---
id: CON-ACC-CLS-001
name: Fiscal Period
feature: FEAT-ACC-CLS-01
product_area: accounting
module: close
revision: 1
status: draft
product_intent: proposed
implementation_evidence: observed
source_sha:
  services-accounting: f47cb263875bbc0c5640fba7dae6785ec32695f8
  react-console: baf6dae382d6f41dce976c7f848667ccc37e076f
definition: >-
  A fiscal period is a business unit’s monthly posting interval with an open,
  closing, closed or reopening boundary.
owned_by: MOD-ACC-BKS
synonyms:
  - month
  - accounting period
  - period
not_to_be_confused_with:
  - Calendar generation and maintenance owned by Books.
  - Individual batch states describing document acceptance and posting.
facets:
  - name: Closing state
    meaning: >-
      The period’s state controls ordinary posting availability and identifies
      unfinished execution.
    used_for: Recognizing whether postings or recovery can proceed.
  - name: Current selection
    meaning: The earliest period still not closed directs normal closing work.
    used_for: Selecting the next period across fiscal years.
  - name: Close details
    meaning: 'The closed month identifies its closer, timestamp and run.'
    used_for: Reviewing completion and reaching the retained record.
  - name: Completed corrections
    meaning: The count records successful returns to open after closing.
    used_for: Recognizing repeated corrections at a glance.
  - name: Sequence
    meaning: Period dates establish the forward close and backward reopen order.
    used_for: Assessing action eligibility.
  - name: Posting protection
    meaning: >-
      The shared period boundary rejects ordinary postings and routes eligible
      late effects forward.
    used_for: Protecting completed accounting intervals.
  - name: Year standing
    meaning: The year’s status follows its periods and uses its last close details.
    used_for: Reviewing fiscal-year completion.
relationships:
  - to: CON-ACC-CLS-002
    statement: >-
      The selected period provides the context for monthly or fiscal-year
      readiness.
    provenance: observed
    source: >-
      services-accounting:modules/fiscal-close/services/readiness/evaluate-readiness.ts:evaluateReadiness
  - to: CON-ACC-CLS-003
    statement: A close or reopen run retains the period while its work needs protection.
    provenance: test
    source: >-
      services-accounting:modules/fiscal-close/tests/integration/db/fiscal-close.table.integration.spec.js#refuses
      a second queued run of a period, by the active-run index
  - to: CON-ACC-CLS-004
    statement: The period’s closing run provides the reference for its retained evidence.
    provenance: observed
    source: >-
      services-accounting:modules/fiscal-close/services/persistence/fiscal-periods.ts:setPeriodStatus
lifecycle:
  - state: open
    meaning: Ordinary posting can proceed in this interval.
    how_it_changes: 'A close takes the month, or a release returns it to open.'
  - state: closing
    meaning: Close execution protects the month from ordinary posting.
    how_it_changes: >-
      Finalization closes it; release opens it; a retained failure awaits
      recovery.
  - state: closed
    meaning: The accounting interval has completed closing.
    how_it_changes: An eligible reopen takes it for correction.
  - state: reopening
    meaning: Correction execution is reversing close-owned work.
    how_it_changes: >-
      Completion opens the month and counts the reopen; eligible cancellation
      restores the close details.
acted_on_by:
  - CAP-ACC-CLS-001
  - CAP-ACC-CLS-002
  - CAP-ACC-CLS-003
  - CAP-ACC-CLS-008
  - CAP-ACC-CLS-010
  - CAP-ACC-CLS-011
visible_to:
  - ACT-ACC-015
  - ACT-ACC-006
  - ACT-ACC-007
evidence:
  - >-
    services-accounting examination inputs:
    modules/fiscal-close/services/persistence/fiscal-periods.ts,
    services/rules/transitions.ts, period-sequence.ts,
    services/readiness/close-calendar.ts;
    modules/books/db/fiscal-periods.table.ts (read to name the owner of the
    calendar); modules/batches/services/posting-period-guard.ts (the lock's
    enforcement); docs/fiscal-close/README.md §2 (L1, L6, L8, L10, L11) and
    evidence/01-legacy-close-rules.md.
  - >-
    react-console examination inputs:
    components/accounting/close/period-selector.tsx, close-history.tsx;
    lib/accounting/close/checks.ts.
supersedes: []
---

# Fiscal Period

## What It Is

A fiscal period is the monthly accounting interval for a business unit. Books supplies its dates and its place in a twelve-month fiscal year. Month-End Close manages the closing state attached to that interval. Staff recognize the period by its month label and business unit, even when different units use different fiscal-year starts.

The period is the boundary against which posting and closing are judged. It begins open. Taking it for a close makes it closing, and successful finalization makes it closed. Taking a closed period for correction makes it reopening until the correction boundary is ready to accept postings again. The calendar retains close details for a closed month and counts completed reopens.

A customer with several business units can therefore have different closing progress for the same calendar month. The calendar’s current period means the earliest period that is not closed, rather than the month containing today. When every generated period is closed, there is no current period to select.

## What It Is Not

The period’s close state does not describe an individual batch’s readiness. A batch can stop accepting documents while its period remains open, and it can still need posting. The fiscal calendar is also a separate responsibility: Books creates, names and removes eligible years. Closing changes the period’s accounting boundary rather than creating another calendar.

## How It Is Used

A controller selects a business unit and inspects its current month. The month selector helps them revisit earlier closes, and Close History provides the context for later review. Before acting, they inspect readiness and the available actions. A correction starts with an eligible reopen request, followed by the correction’s posting and another close.

Transaction staff encounter the period through posting refusals. They need an open posting date when ordinary work reaches a protected month. Reconciliation has its own late-effect handling, carrying eligible effects into a later open month. A failed run can retain a transitional state, so a month described as closing may require recovery rather than more waiting.

## Its Facets

**Closing state.** The four states describe whether ordinary postings are possible and whether a close or reopen is working on the month. A transitional state can outlast a failed job.

**Current selection.** The earliest unfinished month directs normal closing work. This selection spans fiscal-year boundaries and disappears when the generated calendar is entirely closed.

**Close details.** The closed period records its closer, time and associated run. Reopening clears the close stamp while retaining historical evidence elsewhere.

**Completed corrections.** The reopen count provides a compact indication that a period has returned to open after a close.

**Sequence.** Dates establish earlier and later periods across years, keeping action eligibility independent of year names.

**Posting protection.** The period boundary is shared with Batch management and Reconciliation. Close-owned work uses restricted exceptions to ordinary posting protection.

**Year standing.** The fiscal year follows its periods. Its final month supplies the displayed closing details when the whole year is closed.

## How It Relates

Readiness evaluates the selected period. A run changes its state and retains the execution result. A successful close’s record preserves the evaluation on which that execution proceeded. Books remains the owner of the underlying calendar, while the other accounting modules consume the closing boundary for their posting work.

## What It Could Become

The product should consider business-unit-specific action grants when Platform supports that scope. It should also decide whether creating a batch with a protected date needs an earlier refusal. Alternative calendar structures require a Books decision before closing can adopt them. Any extension needs to preserve a clear distinction between the monthly boundary and the separate records posted within it.
