Overview of General Ledger Periods Cycle

Accounting periods (or called GL Periods in Oracle Applications) is one of the most important aspects in a General Ledger. It defines how the transactions will be grouped together based on dates (usually their actual transaction dates) and also defines the accounting calendar. This concept applies to both Oracle Fusion and Oracle E-Business Suite. Below is a simple diagram depicting GL Period Cycles:


A quick sample is below:

Period Month
Period Status
Remarks
May 2018
Permanent Close
Can never be re-opened and Posting not allowed
June 2018
Soft Close
Can still be re-opened in case of Omission/Incorrect Data.
Need to have Financial Statements re-stated.
July 2018
Open Period
Allows transactions, Receiving and Posting
August 2018
Future Enterable Period
Allows transactions and Receiving but no Posting
September 2018
Never Opened
No transactions and receiving allowed

Below is a quick checklist to follow when closing periods from a GL Perspective:
  1. Import data into the Interface from other sources (Subledgers, Third-Party Applications, etc.)
  2. Transfer transactions from the Interface into the General Ledger
  3. Verify that all Journals are already Posted
  4. Perform Allocations
  5. Perform Revaluation for Trade Accounts containing foreign currency transactions
  6. Reconcile Account Balances
  7. Translation of Balances to the Parent Currency
  8. Consolidation of Subledgers to the Corporate Ledgers
  9. Run Analytics and Financial Analysis
  10. Close the Period and Open the Next Period
Some companies never do a permanent close in case they need to do some corrections.
What they sometimes do is they only close out the all the periods of a certain calendar year when the external auditors are satisfied and provide a clean audit report for the said year.
It all depends on your accounting policies and strategies that fit your legislation and accounting methods.

Below is a quick demo on Opening and Closing Periods in Oracle Fusion Applications:



More details on Opening and Closing Accounting Periods posted on the Oracle Documentation.

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