Overview 

Accounting Seed allows you to control the posting or unposting of transactions to the GL by opening and closing Accounting Periods. Two close types are available: Hard Close and Soft Close, with each offering a different level of restriction depending on your needs.

Hard Close

A Hard Close locks the entire Accounting Period, preventing any transactions from being posted or unposted for that period. Use a Hard Close when you need to fully seal a period and update opening balances for the next period. The Status field denotes the period's current position: open, closed, open in progress, close in progress or archived. 

Key behaviors:

• Displays a status of Close in Progress until complete
• Updates opening balances in the next period
• Locks the period from all posting and unposting
• Updates aging records for Billings and Payables (if Period Sensitive Aging is enabled)
• Updates Inventory Quantity Available History (if Inventory Period History is enabled and Orders & Inventory package is installed)
• Closed periods can be reopened to correct past transactions
• Up to 12 periods can be closed at a time, but must be closed in chronological order, oldest first

Soft Close

A Soft Close selectively locks one or more subledgers, AR, AP, and/or Inventory, for a period while leaving the Accounting Period status itself as Open. Use a Soft Close when you need to restrict activity in a specific subledger without fully closing the period. The Close AR, Close AP and Close Inventory checkboxes allow soft closing a period.
Key behaviors:

• Locks only the selected AR, AP or Inventory subledger from posting and unposting
  • 'Close AR' prevents posting/unposting Billings, Cash Receipts, cash applications (Billing Cash Receipt) and credit applications (Billing Credit Memo) for that period.
  • 'Close AP' prevents posting/unposting Payables, Cash Disbursements, cash applications (AP Disbursement) and credit applications (AP Credit Memo) for that period.
  • 'Close Inventory' prevents posting/unposting Inbound Inventory Movements, Outbound Inventory Movements, Manufacturing Inventory Movements, Purchase Order Inventory Movements and Sales Order Inventory Movements for that period.
• Updates aging records for Billings and Payables (if Period Sensitive Aging is enabled)
• Updates Inventory Quantity Available History (if Inventory Period History is enabled)
• Can be applied to any combination of AR, AP, and Inventory either individually or together
• Does not require chronological order, though closing in order is recommended for easier reporting
• Soft Closed periods can be easily reopened to correct past transactions

In the sample screen below the Close AR (Soft Close) has been selected for the Accounting Period Name of 2022-12 and 2023-01. And, the Close AP (Soft Close) has been selected for 2023-01 Accounting Period.

Note: Click here to view the above image in full screen. 

Do you want to:

• Soft Close an Accounting Period(s)
• Hard Close one Accounting Period at a time
• Hard Close up to 12 Accounting Periods at a time
• View Rules that Govern Period Open and Close

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Soft Close an Accounting Period(s)

1. Navigate to Accounting Home and click the Setup tab. Then, under the Ledger menu, click Accounting Periods.
2. Select a list view (other than the Recently Viewed list view) and ensure the Close AR, Close AP and (if you have Inventory) Close Inventory checkboxes are added as columns in the list view. Refer to the Modify Display Fields in a List View article for steps.
3. For a period, select the subledger you want to close by double clicking one of the following Soft Close fields. 
   
4. Click Save.

Hard Close one Accounting Period at a time

1. Navigate to Accounting Home and click the Setup tab. Then, under the Ledger menu, click Accounting Periods.
2. Find the earliest open period on the org and then double click in the Status column of the list view next to the Accounting Period to be closed. Change from Open to Closed. 
3. Click Save. The status of Close in Progress displays until the close process has been completed. This will take a few minutes to complete.
4. Once the Accounting Period close process completes, the Status displays as Closed. An email confirmation that the period has been closed is sent to the email address registered with the Salesforce user who closed the period.

Hard Close up to 12 Accounting Periods at a time

1. From the Open Accounting Periods list view, select the Accounting Periods you want to close.
2. Double click in the Status column of the list view next to one of the selected records. 
   Note: Accounting Periods must be closed in chronological order, oldest first.
3. From the dialog box, select Closed from the drop-down list. Then, select the Update selected items checkbox. 
   
   
   
   
4. Click Apply.
   
   
   
   
5. Click Save.
   The Close in Progress status displays until the save completes. An email confirmation that the period has been closed is sent to the email address registered with the Salesforce user who closed the period.
   

Note: After clicking Save, if an error message displays like the one in the screen capture below, click the Warning icon on a specific line to view the related error message, as in the second screen capture below. 

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Rules that Govern Period Open and Close