Month end closing

Hi there, @zmaleki51.

I hope all is well. You can close your books at the end of every fiscal year or every month. If you choose to close monthly, you can create a closing date and password. This will allow you to set up restricted access for the file, and no changes can be made to your transactions within that month. You'll also want to run the Closing Data Exception report to show all the current and past closing dates and what user closed them. I've included some articles that you'll find helpful in the process:

• Close your books in QuickBooks Desktop
• Set or change a closing date and closing date password

Feel free to reach back out to me here if you have any further questions. I'm always here to help.

Do I have to go into the settings each month and change the closing date?

Hello, nannuge9. 

Yes, you'll want to go into the settings at the end of the month to change the closing date. Although, this isn't actually needed. It just secures your transactions and data prior to the closing date. I'll gladly provide the steps to help you set a closing date: 

1. Open the Company menu, click the Set Closing Date button.
2. Select Set Date/Password.
3. Enter a Closing Date and Closing Date Password.
4. Select OK to close the window.

The best part of manually setting a closing date is that you'll have ample of time to correct your books. Plus, you can also check your records to see if there are transactions that weren't record yet. 

A brief reference about the steps can be found here. 

Additionally, QuickBooks Desktop automatically creates an adjustment at the end of your fiscal year (not the closing date). A detailed explanation can be found in this article: Close your books in QuickBooks Desktop.

Need to reconcile your books before setting a closing date? A guide for the workflow can be found here. If there are other transactions you need to record or if you want to run a report, you can check other articles in this page. 

It's going to be a busy month ahead, so please let me know if there's anything else I can do for you. Here to offer guides and pointers to make your tax-related tasks easier. 

So, our accountant is leaving and she closes month end every month.  My question is, will I need every months passwords or only October's month end password?

There's only one password and you can use it every time you access each month's data, Liftco.

QuickBooks will notify you when you make changes to any transaction under a closed period. You can browse again this link for additional information: Set or change a closing date and closing date password.

Since year-end is fast approaching, I'm adding this article to help you prepare your returns: Year-end checklist for QuickBooks Desktop Payroll. It has a checklist and what other things you need during tax season.

Stay in touch with me if there's anything else I can help you with closing your books. I'll be right here to help you.

Hello there, @VChang. I'm chiming in to share some details about monthly account closing in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

You can close your books monthly in QuickBooks Online. However, you'll have to manually set it up so you get through and use it. I'll be happy to outline the steps below so you can proceed to set up your account, and close your books monthly. To begin, here's how:

1. Choose the Gear icon and select Company Settings.
2. Choose Advanced.
3. In the Accounting section, click on the Edit icon.
4. Check the box labeled Close the books.
5. Enter a closing date. Transactions dated on or before the closing date cannot be changed without warning.
6. Decide what you want users to see if they try to save a transaction that is dated prior to the closing date:

• Choose Allow changes after viewing a warning to make a warning message appear.
• Choose Allow changes after viewing a warning and entering a password to require the user to enter a password as well. Then enter the password in the fields below.

       7. Click Save, then Done.

For further guidelines about closing books in QBO, refer to this article: Close your books in QuickBooks Online.

I've also got you this article in case you'd like to edit your closed books.: Edit your closed books.

Know that you're always welcome to post here again, @VChang if you have any additional QuickBooks-related concerns. I'll be more than happy to assist you once again. Take care, and have a great weekend!