BC has several periods for different modules of the system.
It is important to have two periods set for OCs:
Accounting Periods
This table specifies the information needed to open a new fiscal year, define accounting periods, and close the fiscal year. The smallest possible accounting period is one day. You must set up at least one accounting period for each fiscal year. The setting also affects the work with analyses by period. If the period is not set, the analysis cannot be performed
VAT Periods
Use this table to create, read, update, and delete VAT period records. VAT period records contain the start date, name, and year of the VAT, and allow you to close or lock the VAT period. The settings are also used for the correct compilation of VAT, KH and SH returns.
MS regularly updates the documentation for this setting area. Documentation valid for BC22 is available at the following link:
Working with Accounting Periods and Fiscal Years - Business Central | Microsoft Learn
Core Localization Pack for Czech - Business Central | Microsoft Learn
The posting and reporting option depends on the period settings.
Accounting periods, which are also known as reporting periods, are periods for which a company or organization reports financial performance, such as by generating an income statement or balance sheet. Accounting periods typically refer to a company's fiscal year, which can contain several accounting periods, such as months or quarters.
For many companies, the fiscal year is not aligned with the calendar year. For example, a fiscal year might end on June 30 instead of December 31. For newly created companies, the fiscal period may actually be more than 12 months.
BC requires an accounting period only if you want to close the income statement or run data compression jobs.
You can use accounting periods in reports. For example, if you are reviewing posted entries on the G/L Balance/Budget page, where you can specify a reporting interval. This is one of the options that you can specify for reporting by accounting period. You can also create an accounting plan that compares results for different accounting periods.
The Accounting Periods table can be accessed from the Manual Setup list, or from the General Ledger Setup table in the General tab, or by searching for the table using the magnifying glass.
There are two ways to create a new posting period:
Manually, individually, using the "New" button in the toolbar. In a new row, the following fields are set:
Starting Date - the user enters the start date (first day) of the posting period.
Name - fills in the system automatically according to the specified start date.
New Fiscal Year - A flag that specifies that this period is the beginning of a new fiscal year.
Closed - a flag that can be used to close the accounting period. The system selects the check box automatically when you use the Close Year function to close the fiscal year.
Date Locked - flag that indicates that it is no longer possible to change the start date of the posting period. When the fiscal year is closed, the system automatically ticks the box.
Inventory Period Closed - If the user sets the flag, the inventory period with an end date equal to or later than the end date of the posting period has been closed.
Bulk by using the Create Year batch job on the Process tab. Then the fields in the dialog box are filled in as follows:
Starting Date – The user enters the date when the fiscal year begins.
No. of Periods – The user enters the number of accounting periods into which the fiscal year should be divided.
Period Lenght – The user enters the duration for each period. For example, 1M (1M) for one month, 1K (1Q) for one quarter, and 1Y (1Y) for one year.
After entering all the data, the user chooses Ok.
Accounting periods can be closed using the Close Year batch job on the Process tab.
Closing Year is one of the tasks for closing the ledger. When you close the fiscal year, check boxes are selected for all periods in the year Closed and Date Locked. You can't reopen the year or clear the check boxes.
You must always have at least one open fiscal year. When closing the year, make sure that a new year has been created. Also note that once one year has been closed, you cannot change the start date of the following year.
Although the fiscal year is closed, you can still post general ledger entries to the fiscal year. When you do so, the entries are marked as posted to the closed fiscal year, and the check box is selected Prior-Year Entry. The next step is to close the income statement accounts and transfer the annual results to an account on the balance sheet. Repeat these steps each time you post entries to a closed fiscal year.
The VAT reporting period and the company's accounting periods can often be different. To enable users to seamlessly report and account for VAT by VAT reporting period, as well as to issue internal and other statutory reporting based on accounting periods, this feature introduces VAT Periods.
Table VAT Periods is available from the Manual Setup list or by searching for the table through the magnifying glass.
New Period You can create:
Manually
using the New button, where after filling in the Starting Date, the Name is filled in automatically
Batch Job
Use the Create Periods button to create the VAT period after entering the data in the task dialog.
Closing the VAT Period It occurs automatically after the VAT settlement is calculated and posted. You can also close VAT periods manually in the VAT Periods table (manually closing and reopening VAT periods is not recommended).