Fiscal years, periods, locks, opening balances and the year-end close
Each set of books runs in fiscal years of twelve monthly periods; a voucher can post only into an open year and an unlocked period, opening balances carry each ledger's balance into a year, the year-end close moves income and expense into Profit & Loss Account by a closing journal and writes the next year's openings, and a monthly balance cache is kept as a cross-check.
Fiscal years, periods, locks, opening balances and the year-end close
A fiscal year is the twelve-month span a set of books reports on, split into twelve monthly periods. Postings need an open year and an unlocked period, so the accountant can freeze a month once its returns are filed. Opening balances are what each ledger starts the year with, and the year-end close is the step that turns one year's income and expense into profit, carries every balance-sheet ledger forward and seals the year.
How it works in NirmaanOne
Years and periods
Books are set up with Books begin on and Fiscal year starts in (April for the Indian financial year). The year holding the begin date is opened at once with periods P01 to P12, each a calendar month starting on the first of the month. A year is named after the calendar years it spans ("2026-27") or a single year when it does not cross one. Current simply means today falls inside it.
Open next year on Fiscal years (the Edit permission on Books) adds the year after the last one, again with twelve periods. Only the next year can be opened; years cannot be deleted. A voucher's year and period come from its date; a date no year covers is refused: "No fiscal year covers that date. Open the next fiscal year under Books first."
Period locks
Each period has a toggle. A locked period refuses every posting dated in it, manual or automatic (demand issue, receipt clearing, accruals, commission approval, revenue runs): "Period <n> of <year> is locked". The Vouchers list badges such vouchers "Period locked". Unlock the period to post a late entry; periods of a closed year stay locked ("That fiscal year is closed."). A draft can still be saved in a locked period; it just cannot be posted until the period is unlocked.
Opening balances
The Opening balances tab holds, per fiscal year, one amount and side (Dr / Cr) per ledger. Saving replaces the whole set for that year (the Edit permission on Chart of Accounts); zero rows are dropped; a closed year's openings are fixed. The tab shows Total debit, Total credit and Difference; an unbalanced set is accepted, but the Trial balance will show "Not balanced: check opening balances" until it is fixed.
The opening balance is read directly by the ledger report, the trial balance, the profit and loss and the balance sheet: a ledger's opening at any date = its opening balance for the year + its postings from the year's start to the day before. Openings on bill-wise party ledgers create no bills, so they cannot be settled bill by bill; only posted vouchers open bills.
The year-end close
Close year (the Edit permission on Books) is allowed when the year is not already closed, every earlier year is closed ("Close the earlier fiscal year first"), the next year is open ("Open the next fiscal year before closing this one") and the year holds no Draft voucher ("Post or cancel every Draft voucher of the year before closing it."). It then:
- computes every income and expense ledger's closing balance for the year;
- posts the closing journal, a Journal dated the year's last day with the narration Closing journal narration (default "Year-end close FY <name>"): each income ledger is debited by its balance, each expense ledger credited, and the difference goes to 3200 Profit & Loss Account (credited for a profit, debited for a loss). The last period is unlocked for this one posting if it was locked;
- deletes whatever opening balances the next year had and writes the closing balance of every asset, liability and equity ledger (3200 included) as the next year's openings;
- locks all twelve periods, marks the year Closed, and rebuilds the next year's balance cache.
The closing journal (and its reversal, if the year is reopened) is left out of the profit and loss and the balance sheet, so both read the same before and after the close (a closed year's profit and loss says "closed year (closing journal excluded)"); the trial balance and ledger reports include it, so they show the post-closing view with the income and expense ledgers at zero.
Reopen year undoes it while the following year is still open ("Reopen the following year first."): the periods unlock, the closing journal is reversed on the last day, and the next year's opening balances are removed. They are written again when you close again.
The period-balance cache
Every post, reversal, year close and reopen rebuilds a per-ledger, per-period summary (opening, movement, closing) for the year touched. The Period balances report shows it; no other report reads it, so it is a cross-check of the ledger, not a source. It is not refreshed when opening balances are saved by hand; use Rebuild balances (the Edit permission on Books) after that or after a data fix.
Why it works this way
Locking by month matches how GST and TDS returns are filed: once September's GSTR is filed, nothing may land in September. Closing by year with a real journal, rather than a report-only figure, means the profit is in the ledger where an auditor expects it, the next year opens with balances that add up, and any correction is a reversal you can see.
Example
"Shree Siddhi Developers" begins on 1 April 2026 with April as the start month, so FY 2026-27 is opened with P01 April 2026 to P12 March 2027.
Migrating openings. The company kept its earlier books in Tally. On Opening balances for FY 2026-27 the accountant enters 1110 Bank - Promoter ₹42,50,000.00 Dr, 1600 Land and Development Rights ₹57,50,000.00 Dr and 3000 Share Capital ₹1,00,00,000.00 Cr. Total debit and Total credit both read ₹1,00,00,000.00, Difference ₹0.00, and Save opening balances confirms "Opening balances saved (3 ledgers)." She then runs Rebuild balances on the Period balances report so the cache shows the same openings.
Locking a month. On 20 October 2026 the September GST return is filed and she switches on the P06 toggle ("Period 6 locked."). A colleague in accounts tries to issue a demand dated 25 September 2026; it is refused with "Period 6 of 2026-27 is locked". The demand is re-dated 1 October and issues.
