flips to **CLOSED** and you'll see a *"Period closed"* confirmation. That's it — there is no separate confirmation dialog. The period now blocks dated posting. > 📷 *Screenshot: Period list after closing, showing the CLOSED badge and the "Reopen period" button — to be added.* *** ## What closing locks Once a period is **CLOSED**, any attempt to post a transaction whose **posting/entry date** falls inside the period's window is blocked. This applies across the whole accounting book, because every money movement in Hitaji ultimately posts through the general ledger: * Manual journal entries (post, reverse, and submit-for-approval are all guarded). * Sales invoices and credit notes. * Bills and expenses. * Customer and supplier payments. * Payroll runs and statutory postings. * Journal entries pushed in from other Hitaji products (SACCO, payments, POS) through the accounting integration. A blocked attempt fails with a clear, stable error code: * **`PERIOD_CLOSED`** — *"Period '\' is closed; posting requires the 'post-to-closed-period' role."* The block is evaluated by the transaction's date, not the current date. Posting **into** an open period is unaffected; only dates inside the closed window are stopped. ### The override exception A closed period is not absolutely sealed. A user holding the period-override role (`post-to-closed-period` / `accounting:override-period-lock`) can still post into a closed period when a genuine correction is unavoidable. This is intentional — it lets finance make a controlled adjustment without reopening the period for everyone. Every such posting still lands in the audit trail. If you need a period that **no one** can post into, even with the override role, that is the **LOCKED** state, which is returned to a postable state only through the maker-checker [reopen workflow](/accounting/user/periods-compliance/period-reopen). *** ## What closing does **not** do * It does **not** post any journal entry. Closing a month is purely a control flag; it moves no balances. (Rolling revenue and expense into retained earnings is a separate, deliberate step — see [Year-End Close](/accounting/user/periods-compliance/year-end-close).) * It does **not** change your reports. Trial balance, balance sheet, and P\&L for the period read the same before and after closing. * It is **reversible**. A closed period can be reopened (see below). *** ## Prerequisites and downstream effects * **No prerequisites to close** a single period — you can close any open period at any time. (The system does not force you to close earlier months first, so close them in order to keep your trail clean.) * **Year-end close requires every period in the fiscal year to be CLOSED first.** If any period in the year is still open, the year-end close is rejected with *"All accounting periods for fiscal year \ must be closed before year-end close."* So closing your monthly periods is the gate that unlocks the annual roll-up. *** ## Idempotency and the audit record * Clicking **Close period** on a period that is already closed is safe — it simply returns the period unchanged. * Closing writes the status change **and** an audit-trail entry in a single atomic step, so a closed period always has a matching `CLOSED` audit event recorded against it (with the fiscal year and who closed it). You can see recent governance events in the **Recent audit trail** panel on the same page. See [Accounting Audit Trail](/accounting/user/periods-compliance/audit-trail). *** ## Reopening after a close If you closed a period too early, you can reopen it. The simple **Reopen period** button on this page returns the period to **OPEN** immediately. For closed or **locked** periods that require sign-off, use the controlled maker-checker reopen request instead. Both paths are covered in [Requesting & Approving a Period Reopen](/accounting/user/periods-compliance/period-reopen). *** ## Related * [Accounting Periods](/accounting/user/periods-compliance/accounting-periods) * [Requesting & Approving a Period Reopen](/accounting/user/periods-compliance/period-reopen) * [Year-End Close](/accounting/user/periods-compliance/year-end-close) * [Accounting Audit Trail](/accounting/user/periods-compliance/audit-trail)