How do I close the prior years books to send to the accountant?

Hello,

I have few confusions regarding the closing of books and will explain with example.

Scenario 1

Suppose today is 1 January 2019

My first fiscal month is January

If I go in the settings and close the books at 31 Dec 2018. so all the expenses and revenue will be Zero and go to their respective accounts?

Scenario 2,

Suppose today is 25 Nov 2018

My first fiscal month is January

If I go in the settings and close the books by giving date 24 Nov 2018, so all the expenses and revenue will be Zero and go to their respective accounts?

or

will the balances be transferred automatically on 1st January 2019

Thank you for further explaining your concern, rameez KButt.

Allow me to share some insight about closing books in QuickBooks Desktop.

The expenses and revenue will be zeroed out and will go to their respective account at the end of the year. While your net profit or loss into your Retained Earnings account. Your Retained Earnings account shows the total of your company's income and expenses from all previous years.

Closing of books through the accounts and settings only protects the transactions from being edited or deleted.

Here are the following articles to learn more about closing books and retained earnings in QuickBooks:

• How to view Retained Earnings account details.
• Close the books.

That's it. Should you have anything else you'd like to go over, feel free to reach out to us again. I'm always here to assist you further.

what if i just closed the fiscal year 2017 today (don't ask :) ), how long does it take for my accounts to be zeroed out?  once i do that, i'll need to repeat the cycle to close 2018, and one 2018 is complete i should be able to put the next date in for 2019, correct?  thank you!

jenn

Thank you for checking in with us, jennifer m.

Allow me to share a little information about closing the books in QuickBooks Online.

QuickBooks Online automatically closes out your Income and Expense accounts and rolls up your net profit or loss into your Retained Earnings account.

In QuickBooks, closing the books lets you set a password for a closed book. 

To close the books:

1. In the upper-right corner, click the Company name (gear icon).
2. Select Account and Settings.
3. Go to the Advanced tab,
4. Under the Accounting section, put a checkmark in the Close the books box.
5. Enter the Closing date.
6. Set whether or not a password is needed to change closed transactions.
7. Click Save.
8. Click Done.

For more insights, check out these recommended articles:

• How to close the books.
• https://quickbooks.intuit.com/community/Reports-and-accounting/How-to-view-Retained-Earnings-account....

Keep me posted if you have other concerns. I'll be around to help.

Hi,

I just followed the instructions to close out the books, and then went into my journal entries to see what QB had done. Apparently not one change had been made, nothing was zeroed out. No journal entries found related to this.

So...what exactly am I supposed to notice when I "close out the books" by clicking that option?

Thanks!

Greetings, Wisdom Ways.

I'm here to provide additional clarification about closing books in QuickBooks.

At this time, you won't be seeing any changes, asides from QuickBooks asking you to enter a password if you try to edit transactions prior to the Closing Date. QuickBooks will only zero out your Income and Expenses and roll up your net profit or loss into your Retained Earnings account at the end of the year. For more information about this, I recommend following this article: How to close the books

I hope that clears everything up. Please let me know if there's anything else you need, I want to make sure you're taken care of. Thanks for reaching out, wishing you and your business the best.

---

@AldrinS wrote:

 

 

 QuickBooks will only zero out your Income and Expenses and roll up your net profit or loss into your Retained Earnings account at the end of the year.

 

---

I am surprised that this answer is saying that QuickBooks will zero out your Income and Expenses at the end of the year. This is blatantly incorrect and misleading.

Nothing is zeroed out in QB when you check the "Close the books" box in Settings, ever.   All that happens  is that if a user attempts to add or edit a transaction dated before the date entered in the Closing Date box, a warning will be displayed, and if a password is entered, a password will be required. 

In QB, the dynamic Retained Earnings and Net Income amounts are recalculated every time you run a balance sheet, depending on the time period of the balance sheet , and the fiscal year entered in Settings.

Hi James,

I followed all the steps. However, I did not see the Close the books checkbox for me to click. Could you advise? Thank you!

I see that this is a duplicate post, Abby7700.

