Fiscal Periods manage the monthly accounting windows within your school district's fiscal year. Each fiscal period corresponds to a calendar month, controlling when bookkeepers can post receipts, record invoices, print checks, and finalize bank reconciliations.
Understanding fiscal periods
Fiscal periods prevent retroactive balance fluctuations. Once a monthly period is locked, transactions cannot be added, edited, or backdated into that period. This ensures that financial statements, board reports, and audited reconciliations remain permanent and verifiable over time.
Opening and closing fiscal periods
Period management in Edlio Accounting is deliberately manual, giving school bookkeepers and district controllers complete oversight over when accounting books close:
Navigate to Settings > Fiscal Periods.
The table lists all 12 monthly periods for the active fiscal year (e.g., Period 1 = July, Period 12 = June).
Each period displays its Status (Open or Closed), Start Date, and End Date.
To close a completed month, click the status toggle or select Close Period.
Month-end grace periods & why auto-close is disabled
Accounting periods do not automatically close on the final calendar day of the month for two operational reasons:
Transactions in Transit: Receipts, sponsor check turn-ins, and invoices dated for the end of the month often take 1–3 business days to reach the bookkeeper's desk.
Reconciliation Clearance: Bookkeepers need time after the monthly bank statement arrives (typically the 2nd to 5th business day of the following month) to perform reconciliation, post bank interest, and attach reports before closing the period.
💡 Best practice monthly close workflow:
Establish a standard 2-to-3 business day grace period following month-end. Post all outstanding receipts and vendor invoices for that month, complete your bank reconciliation, print the monthly financial report, and then formally Close Period. If a transaction must be recorded after closing, contact your district financial administrator to temporarily reopen the period.
Beginning balances & period zero
Before transactions can be posted in a new fiscal year, Beginning Balances (often tracked as Period 0) must be established. Beginning balances carry over the final reconciled ending balances from the preceding fiscal year, establishing opening balances for each fund account.
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