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Manage ledger periods

Admin Treasurer

A ledger period is a span of time — usually a fiscal year, season, or quarter — during which ledger entries are writable. When a period is closed, its entries become read-only and a new period picks up with carry-forward account balances. This keeps your historical books immutable while letting day-to-day bookkeeping continue.

Every organization has one active period at a time. Past periods are preserved for reference, reporting, and audit.

Prerequisites​

  • You need the Ledger: Manage permission (included in Org Admin and Treasurer roles by default).
  • Writes to the ledger — account creation, settlements, scholarships, fund transfers — are rejected if no active period exists.
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Existing orgs that had no period concept when the feature shipped automatically get an Initial Period the first time an account is created. No manual migration is needed.

Open Period Settings​

  1. Sign in and open Ledger from the overflow menu (under Admin).
  2. In the page header, look for the period name badge — the currently selected period.
  3. Click the gear icon next to the badge to open Ledger Period Settings.

If you do not have Ledger: Manage, the gear icon does not appear. Ask your org admin to grant the permission or make the change for you.

Start a New Period​

If your org has no active period (a rare state — usually after the last period was closed without a replacement), the Start New Period button appears in the settings modal.

  1. In Ledger Period Settings, click Start New Period.
  2. Enter a Period Name — something durable like FY 2026–27 or 2026 Fall Season.
  3. Click Create.

The new period becomes active immediately, and ledger writes resume.

Rename the Active Period​

The period name shows up in the header badge, the period history list, and on reports — keeping it clear helps future you.

  1. Open Ledger Period Settings.
  2. In the Rename section, edit the name.
  3. Click Save.

Renames take effect immediately. The period ID and all entries stay intact.

Close the Active Period​

Closing rolls forward balances and starts a new period.

  1. Open Ledger Period Settings.
  2. In the Close Period section, click Close Period.
  3. A confirmation dialog appears. Optionally enter a Next Period Name — leave blank to use the default (typically FY YYYY–YY).
  4. Click Confirm Close.

What happens on close:

  • Every ledger account's ending balance is written as the opening balance of the new period (carry-forward). Your families' balances, fund balances, and org accounts all start the new period with the same number they ended the old one with.
  • The closed period becomes read-only. Historical entries stay visible; no new writes land against it.
  • A new active period is created automatically so day-to-day ledger writes can continue.
  • The action is recorded in the audit log with your user ID and a timestamp.

Settlement-in-progress error​

If any settlement is mid-commit when you try to close, you get a 409 Conflict error and the close is rejected. Let the settlement finish (or reverse it), then try again.

View a Closed Period​

  1. Open Ledger Period Settings.
  2. Under Period History, click any closed period row.
  3. The Ledger page switches to that period. A yellow read-only banner warns you the period is closed and no new entries can be written here.
  4. To return to the current period, click Return to active period in the banner or the modal.
warning

You cannot add, edit, or delete entries in a closed period. If you need to correct a mistake that lives in a closed period, close the active period and re-open the affected one — or record a corrective entry in the active period with a clear note. Talk to your accountant first.

Troubleshooting​

Gear icon is missing — you lack the Ledger: Manage permission. Ask an org admin to assign you the Org Admin or Treasurer role.

Close Period returns 409 — a settlement is in progress. Wait for it to finish or reverse it, then retry.

Writes to the ledger are failing with "no active period" — every period has been closed without a replacement. Open Ledger Period Settings and click Start New Period.

I need to edit a closed period — you cannot. Use a corrective entry in the active period and document the correction in the entry description.

Next Steps​