Can we open and close each of the 12 fiscal months contained within a fiscal year? This concept is available in ERP systems. We are using Quickbooks Online.

Hi there, 

Running a business is a lot of hard work, and choosing QuickBooks Online to help you manage your bookkeeping is a great choice! You'll save tons of time by taking advantage of all the convenience of an online program. Closing the books to a fiscal period is so important for your organization. I'd be happy to explain how this would work in QBO.

The Close the Books feature is available in all levels of QuickBooks Online, and works to lock past transactions to avoid errors in your reconciliation. You can choose to close your books monthly if you wish. 

Here's an article that will guide you through the process of closing your books in QBO: Close your books to lock past transactions. 

Here are the steps provided in the article: 

1. Go to Settings ⚙ and then select Accounts and Settings.
2. Select the Advanced tab.
3. Select Edit ✎ in the Accounting section.
4. Select the Close the books checkbox.
5. Enter a closing date. Give yourself a comfortable deadline. You shouldn't need to edit any transactions before this date. Your new bookkeeping work will start after this point.
6. Select the Allow changes after viewing a warning and entering a password option from the drop-down menu if you want to require a password before editing your closed books.
7. Select Save and then Done.

That's all there is to it. I hope this helps get you on the right track. If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to our tech support team.

Have a great day!

To clarify: A period can be any fiscal period within a fiscal year e.g. Jan, Feb, Mar. with a Dec 31 year end. Then Jan can be "closed" to prevent posting, leaving Feb and Mar "open" for current and future postings. There is a procedure to "re-open" Jan if required.

Does the Jan, Feb, Mar closing affect Retained Earnings?

Hello HCF,

You are correct. QuickBooks Online gives you the flexibility to select any range of periods to be closed, and you can come back to re-open if needed. The feature doesn't affect your data in the system other than protecting from any editing in your books. 

I hope this helps clarifies things for you. Feel free to stop by if you have more questions.