Year-end accounting close

The year-end close is the process of cancelling the income, expense and cost accounts of a fiscal year and transferring net profit (or loss) to retained earnings. It’s a mandatory step before starting to operate the next fiscal year.

contable.io automates the close with a wizard that generates the closing entry, confirms it and locks the period to prevent further changes.

Before you start

Before running the close, verify that:

• All transactions for the year are recorded and confirmed (no drafts or provisionals pending).
• Banks are reconciled through Dec 31.
• Physical inventory matches system inventory (adjust if needed).
• Year depreciations have been run and confirmed.
• Taxes and withholdings for the last period are filed and paid.
• Trial balance at Dec 31 balances (total debits = total credits).

Important: after the close, the period is locked. You won’t be able to record transactions dated in the closed year unless you reopen the period (reversible but audited).

Step 1: Verify pre-close balances

1. Go to Reports → Income statement filtered to the year you’ll close.
2. Note the net profit or loss the report shows.
3. Go to Reports → Trial balance at Dec 31 and verify it balances.
4. If there’s an imbalance detected, do NOT continue. Resolve the imbalance first (orphan accounts, unbalanced entries, pending depreciations).

Step 2: Run the close wizard

1. Go to Accounting → Period close → Year-end close.
2. Pick the fiscal year to close.
3. Pick the earnings destination account:
   • For net profit, it goes to 360505 — Earnings of the period or whatever your PUC uses.
   • For net loss, it goes to 361005 — Losses of the period.
4. Review the summary the system shows:
   • Total income (class 4) to cancel.
   • Total expenses (class 5) to cancel.
   • Total costs (class 6/7) to cancel.
   • Computed net profit or loss.
5. Tap Generate closing entry.

The system creates a special accounting voucher (type: CC_CIERRE) with all offsetting entries. You can review it before confirming.

Step 3: Confirm and lock the period

After reviewing the closing voucher:

1. Tap Confirm close.
2. The voucher moves to confirmed status and accounting movements are applied.
3. The year period automatically moves to CLOSED.
4. The system blocks any future entry dated in the closed year.

Step 4: Verify post-close balances

After the close:

• Balance sheet at Jan 1 of the new year: should show equity updated with the closed-year profit/loss.
• Income statement at Jan 1: should be all zeros (every P&L account cancelled).
• Trial balance at Jan 1: only balance-sheet accounts (classes 1, 2, 3) should appear.

Reopen a closed period

If you find an error after the close and need to modify something in the closed year:

1. Go to Accounting → Period close.
2. Pick the closed period.
3. Tap Reopen period.
4. Justify the reason (logged for audit).
5. Make the correction.
6. Run the close again for the period.

Reopening a period is an audited action and should be exceptional. Always coordinate with your accountant before doing it.

Common errors

• “Cannot close: balance does not match.” Unbalanced entries or orphan accounts. Review the detailed trial balance.
• “There are provisional transactions.” Confirm or void drafts before closing.
• “Period already closed.” Someone else ran the close. Check with the team.

See also

• (Spanish article) Plan de cuentas
• (Spanish article) Comprobantes contables