In Manager, closing an accounting period is not required, but a lock date can be set to prevent any changes that affect financial ledgers on or before a desired date.
Go to the Settings tab and click Lock Date:
Check the box to Lock accounting periods and enter the desired lock date. Then click Update. A closed lock icon will appear at the top of the Manager window:
Clicking on the icon will take you back to the Lock Date page in the Settings tab.
Example
Maria wants to prevent any changes to financial statements before 1 January 2021. She sets the lock date to 31 December 2020:
If you try to edit or delete any transaction dated on or before the lock date, a warning message like this will appear:
You can temporarily remove the lock date if you need to edit or delete a transaction by clicking on the lock icon. If you uncheck the box, the lock date is removed and the icon disappears. However, if you leave the box checked, but delete the date, an open lock icon appears. Enter the lock date again when you have completed the changes to previously locked transactions.
Notes
Lock Date is useful in multi-user editions of Manager to prevent typical restricted users from modifying locked transactions. Withhold access to the Lock Date feature to prevent them from unlocking restricted transactions and changing data. For administrators or restricted users with full access, the feature will still act as a reminder to prevent accidental data modification. They will need to deliberately remove the lock date before changing protected data.
The best practice for temporarily suspending the lock date depends on who is authorized to make such changes and whether they will know the desired lock date. Unchecking the box removes all visual evidence of a lock date. You need to navigate back to the Lock Date page to recheck the box. But the date will still be in place. Deleting the date places a visual reminder on every page so you can more quickly navigate back to the Lock Date page. But you must re-enter the date to reactivate the lock.
The lock date does not prevent modification of descriptions, notes, and so forth. Nor does it prevent pending bank transactions from being cleared.