End of the financial year

At the end of a financial year, income and expense accounts have done their job: they describe a period that is now over. Closing the year sweeps their balances into equity so the next year starts them at zero, and what they earned or cost is preserved as retained earnings.

Closing the year

1. Choose Book ▸ Close Financial Year…
2. Set the closing date and pick the equity account to close into — Retained Earnings, typically.
3. Read the preview: it names how many accounts will be closed, and the totals per currency.
4. Post it. Undo takes the whole closing back in one step; a book with more than one currency gets one closing entry per currency.

The papers

The Financial Year Pack (in Reports) gathers the statements tax time asks for into one document. Reports ▸ Financial Summary (Passport)… is the different, shorter thing: a single page — net worth, savings rate, the twelve-month trend — for when someone needs a picture of your position rather than your accounts. It says on its face that it is a snapshot prepared from your own records, not a verified statement.