Year-End Close in TouteGestion: Checks, Soft Close, Hard Close and Reopen
TouteGestion treats year-end close as a governed accounting process rather than a checkbox. Finance first configures the equity destination for the annual result, runs retained pre-close controls, locks normal posting through Soft Close, completes controlled year-end adjustments, and only then uses Hard Close to create the closing accounting entry.
What closing a fiscal year actually means
Closing a year protects the reporting boundary between one fiscal year and the next. In TouteGestion it also formalises the transfer of the year's income-and-expense result into the organisation's configured retained-earnings, accumulated-fund or accumulated-surplus equity account. Closing therefore affects both posting control and the ledger; it is not simply marking a year 'finished'.
1. Configure the retained-earnings or accumulated-fund account
Before Hard Close can transfer the annual result, Organization settings must identify the equity account that represents retained earnings, accumulated fund or the equivalent concept used by the organisation. This makes the close internationally adaptable rather than forcing one account name or country-specific account code.
2. Create and review the fiscal-year structure
The Fiscal years area records the year start/end dates, regular accounting periods and a separately named year-end adjustment period. Regular periods control operational posting. The adjustment period exists so authorised Finance users can complete year-end adjustment journals after normal periods have been locked.
3. Run the pre-close control checklist
TouteGestion creates a retained close run and evaluates controls as blockers or warnings. The screen records each control, severity, pass/fail state, affected item count and explanation. Blockers must be resolved before the close transition can proceed. Warnings require deliberate review but do not silently change the ledger.
4. Soft Close locks normal operational periods
Soft Close reruns the controls, then closes the regular periods while keeping the year-end adjustment period available. This prevents ordinary back-dated operational posting from moving a year that Finance is finalising, while still allowing properly classified adjustment journals through the controlled journal workflow.
5. Complete and post year-end adjustments
Finance can use the adjustment period for authorised accruals, corrections and other year-end entries. Those journals still follow the journal lifecycle: balanced draft, dimensions/FX controls where relevant, submission/approval where configured, and controlled posting. Soft Close is therefore not permission to bypass normal journal governance.
6. Hard Close creates the real closing entry
When adjustments are complete, Hard Close reruns the blockers, closes the adjustment period and creates the accounting entry that transfers the annual profit or loss to the configured equity account. The UI requires explicit confirmation that year-end adjustments are complete before this action. The resulting closing journal remains linked to the close run for auditability.
7. Close history is retained as evidence
TouteGestion keeps close runs, control results, calculated year result, closing-journal reference, completion timestamps and—if a reopen occurs—the reopening journal and reason. This lets reviewers understand not only that a year is closed, but how the close was evaluated and what accounting entry resulted.
8. Reopening a hard-closed year is controlled
Reopening requires dedicated fiscal-year reopen authority and a mandatory reason. TouteGestion does not simply unlock the whole year. It creates a reversing entry for the generated closing journal and reopens only the adjustment period; regular operational periods remain locked. Corrections can then be handled as controlled adjustments without erasing the original close history.
Worked example
Assume an organisation's 2026 year ends on 31 December. Finance configures its Accumulated Fund equity account, runs the close checklist and resolves all blockers. Soft Close locks the normal 2026 periods. An authorised accountant then posts a year-end accrual through the adjustment period. Finance reruns the controls and Hard Closes the year; TouteGestion posts the closing entry transferring the final annual result to Accumulated Fund. If an auditor later identifies a material year-end adjustment, a user with reopen authority records the reason, TouteGestion reverses the generated close entry and reopens only the adjustment period so the correction can be posted transparently.
What this changes for reports
After Hard Close, the generated equity-transfer journal becomes part of the ledger. Financial reporting can therefore distinguish the carried-forward closed-year result from current-period earnings after the hard-close boundary. Because the close is journal-backed, users can trace the reported position instead of relying on an invisible year-end reset.
Practical configuration checklist
- fiscal-year dates and period structure verified
- retained-earnings/accumulated-fund equity account configured
- pre-close checklist run
- all blockers resolved
- warnings reviewed and documented
- Soft Close completed before year-end adjustments
- adjustment journals approved and posted
- Hard Close explicitly confirmed
- closing journal and annual result reviewed
- reopen used only with dedicated authority and recorded reason
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