Close the reporting period

A reporting period is the period covered by a set of financial statements, usually a calendar month. Closing a reporting period locks all transactions in that period and ensures long-term report stability.

The last day in the last closed reporting period is called the debtor close date. You cannot change a transaction dated earlier than the debtor close date. For example, you cannot change the balance of an invoice that is dated earlier than the debtor close date.

You should close a reporting period a week or two after the period end date. The delay gives you a window of time to correct mistakes before transactions are locked.

Warning: To ensure report stability, ensure you close the reporting period before you export financial data to an external system.

This task explains how to close a reporting period.

  1. Ensure there are no unprocessed billing runs in the reporting period.
    You cannot close a reporting period that contains:
    • invoicing periods in Open, Error or Approval status
    • unprocessed payments
    • incomplete payment batches
    • payments that require attention
    • pending payments dated earlier than the debtor close date
    Note: For more information about processing payments, see How to process automatic payments.
  2. Check the Open Invoices report.
    The Open Invoices report displays open quotes, renewal invoices and manual invoices that you may need to close before you close the reporting period.
    Note: For more information about the Open Invoices report, see Revenue reports.
  3. On the Smile menu, click Billing, then click Close Reporting Period.
    The Close Accounting Period page appears.
  4. Enter the date you want to lock transactions before in the Close accounts before field, click Close and click Continue.
    Smile closes the reporting period.