A fiscal year is the 12-month accounting calendar your books run on. Most organizations align it with the calendar year (1 Jan – 31 Dec), but Solavel supports any start date.
A period is a sub-range of a fiscal year — typically a calendar month. Posting into a period is allowed only while the period is open. Locking a period prevents further postings; closing it also rolls forward the period-end balances.
Lock dates exist to give you a clean cut-off for VAT returns, monthly reporting, and audit. Without them, someone could backdate a journal into a period that has already been reported, breaking the comparability of your books. Both pages live under Settings ▸ Accounting Periods ("Fiscal Years" and "Periods").
Step by step
Fiscal years
Create a fiscal year
- Open Settings ▸ Fiscal Years.
- Click New fiscal year.
- Pick a Start date and End date (often 12 months apart). Fiscal years don't have to be exactly 12 months — short or long initial years are allowed.
- Pick a Label (e.g. "FY 2025" or "FY 2024–25").
- Save.
Generate periods
After creating a fiscal year, click Generate periods to slice it into months automatically. You can also create periods by hand, but most organizations won't need to.
Lock a fiscal year
Locks every period inside the year in one click. Locking individual periods afterwards is unnecessary.
Reopen a fiscal year
Reopens every locked period in the year. Reopening is reserved for the workspace owner.
Close a fiscal year
Closing rolls retained earnings, marks the fiscal year as Closed, and prevents reopening unless explicitly forced. The Trial Balance for the year is frozen at this point.
Periods
Browse periods
- Open Settings ▸ Periods. Each row shows the fiscal year, label (e.g. "Jan 2025"), start, end, and status (Open / Locked / Closed).
- The list is sorted newest-first. Filter by fiscal year.
Lock a period
A locked period blocks posting, unposting, and voiding any document dated in the period (invoice, bill, payment, journal, expense). The lock state shows clearly on any document dated inside it.
Reopen a locked period
Use sparingly — reopening for a quick fix and re-locking is fine; reopening to allow regular backdated postings defeats the purpose. Reopening is reserved for the workspace owner.
Close a period
Closing locks the period and additionally writes the period-end carry-forward. This is the strictest state.
Edit or delete a period
Only Open periods can be edited, and only Open periods with no postings can be deleted. A period that contains a posted invoice, bill, or journal cannot be deleted — lock or close it instead.
Lock-date behaviour, in plain English
When a document has a date inside a locked period, the following actions are blocked:
| Action | Blocked? |
|---|---|
| Save as Draft | No (drafts don't post) |
| Edit a Draft | No |
| Post / Approve | Yes |
| Unpost (return to Draft) | Yes |
| Void | Yes |
| Reverse | Yes |
| View / Print PDF | No |
To unblock yourself, ask the workspace owner to Reopen the period, finish the change, then re-lock.
Posted documents themselves are also protected: a posted invoice or bill locks its accounting fields regardless of period state — to change one, unpost, edit the draft, and post again (which needs the period open).
Recurring transactions interact with locks too: a recurring template whose run date falls in a closed period follows its "If period is closed" setting — either the run records as Failed for manual resolution, or the document shifts to the next open period. If a generated draft lands and can't post, reopening the period (or accepting the shifted date) resolves it.
VAT returns interact with locks as well: finalising a VAT return effectively locks the period for that return; cleanly reopening requires un-finalising the return first.
Behaviour and rules
- Periods are independent of VAT returns; locking a period does not file a VAT return.
- The first fiscal year is created automatically by the setup wizard using your country defaults.
- A period that contains posted documents cannot be deleted.
- Unlocking and reopening are reserved for the workspace owner; if the buttons are missing for you, ask your workspace administrator.
Lock vs Close vs Reopen — when to use which
| Action | Effect | Who can do it |
|---|---|---|
| Lock a period | Blocks new postings, unposting, and reversing into that period. Drafts stay editable. Reversible via Reopen | Workspace owner |
| Close a period | A harder lock — typically used after a full period-end review. Rolls month-end totals into year-to-date | Workspace owner, or an accountant granted access |
| Reopen a period | Reverts a Closed or Locked period back to Open, allowing posting | Workspace owner only |
Common pattern: post all activity → run a base-currency adjustment → finalise the VAT return → Lock the month → leave Close for year-end.
Common mistakes
- "Posting is blocked but the period looks open." Check the fiscal year — locking the year locks every period inside it.
- "I can't unlock." Unlocking and reopening are reserved for the workspace owner. Ask them, or ask your workspace administrator about access.
- VAT return blocked by closed period. Once a VAT return is finalised, postings into its period are blocked even if the period itself isn't formally locked. Edit the VAT return back to Draft (with the right access) to unblock.
- "Reverse failed — original period is locked." Reverse posts a mirror journal on the reverse date, not the original date. Pick a reverse date in an open period.
- "My recurring run failed." Its run date fell in a closed period with "Fail (manual resolution)" selected. Reopen the period or regenerate once the schedule shifts — see Recurring transactions.
Related
- Setup wizard — initial fiscal-year creation.
- Journal entries, Invoices, Bills, Payments, Expenses — every posting respects the period lock.
- Recurring transactions — the "If period is closed" setting.
- Taxes and VAT — VAT-return interaction with locks.
- Base currency adjustments — run before locking month-end.
- Reports — most reports default to "Posted only" so locked-period numbers stay frozen.