Edit a transaction in a closed period
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Sometimes you need to make changes to a transaction that's in a closed period.
To ensure accurate data integrity on the transaction, and audit and historical reporting, editing a transaction can be done only by re-opening the period and making the change.
The Edit option doesn't appear for transactions in closed periods. This is intentional and ensures that GAAP compliance is maintained.
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) is an accounting standard. Set by the standards organizations Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB), and Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF), GAAP ensures uniform and consistent financial reporting across governments, businesses, and noprofit organizations.
GAAP compliance works to make sure that financial reporting is transparent and adheres to well defined rules.
Sage Intacct adheres to these standards when creating workflows that help maintain GAAP compliance.
For example, some accounting software allows editing transactions in closed periods. Sage Intacct requires books to be reopened to make changes. This way, Sage Intacct ensures GAAP compliance, an accurate audit trail, and complete historical reporting.
| Subscription |
Company General Ledger |
|---|---|
| Regional availability |
All regions |
| User type | Business |
| Permissions |
General Ledger: Open book, Close book Transactions: Edit, View, List |
To edit a transaction in a closed period:
- Reopen the book to make changes in a closed period.
- Make the changes.
- Close the book period.
Reopen the book to make changes in a closed period
- Go to General Ledger > All > Books > Open.
- In the To the beginning of the period field, select a period to open.
If a period is locked, you cannot open it without first unlocking it.
- Select application subledgers to open. By selecting specific applications, you do not expose other applications to unintentional changes. If you do not select any applications, Intacct opens the books but not any subledgers. If the transaction touches a subledger, make sure to open that subledger.
- If you’re at the top level in a multi-entity shared company, you see the Entity or entity group field. In this field, you can specify entities for which you want to open books (specify a single entity, an entity group, or all subordinate entities).
After an entity is opened, you can post transactions from the top level or entity. In other words, opening the books at the top level for a specific entity opens the books at the top and entity level but only for the entity that you specified.
For example, if you open a period without specifying an entity, Intacct opens the books and the Accounts Payable subledger for all entities. Alternatively, if you do specify an entity or entity group, Intacct opens the books and Accounts Payable subledger only for the specified entities.
- Select Open.
Make the changes
Make any changes to a transaction. How you do this depends on the transaction that you're changing.
For example, to edit a transaction in AP, AR, or Cash Management, you would open the appropriate journal, make the edit, and save your changes.
For a statistical account transaction change, you would open the appropriate statistical journal.
Close the book to save the changes in the closed period
- Go to General Ledger > All > Books > Close.
The Close Books page appears.
- In the To the end of period field, select the period you want to close.
If you’re using custom accounting periods, the reporting period that you select in the To the end of period field might not close the books on the last day of the reporting period.
When you close a book, the close date is the last day of the accounting period in which the reporting period ends. The exception is when that last day of the accounting period is a future date. For example:
Your accounting periods are based on a monthly calendar, so they include the following periods:
March 1 to March 31
April 1 to April 30.
You use weekly reporting periods.
On April 25, you select the reporting period that ends on April 19 when you close a book.
The end date, April 19, falls within the accounting period that ends on April 30. But because April 30 is a future date, the book close date will be the last day of the prior accounting period, which is March 31.
If the reporting period is not listed, you can add it on the Reporting Period page. For details, see Create reporting periods. - If you're at the top level (in a multi-entity shared company), you can close periods for a specific Entity or entity group.
If you do not specify anything in the Entity or entity group field, periods are closed for all entities.
If you close a period at the top level, it's also closed at the entity level, so you cannot post transactions to the closed period from either level. If you close the period for a specific entity, it's closed only for that entity. For example, you select a period to close and you select an entity. The period is closed at both the top level and the entity level, but only for the selected entity. - Select Close books.
Adjusting journal entries
There could be cases where re-opening the book is not feasible. In this case, use an adjusting entry to add, edit, and reverse transactions to an adjustment journal. To add an adjusting journal entry, the books must be closed. For more, see Add an adjusting journal entry to a closed book.