Closing the year. In April 2027 she presses Open next year ("Fiscal year 2027-28 opened with 12 periods."), clears the two remaining draft vouchers, and presses Close year on FY 2026-27. For the year, income ledgers show credit balances of ₹4,50,00,000.00 (4100), ₹12,00,000.00 (4130) and ₹1,50,000.00 (4600), and expense ledgers debit balances of ₹2,10,00,000.00 (5160), ₹36,00,000.00 (5100), ₹9,00,000.00 (5200) and ₹24,00,000.00 (5500). The closing journal JV-0210 dated 31 March 2027 reads:
| Ledger | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| 4100 Sale Revenue - Units | ₹4,50,00,000.00 | |
| 4130 Other Charges Recovered - Buyers | ₹12,00,000.00 | |
| 4600 Interest Income - Other | ₹1,50,000.00 | |
| 5160 Contractor Work Bills | ₹2,10,00,000.00 | |
| 5100 Displacement Rent Expense | ₹36,00,000.00 | |
| 5200 Brokerage Expense | ₹9,00,000.00 | |
| 5500 Salaries and Wages | ₹24,00,000.00 | |
| 3200 Profit & Loss Account | ₹1,84,50,000.00 |
Income 4,63,50,000 − expense 2,79,00,000 = a profit of ₹1,84,50,000.00, credited to 3200. The toast reads "FY 2026-27 closed: profit of 1,84,50,000.00, 14 opening balances written." FY 2027-28's openings now hold every balance-sheet ledger's closing figure, 3200 among them at ₹1,84,50,000.00 Cr, and all twelve periods of 2026-27 are locked. The profit and loss for 2026-27 still shows the same ₹1,84,50,000.00 net profit; the trial balance for the year now ends with the income and expense ledgers at zero and 3200 at ₹1,84,50,000.00 Cr.
A week later an auditor finds an unposted contractor bill for March. The accountant presses Reopen year ("FY 2026-27 reopened; 12 periods unlocked."), which posts JV-0211 reversing JV-0210 and clears the 2027-28 openings, posts the bill, and closes the year again; the new closing journal and openings reflect the lower profit.
Where you see it
- Fiscal years: years, the period toggles, Open next year, Close year, Reopen year.
- Opening balances: per year, with the Difference tile.
- Books overview and Books: the current year, Books begin on and Fiscal year starts in.
- New voucher, Voucher and Vouchers: "FY <name>, period <n>", the "Period locked" badge, and the posting refusals.
- Demand and Payment: automatic postings that hit the same locks.
- Period balances: the cache and Rebuild balances.
- Trial balance, Profit & loss, Balance sheet, Ledger report: where openings and the closing journal show, or are excluded.
Related
Related
- Fiscal yearsScreen
The fiscal years of a set of books with their 12 monthly periods: lock or unlock a month, open the next year, and close or reopen a year at year end.
- Opening balancesScreen
The balances brought forward into a fiscal year, one amount and side per ledger, typed in one table and saved as a whole, with running debit and credit totals.
- Books overviewScreen
The home page of one set of books: its company and settings, counts, fiscal years, and shortcuts to the chart of accounts, vouchers, reports and opening balances, with the actions to rename, deactivate or delete the books.
- BooksScreen
The list of every set of books in your organization, one per promoter company, with the actions to set up books for a company, open a set or delete one.
- VoucherScreen
One voucher with its lines and bill allocations, its reversal links, its history, and the actions to post, reverse, cancel or delete it.
- New voucherScreen
Enter a manual voucher (receipt, payment, journal, contra, sales, purchase, credit note or debit note) with its lines and bill allocations, and save it as a draft or post it straight away.
- VouchersScreen
Every voucher in the chosen set of books (drafts, posted, reversed and cancelled), with filters and the menu to start a new voucher.
- Period balancesScreen
The stored month-by-month opening, movement and closing of one ledger, used as a cross-check, with the action to rebuild it for the whole set of books.
- Trial balanceScreen
Opening, period debit and credit and closing per ledger or per group for a fiscal-year range, on a grid you can sort, resize and filter by column, with the report's totals in the footer and CSV export.
- Profit & lossScreen
Income against expense for a range inside one fiscal year, with gross profit, net profit or loss, and CSV export.
- Balance sheetScreen
Assets against liabilities and equity as of a date, with the year's profit to date carried into equity and a check that the two sides agree.
- Ledger reportScreen
The ledger of one account between two dates: opening balance, every posting with a running balance, and closing balance, with CSV export.
- DemandScreen
One demand: the installments it bills, its amounts with GST, the expected TDS and what is payable in money, the receipts and TDS credits against it and how the money is placed on the charges, with the actions to edit, issue, cancel or delete it.
- PaymentScreen
One receipt or payout: its details, amounts and allocations, and the actions to clear it, bounce it, cancel it, edit it or delete it.
- Books, the active books switcher and cost centresConcept
A set of books is the ledger of one promoter company: every posting for a project lands in its promoter's books, every accounting screen works on the one set chosen in the Books switcher, and cost centres inside the books (usually one per project with a child per tower) let the ledger and reports be cut by project.
- Vouchers, reversals and system vouchersConcept
A voucher is the only way an amount enters the ledger: a dated header with balanced debit and credit lines, editable as a Draft, numbered and frozen when posted, corrected only by a mirrored reversal; demands, payments, commissions, benefit accruals, cancellations, revenue runs and the year-end close post their own system vouchers the same way.
- The chart of accounts: templates, books copies, nature and system rowsConcept
The organization keeps one master chart (group templates, ledger templates and default mappings) and every set of books holds its own copy of it; each group carries a nature (asset, liability, equity, income, expense) and a Direct flag that feeds gross profit, a few system rows are locked, codes are never reused, and the Consolidated report adds the books up by the template each ledger came from.