In new QuickBooks Online, they have feature called Closing the Books. The main purpose of officially closing the books is to protect transactions in previous periods from being changed. This is done by setting up and requiring a password to edit transactions past a particular date. Both Master and Company Administrators can set the closing date and password:
- From the home page screen, go to the company gear icon (upper right corner) go to Company Settings.
- Click Advanced, and then Accounting.
- Click to mark the Closing The Books checkbox.
- Enter a closing date. Transactions dated on or before the closing date cannot be changed without warning.
- Decide what you want users to see if they try to save a transaction that is dated prior to the closing date:
- Choose Only Warn to make a warning message appear.
- Choose Warn and Require Password to make the user also enter a password. Then enter the password in the two password fields below.
Click Save then Done.
Viewing the transactions that are changed after the closing date:
After you close your books, you may want to track any changes that anyone makes in spite of the closing date warning. The Exceptions to Closing Date report tracks such changes on the Audit Trail page.
- On the left navigation menu, click Reports.
- Select All Reports.
- Select Accountant Reports.
- Click Exceptions to Closing Date and view the report.
Closing the books feature in new QuickBooks Online