How Do I Clear the Closing Date or Re-Open My Books?

The Closing Date in QuickBooks is a setting that indicates the date through which your books have been closed.  Normally, books are considered closed after they’ve been reviewed, all adjusting entries have been made, and reporting has been completed to investors, lenders, or tax authorities.

Since the Closing Date is only an access restriction, sometimes you may find a need to clear or remove the Closing Date to permit you to record prior period transactions.  Typically, this isn’t done to record a small number of transactions, because those transactions can be recorded by over-riding a warning or correctly entering the Closing Date Password.  It’s done when it’s later discovered that a sufficiently large number of prior period transactions need to be recorded, and the access restriction slows this process unnecessarily.  Removing the access restriction after you’ve previously set it is a process commonly called “re-opening your books.”  For example, you may need to re-open your books to prepare an amended tax return.

To clear or remove the Closing Date, click on the Accounting sub-menu of Edit->Preferences… menu selection and choose the Company Preferences tab.  You’ll see the current Closing Date.

Click on the Set Date/Password button to view the Set Closing Date and Password window.

Simply delete the date in the Closing Date field and click Ok.

Since only the QuickBooks Administrator or a user with External Accountant privileges can set QuickBooks preferences, it’s not possible for users without those higher privileges to remove the Closing Date.

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