Financial year (GL101000)

This topic gives you information about the elements that you find in this window in Visma.net ERP, such as fields, field values, buttons, and check boxes.

You can use this window for the initial configuration of your company's specific financial year and financial periods.

Setting up financial periods is one of the first tasks you need to accomplish when you configure Visma.net ERP for your company.
You can set up any configuration of financial periods, including periods based on months, periods based on weeks, or custom periods of arbitrary durations.
A financial year whose periods are based on weeks or have custom lengths will have a variable length. By default, the same configuration will be used for all subsequent years.

If you have configured the wrong year, you can delete it by clicking in the window toolbar.
This operation is available only if there are no financial periods generated for this year in the Financial periods (GL201000) window.

Button Description
Generate periods

Generates a period template based on which you generate the financial periods for a financial year in the Financial periods (GL201000) window.

A periods template can be generated for the periods of the Month, Two months, and Quarter types (specified in the Period type field), and for the custom periods (the Custom number of periods option specified in the Period type field).

The system does not support automatic period generation for periods based on weeks.

Shift the first year

Shifts the company's first year to one year earlier.

After clicking this button, you can add a new financial year and generate periods for it by using the Financial periods (GL201000) window.

The top part of the window contains information about the financial year and financial periods.
For more details on different types of periods, see: About the financial year and financial periods.

Column Description

First financial year

The first year your company wants to keep records in Visma.net ERP.
If you want to start recording operations at the very beginning of the financial year and post beginning balances for the accounts, specify the previous year in this field and post balances for its last period.

Start financial year

The start date of the financial year (and the first financial period of the year).

Belongs to next year

A check box that indicates (if selected) that the start date of the year belongs to the next financial year.
Select this option if the next financial year starts in the current year, as with a 2021 financial year that starts on September 15, 2020.

Period type

The type of financial periods that make up the year. The following options are available:
  • Month:
    Each of the financial periods lasts one month (12 periods per year).
  • Two months:
    Each of the financial periods has a duration of two months (six periods per year).
  • Quarter:
    Each of the financial periods lasts a quarter-year, or three months (four periods per year).
  • Week:
    Each of the financial periods lasts one week (52 or 53 periods per year).
    For instructions, see: Configure week-based financial periods.
  • Two weeks:
    Each of the financial periods lasts two weeks (26 or 27 periods per year).
  • Four weeks:
    Each of the financial periods has a duration of four weeks (13 or 14 periods per year).
  • 4-4-5 weeks:
    The financial year is divided into four quarters, and each quarter includes two four-week periods and a five-week period.
  • 4-5-4 weeks:
    The financial year is divided into four quarters, and each quarter includes a four-week period, a five-week period, and a four-week period.
  • 5-4-4 weeks:
    The financial year is divided into four quarters, and each quarter includes the following periods: a five-week period and two four-week periods.
  • Custom number of periods:
    The financial year is divided into a user-defined number of financial periods.
    Once you specify the number in the Number of financial periods field, the system generates the periods, and you will be able to adjust the their lengths.

Periods start day of week

The day of the week when each period starts.

Note: This setting is available only for period types based on weeks.

First period start date

Read-only. The date on which the first period starts.

Adjust to period start

A check box that you select to align the start and end dates of financial periods with the start and end dates of the corresponding calendar period.

This option is enabled for the following period types:

  • Month
  • Two months
  • Quarter

For example, with this option selected:

  • If the financial year's start date is March 10 and the period type is Monthly, the first period will start on March 1.
  • If the period type is Quarterly, the first period will start on January 1.
  • If this option were not selected in either case, then the first period would start on March 10 (as the financial year does).

Number of financial periods

This field is available only for period types based on months and for the Custom number of periods option.

The total number of financial periods within a financial year.
With custom-length periods (or a custom number of periods), this setting defines the required number of financial periods.
Otherwise, it displays the number of periods, which the system calculates automatically based on the period type.

Use adjustment period

A check box that causes the system (if selected) to generate an adjustment period or an additional period for posting adjustments.
The adjustment period will have the same start and end date and will be the last period in the financial year.

The adjustment period does not appear by default for any date; in the lookup boxes for selecting document dates, you have to select it manually.

Length of financial period

This field is available only for period types expressed in weeks. The length of periods for the selected period type.

Year-end calculation method

Note: This field is available only for week-long periods.

The method used to determine the end of the year for week-long periods.
You can select one of the following options:

  • Last day of the financial year:
    To add an additional (fifty-third) week-length period if the last period ends four or more days earlier than the financial year ends.
    If the last period ends fewer than four days earlier, no additional period will be added.
  • Include last <Day of week> of the financial year:
    To add an additional (fifty-third) week-length period only if the specific day of week (which is the last in the financial year) is not included in the last period.
  • Include <Day of week> nearest to the end of financial year:
    To set the year end so that its last period includes the specific day of week that is nearest to the end of the financial year.
    An additional (fifty-third) period will be added if the specific day of week is closer to the end of the year than to the end of the last period.

For these options, <Day of the week> is the day of the week selected in the Day of week field.

Day of week

(This field is available only for period types expressed in weeks.)
The specific day of the week to be used with the Year end calculation method option.
By default, the <Day of week> is the day of the week on which each week-length financial period ends.

This table contains information about the start and end date of each financial period, based on your specifications in the top part.
For the Custom number of periods type of periods, you can define periods of arbitrary length by selecting the end date for each period—the start date of the next period will adjust automatically.

Column Description

Period no.

The number of the financial period.
The system automatically generates these numbers for periods.

Start date

The start date of the period.
For the first period, the date is calculated automatically based on the Financial year starts on value.
For each successive period, the start date is calculated based on the end date of the previous period.

End date

The date the financial period ends.
This date is calculated automatically, based on the start date of the period and its duration.

Description

A description of the financial period (such as the name of the month or the number of the quarter).
For financial periods based on months, the descriptions are populated automatically but can be overwritten.

This field supports the multi-language functionality, where you can translate the entered text to multiple languages. For more information, see:About multi-language support

Parent topic:General ledger windows - overview

Related concepts
About the financial year and financial periods

Related tasksConfigure a financial year that matches the calendar year
Configure a fiscal year and its periods
Configure week-based financial periods

Related referenceFinancial periods (GL201000)
Close financial periods (GL503000)