How to Create 2024 Financial Period

The year has come to an end and we want to be of help as you prepare for your company’s goal for next year. We want to ensure that you are maximizing your ERP solution to help you make the best decision for your company's financial health.

With this, we want to share with you five easy steps on how you can create your 2024 financial period: 

Step 1. From the Main Menu, go to Administration > System Initialization > Posting Periods. At the lower right corner of the Posting Periods window, click New Period.

Step 2. In the Posting Period window, properly fill in the following fields.

• Period Code – Input 2024 (Although this field can cater to up to 20 alphanumeric characters, it is recommended to use the Fiscal Year itself)
• Period Name – Input 2024 (Although this field can cater to up to 20 alphanumeric characters, it is recommended to use the Fiscal Year itself)
• Sub-Periods – Select Months (Months is the applicable value here in most cases; however, you may change this based on your company's business need)

          a. Year – Choose this option to manage a single period during a fiscal year. SAP
          Business One will not create additional posting periods automatically when choosing
          this option.

          b. Quarters – Choose this option to manage 4 posting periods during a fiscal year.
          When you choose Quarters, the number 4 is entered automatically in the No. of
          Periods field and SAP Business One create four new posting periods, respectively.

          c. Months – Choose this option to manage 12 posting periods during a fiscal
          year. When you choose Months, the number 12 is entered automatically in the            No. of Periods field, and SAP Business One creates 12 new posting periods,              respectively.

         d. Days – When you choose this option, the No. of Periods field becomes active.
         Enter the number of required posting periods. SAP Business One will then create
         respective periods. For example, if you need to manage one posting period per 
         week, enter 52 in the No. of Periods field. SAP Business One will then create 52                 periods; one for each week.

Note: As stated, Months is the setup applicable in most cases; This will create 12 posting periods beginning January to December. If you are not certain about this, please do give us a ring.

Step 3. Adjust the Dates section according to your company's requirements.

• Posting Date From - The beginning of the Fiscal Year can only be the first day of a month. The Fiscal Year's start is set automatically on the first day of the month that was entered in the “Posting Date From” field. By default, this is set to January 1.
• Document Date - Specify the Document Date range of the new period.
• Due Date - Specify the due date range of the new period. The Due Date range can be longer than the Posting Date range.

Notes:
a. Due Date From and Document Date From can begin earlier than the Posting Date From. This is particularly applicable when we have prior month transactions that have already been accrued in the previous month but whose transaction is expected to be recorded in the current month. For example, the December 2023 electricity bill was not received in December. Hence an accrual was made in December.
Illustration:

• Journal entry for the accrual of Electricity expenses with a corresponding auto reversal in the next period.

Posting date - 12/31/2023
Document date - 12/31/2023
Due Date - 12/31/2023

• Upon receipt of actual billing in 2023, create an AP invoice.

Posting date - 1/3/2024
Document Date - 12/20/2024 (actual date of billing statement)
Due Date - 12/31/2024 (actual due date of billing statement)

b. For the Due Date To, specify the Date based on the latest possible Due Date of your company's payment terms whether for your customers or from your suppliers. For example, the longest payment term is 120 days. Thus, starting December 31, 2024, the Due Date To should be April 30, 2025.

Step 4. Once you have finalized the Date ranges, click Add to create the new periods.

Step 5. LOCK the newly created periods.

By default, SAP sets the Period Status of the newly created periods to Unlocked. To prevent users from posting transactions into the wrong periods, make sure to lock the rest of the periods except for the current ones. To do so, still, in the Posting Periods window, click on the yellow arrow of the Period Code you wish to lock. A new window opens for that specific period. Under the Period Status field, select Locked and click Update. Do this for the rest of the other periods.

Remember: Once a transaction has been posted into the new period, you will no longer be able to delete or edit the Posting Dates.
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Please also refer to the list below in preparation for the closing of books.

If you have questions or concerns, please email us at [e-mail] or
contact us at 0917 715 3495 or 0917 704 7078.