A fiscal year is a 12-month period during which the company records and reports its financial transactions. It does not necessarily coincide with the calendar year – a fiscal year can, for example, start on 1 July and end on 30 June the following year.
For newly established companies, the first fiscal year may be shorter or longer than 12 months so that it fits a particular cycle or season.
The financial periods in Sapera govern the framework for the year-end close and make it possible to split the period into sub-periods that can be opened and closed individually. Note that financial periods never affect the entries that are actually posted – they are solely a management tool for future year-end closes and period closing.
Open Financial and select Setup in the left-hand menu. Then click Financial periods.
If you cannot see the menu item, you most likely do not have permission for it. Contact support.
The screen shows an overview of all financial periods that have been created.
Start date: The date on which the fiscal year begins.
End date: The date on which the fiscal year ends.
Current: A check mark in this column indicates which period is the current accounting period. There can only be one current period at a time.
See How to search in lists for more about searching and filtering.
The New button creates a new financial period. The edit panel opens, and the start date is automatically filled in with 1 January of the current calendar year, while the end date is filled in with 31 December of the current calendar year. The button is always available.
The Edit button opens the edit panel for the selected financial period so that you can change dates or the split. The button is only active when a period is selected in the list. You can also double-click a row in the list to open the edit panel.
The Remove button deletes the selected financial period. The button is only active when a period is selected in the list. Use this button to remove fiscal years that were created in error.
The Mark as current button sets the selected period as the current accounting period. The button is only active when a period is selected in the list and when the selected period is not already marked as current. If the selected period is already current, the button is inactive.
The Repair periods button is only visible to administrator users. The button is active when a period is selected in the list, and is used to repair sub-periods (period parts) on the selected financial period if they have become inconsistent. Contact support if you are unsure when this function should be used.
When you click New or Edit, an edit panel opens with the following fields.
Start date: Mandatory field. The date on which the fiscal year begins. When creating a new period, the field is pre-filled with 1 January of the current calendar year.
End date: Mandatory field. The date on which the fiscal year ends. The end date must always be greater than the start date. When creating a new period, the field is pre-filled with 31 December of the current calendar year.
Split: Dropdown field. Determines whether the period should be split into sub-periods. Possible values are:
None – No split. The financial period is treated as one combined period.
Months – The period is split into monthly sub-periods. Splitting by months allows the individual months to be closed once they are completed.
Quarters – The period is split into quarterly sub-periods. Splitting by quarters allows the individual quarters to be closed once they are completed.
Sapera checks two conditions before a financial period can be saved:
The end date must be greater than the start date. If the end date is equal to or earlier than the start date, the error message "End date must be greater than start date" is shown, and the period cannot be saved.
The dates entered must not overlap other existing financial periods. Sapera performs an automatic server-side check, and if there is an overlap, the error message "The dates entered overlap other periods" is shown. Adjust the dates so they do not overlap before saving.
If you have created a financial period split by months or quarters, the individual sub-periods can be opened and closed separately. This is done via the separate menu item Open/close financial periods under Setup. It requires a separate permission and is handled in a different screen than the one described here.
If you have any questions, you are welcome to contact support.
Want to know more?
Read more in these related articles:
Open/close financial periods
Learn how to open and close financial periods in Sapera. The article describes the screen's columns, the button's function and the permissions required to use the feature.
Accounting - Financial periods
This article explains how to create and manage financial periods in Sapera
Accounting - Open/close financial periods
This article explains how to open and close financial periods (year, quarter or month) in Sapera
