Close the Books

Why Close the Books?

Once your treasurer’s annual report is written and your audit committee (or board) has signed off, you want that year’s numbers to stay exactly as approved. Close the Books locks a finished fiscal year so nothing dated in it can be created, edited, or deleted afterward.

This is the step most treasurer handbooks call “closing the books” or “year-end close” — the same thing you’d do on paper, just handled for you.

Before You Close: Readiness Checklist

Go to Settings > Close the Books (admin users only) and pick the fiscal year you want to close. Before you can close it, BeeKeeper shows a checklist of things worth resolving first:

• Bank accounts that aren’t reconciled through the end of the fiscal year
• Bank transactions still sitting in your review queue
• Expense reports still awaiting review
• Anything left in the Uncategorized Expense account
• If your organization uses Team Edition: income or expenses not tagged to any team, and any team whose fund balance account is missing - both simply close into your organization’s general carryover instead of a team’s own balance

These are warnings, not hard blocks — you can still close with items unresolved if you choose to. A few things, however, always block closing:

• The fiscal year has to be over (you can’t close a year that hasn’t ended yet)
• Any earlier fiscal years must be closed first, in order
• Your books have to balance (debits must equal credits)
• Your chart of accounts needs an active equity account to carry the surplus into, other than Opening Balance Equity. If it doesn’t have one, the checklist says “Your chart of accounts has no equity account to carry the surplus into. Add one before closing.” See If Closing Says You Have No Equity Account below.

What Happens When You Close a Year

Before you commit, the page shows you a preview of the exact closing entry it’s about to post, so there are no surprises.

When you confirm, BeeKeeper posts a real journal entry dated the last day of the fiscal year. That entry zeroes out every income and expense account for the year into your organization’s carry-over equity account — the one already on your chart of accounts at code 3000 (“Carry Over Funds” for PTAs, “Retained Earnings” for PTOs, ASBs, and booster clubs). BeeKeeper detects and preselects that account for you; you can confirm it or pick a different one.

If the account at code 3000 is archived or missing, BeeKeeper preselects another active equity account instead, if you have one (never Opening Balance Equity). Check the Carry the surplus into field before you confirm, and pick the right account if needed. If there is no other active equity account, closing is blocked until you unarchive code 3000.

If your organization uses Team Edition, the closing entry does more: each team’s own surplus or deficit for the year moves into that team’s own fund balance account instead of the shared one. Only money that was never tagged to a team, or that belongs to a team whose fund balance account is missing, falls back to the organization’s general carry-over account.

Once the year is closed:

• Nothing dated on or before the year’s end date can be created, edited, or deleted. The Edit, Delete, and File as History options disappear from those transactions in the register.
• You can still Void a transaction from a closed year, such as a check that was never cashed. The original stays in the closed year, and the reversing entry is dated today, so the closed year’s numbers don’t change. A void in a closed year can’t be undone.
• Bank-feed transactions dated inside the closed period are skipped automatically when new transactions come in from your bank, so they never pile up in your review queue.
• You can still finish a bank reconciliation that straddles the close date — closing locks amounts and dates, not reconciliation status.

If Closing Says You Have No Equity Account

This usually means your carry-over account at code 3000 (Carry Over Funds or Retained Earnings) has been archived. It’s still on your chart of accounts, just hidden. Unarchive it:

1. Go to Bookkeeping > Chart of Accounts
2. Open the Actions menu and click Show Archived Accounts
3. Find account 3000 (it has an Archived label) and click the pencil next to it
4. Uncheck Archive
5. Click Save

Then go back to Settings > Close the Books. The checklist should now say the surplus will be carried into that account.

Don’t use Add Account to make a new one. That gives you a second carry-over account next to the archived one.

What Doesn’t Change

Closing a year doesn’t hide or alter its history. Your reports for that year — Profit & Loss, Annual Financial Report, Form 990-EZ, Budget vs. Actual, and Trial Balance — all still show the year’s real income and expenses, exactly as before. The General Ledger also shows the closing entry itself, labeled “Year-End Close,” alongside everything else.

Reopening a Closed Year

Made a mistake, or need to make a late change? Any admin can reopen a closed year from the same Close the Books page. You’ll be asked for a reason — BeeKeeper keeps a record of who closed the year, who reopened it, when, and why, along with the year’s net surplus, right on the page. Reopening deletes the closing entry and unlocks the year for editing again.

Notes you leave on a close support rich text formatting, so you can add context for future treasurers.

Common Questions

Do I have to close every year? No, it’s optional. But closing protects a year’s numbers once your board or membership has approved them, which is especially useful during a treasurer transition or ahead of an audit.

Can I close a year that isn’t finished yet? No. The fiscal year has to have already ended before you can close it.

Can I skip a year and close a later one first? No. Fiscal years must be closed in order — earlier years have to be closed before a later one.

Why is BeeKeeper asking me to close a year we never used? An earlier year only needs closing if something is dated inside it. Most often that’s an opening balance dated the day before your first fiscal year started, such as June 30. Years with nothing in them are skipped. You can close that earlier year first, or change the opening balance date to the first day of your first fiscal year. See Getting Started with BeeKeeper.

What if my books don’t balance? Closing is blocked until debits equal credits for the year. Run the Trial Balance report to track down the discrepancy.

Why does it say I have no equity account to carry the surplus into? Your carry-over account at code 3000 is most likely archived, and Opening Balance Equity can’t be used for closing. Unarchive account 3000 from Bookkeeping > Chart of Accounts. See If Closing Says You Have No Equity Account.

Will closing change our reports? No. Profit & Loss, Annual Financial Report, Form 990-EZ, Budget vs. Actual, and Trial Balance keep showing the year’s real income and expenses. Only the General Ledger and Balance Sheet show the closing entry itself.

What if we still have unreconciled transactions or pending expense reports? The checklist flags these so you can clean them up first, but they won’t stop you from closing if you decide to proceed anyway.

Who can close or reopen a year? Admin users only. Settings, including Close the Books, isn’t available to Editors or Viewers.

What account does the closing entry use? Your carry-over equity account — the one already on your chart of accounts at code 3000. BeeKeeper preselects it automatically, but you can choose a different equity account if needed. If that account is archived, BeeKeeper preselects another active equity account if you have one, so check the Carry the surplus into field before you confirm. If you don’t have one, unarchive account 3000 first.

Why does Opening Balance Equity still have a balance after we close a year? Closing only moves the year’s income and expenses into your carry-over account at code 3000 (“Carry Over Funds” for PTAs, “Retained Earnings” for PTOs, ASBs, and booster clubs). Opening Balance Equity holds the starting balances you entered when you set up BeeKeeper, and closing never changes it. That’s why your Balance Sheet shows both lines. Together, they’re your total carry-over.

If you’d rather show one carry-over figure, you can move the starting balance into your carry-over account:

1. Go to Bookkeeping > Banking and click Transfer Funds.
2. Set From Account to Opening Balance Equity.
3. Set To Account to your carry-over account (Carry Over Funds or Retained Earnings).
4. Enter the same date as your starting balance, and the amount shown on Opening Balance Equity.
5. In Description, write something like “Move starting balance to carry-over”. Don’t use the words “Opening Balance” on their own, since BeeKeeper saves that description for opening balance entries.
6. Click Save.

Do this before you close the year your starting balance is dated in. Once that year is closed, nothing dated inside it can be added.

How does closing work with Team Edition? Each team’s surplus or deficit for the year moves into that team’s own fund balance account, so every team carries forward its own number instead of one pooled figure. Anything not tagged to a team still closes into your organization’s regular carry-over account. See Team Edition.