Understanding fiscal periods and period close

A fiscal period is a slice of time, usually a month, that belongs to a fiscal year. The FIS module lets you create years, add periods and control which periods are open for entry. This is the foundation of every report in the RPT module.

For most Bangladesh businesses the fiscal year runs from July to June, but you can set your own start and end dates if your industry or company uses a different calendar.

When a period is locked, no new entries can be posted to it. This prevents accidental changes to months that have already been reported or filed. If you discover a real error, an authorised user can reopen the period, make the correction and lock it again.

Period lock is a safety gate, not a dead end. It protects your trial balance and your tax filings from late edits that would change already-accepted numbers.

The RPT module does not rely on cached balances. It reads the posted journal lines and recalculates the numbers for the selected date range. This means a report run six months later for an old month will still match the original month.

The principle is simple: reports are alive. They are computed from the journal every time, so backdated entries and corrections are reflected consistently.

You can post an entry with an old transaction date as long as the period is open. This is useful when you find a missing receipt or invoice after the month has closed. Once the entry is posted, it flows into the correct period automatically.

If the target period is already locked, the system will warn you and require a reopen or a new period. This discipline keeps the historical trial balance clean.

Before locking a period, run a trial balance and review the profit and loss for the month. Check that all bank, cash and tax entries are posted. Then lock the period and export the report package if your accountant needs it.

A clean close gives you confidence. The next month starts from a known, balanced position and your year-end tax work becomes much easier.