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, voided, 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

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)

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.

Once the year is closed:

• Nothing dated on or before the year’s end date can be created, edited, voided, or deleted. The Edit and Void options disappear from those transactions in the register.
• 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.

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](financial-reports.md#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.

What if my books don’t balance? Closing is blocked until debits equal credits for the year. Run the [Trial Balance](financial-reports.md#trial-balance) report to track down the discrepancy.

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.