Close a fiscal period

A period close (Dutch: periodeafsluiting) turns a running ledger into auditable financial history. Once a period is closed, postings dated inside it are rejected, so the figures behind your VAT return and financial statements can no longer change silently. Shillinq runs this as a guided close with an AI-powered close assistant that flags incomplete work before you freeze the period.

The close lifecycle

Every period moves through four states:

State	What it means	Who can act
Open	Postings dated in the period are accepted.	Anyone with posting rights
Closing	The close checklist is being worked through.	Period closer
Closed	Frozen — new postings are rejected. Still reversible.	Period closer (reopen) / Auditor (lock)
Audit locked	Irreversibly frozen after auditor sign-off.	Nobody — terminal

The flow is open → closing → closed → audit-locked. closed is reversible by a period closer; audit-locked is permanent.

Step 1 — Open the period detail

Open Bookkeeping → Period Close and click the period you want to close. The detail page shows the period dates and fiscal year, the lifecycle state, the close checklist, the close-assistant flags, and the close/reopen audit trail.

Step 2 — Review the close assistant

The AI close assistant scans the ledger and surfaces warnings for incomplete pre-close tasks:

Category	What it detects
AP	Open accounts-payable transactions (unposted invoices/dunning notices) in the period.
AR	Open accounts-receivable transactions not yet collected or provisioned.
Bank	Bank statements with movements that have no matching general-ledger posting.
Expense claims	Expense claims awaiting approval or reimbursement.

These flags are warnings, not blockers — you review them and resolve the underlying records (or accept the position) before closing. The mandatory checklist items (AP and AR) must be marked resolved before the period can move from closing to closed.

Step 3 — Start and complete the close

1. With the period open, click Start close — the state becomes closing.
2. Work the checklist until every mandatory (AP, AR) item is resolved.
3. Click Close period. Shillinq records the close timestamp and your user id in the audit trail, and the state becomes closed.

From now on, any attempt to post a transaction dated inside the period is rejected with "Period {periodId} is closed; reopen required for corrections".

Step 4 — Reopen for a correction (if needed)

If you must post a correction into a closed period:

1. Click Reopen on the period detail.
2. Enter a close reason (for example "Posted correction for invoice #2026-0042"). The reason is required.
3. Confirm. The state returns to open, and the original close timestamp + actor are preserved in the reopen history alongside your reason.

Reopening is an elevated action — only a period closer may do it, and every reopen is audit-trailed.

Step 5 — Lock for audit

When the period is finalised and ready for sign-off, an auditor clicks Lock for audit on a closed period. This sets the audit-lock timestamp and actor and moves the period to audit locked.

Audit lock is irreversible

Once a period is audit-locked it can never be reopened. Late corrections after audit-lock require a compensating journal in the next open period — this matches the behaviour of Exact, AFAS, and Twinfield.

Roles

Role	Can do
Period closer	Start close, close, reopen (with reason)
Auditor	Lock a closed period for audit
Administrator	Any transition (Nextcloud admin default)

Buttons you are not allowed to use are hidden on the detail page.

What is not covered here

Year-end close — opening-balance journal generation and retained-earnings rollover — is a separate workflow planned for a later release. This page covers the monthly and quarterly close cycle.