I've answered your post with the same concern. Please refer to this link:

https://quickbooks.intuit.com/community/Reports-and-accounting/How-to-lock-closed-periods/m-p/271555...

You're always welcome to post anytime if you need our help. 

The did that same thing, set a closing date of 06/30/2018 after realizing a closing date was never entered.  This company's fiscal year is 07/01 through 06/30.  I am trying to get their books in order for 07/01/2018 - 06/30/2019.  After I set the closing date to 06/30/2018 so that the beginning balances for income and expense accounts would be zero starting 07/01/2018 nothing happened.  The balances rolled over.  Is there a way to get that to work?

Sara

Hello there, @SaraLyn7336.

When you set the closing date of your accounts in QuickBooks Online, it will not zero out your beginning balance. Instead, it closes out your Income and Expense accounts and rolls up your net profit or loss as your Retained Earnings.

If you want to zero out the beginning balance, you can create a journal entry. Here's how:

1. Click the Plus Icon (+).
2. Choose Journal Entry.
3. Fill out the fields to create your journal entry.
4. Click Save and Close.

For more detailed steps, you may refer to this article: Create a journal entry.

To learn more, you may check these articles:

• How to close the books

• How to enter a beginning balance for an existing account

Always feel free to get back to us here in the Community if you have other questions. I'm just a few posts away.  

hi,

my name is ahmed and i cannot find the gear.

i am not working with online quick books

Thanks for joining this thread, ahmed rasheed.

QuickBooks Desktop doesn't have a Gear icon. It can only found in QuickBooks Online subscription. 

You don't need to close the books. QuickBooks will automatically create adjustments in the coming year. Your program already puts the value from the Net Income as of the final date on the Balance Sheet and at the bottom of the Profit and Loss.

You can learn more information about closing your books in QBDT in this article: Close your books in QuickBooks Desktop.

If you have any other concerns, you can always post them here.

Hi,

I followed the steps to close the book but "Close the books" option is off and I was not able to turn it on.  Why?  I am a standard user in QBs.  Thank you.

Lulu

Hi, lulu8888.

Closing your books means locking everything entered before the closing date. However, a Standard User doesn't have access rights to perform this action in QuickBooks Online.

The Company or Master Admin has the access rights to close the books. 

You may want to check the following articles to know more about user types in QuickBooks including adding and deleting them:

• User types in QuickBooks Online.
• Add, delete, or change user access.

If there's anything else I can help you with, please let me know. I'd be happy to help.

I keep seeing reference to "entering a password". Am I correct that "Closing the Books" means that if I do enter a password then I may still make changes after the books are closed should an error be found? In other words, it will not really "Lock" the accounts, just warn you that they are complete?

Hey there, @dal1cas2.

You’re on the right track in regards to closing the books. Yes, as long as you select Allow Changes after Viewing a Warning and Entering a Password you then can edit the closed books. 

Closing your books is locking everything entered into QB before the closing the date. This prevents accidental changes to your account. 

Check out these articles about Closing your Books.

Close your books and lock past transactions

Edit your closed books

Come back to the Community, if you have other questions. Take care.

Hi,

I have the same concern with my QB desktop. How to close the previous years. Is it possible to close to prior years? For example. the current year is 2021 can I do the closing for 2018 and 2019? what will happen to the nominal accounts for 2018 and 2019?

Thanks and regards

Hello @jup,

Yes, you can close your books before the calendar year as long as the current one is still open. This means you'll have close prior years in order, from oldest (2018) to the newest (2021).

After closing your accounts, you'll be able to see a journal entry once you review your financial reports. This entry shows the adjustments if there's any, made to your accounts.

In the same manner, here's an article you can read to learn more about how you can close your accounts: How to close your books in QuickBooks Desktop?

On top of that, I've also included this reference for a compilation of articles you can use while working with us: Know where you stand financially.

If there's anything else that I can help you with, please let me know in the comments below. I'll be here to lend a hand.

Hi @JonpriL ,

Thank you very much.

Regards,

This is because closing the books from an accounting standpoint only means locking them for further editing. If you want QB to close the year out then you need to change the dates above where it says close the books to the date of your fiscal year.