Financial year and OB settings

Open financial year settings by selecting Settings followed by Financial years and OB in the menu.

All created financial years are shown in the Financial year list. Once you have created a financial year, you can register different types of business transactions on it, e.g. post journal entries and create invoices. The registered date for the ledger entry determines what financial year it belongs to, you do not need to select financial year yourself.

Opening balances

The first time you create a financial year, you can access Edit mode and enter any opening balances for account classes 1 and 2. To add opening balances, you select the first year and click on Opening balance, then you enter the accounts' opening balances and click on Save. Debit balances are written as positive and credit balances are written with a minus sign in front.

Before you can add the opening balances, you must add the missing ledger accounts to the chart of accounts in the first year under Settings - Chart of accounts.

If you worked in another program previously, you can import your opening balances via an SIE1 file.

Note that you can only edit the opening balance the first year. When you conclude your first financial year and it is time to create the next one, the closing balances of the first financial year will be transferred automatically and become the opening balances for year two.

Locking of periods and the financial year

When you lock the financial year, no more journal entries can be posted without unlocking the financial year.

The difference between locking the financial year from Settings - Financial years and OB and the periodic lock function under Settings - Company settings - Accounting settings, is that the periodic lock function still allows you to post journal entries on the last day of the financial year. Read more in Company settings.

Please note that when printing the Balance sheet, Profit and loss report, Journal entries list and Ledger, they will be marked as Preliminary when any of the accounting periods prior to the period that is printed are unlocked. In order for the reports not to be marked as preliminary, previous financial years must also be locked.

You entered a new financial year 1 January and have posted transactions and locked the accounting periods for January and February. However you have not locked the previous financial year since the annual report isn't finalized yet. Today it's 3 March and you decide to print a balance sheet for February. Even if you have locked the accounting periods for January and February the balance sheet that you print will be preliminary since the previous year is not yet locked.

Companies reporting VAT using cash basis accounting must report a change to the accrual accounting method if annual turnover exceeds three million kronor. If a company wants to switch from accrual accounting to cash accounting, special justification is required.

For more information about reporting change of accounting method, contact the Skatteverket.

Accrual accounting means that you always register invoices on the invoice date, even though payment is made at a later date. Sales invoices are posted against the receivable ledger accounts and purchase invoices are posted against the payable ledger accounts. Once payment has been made, the accounts receivable/accounts payable are deducted from the balance report.

Cash accounting means that the invoice is not posted to the ledger until the day you pay it. Companies with a net turnover of maximum three million kronor can use this method.

Check this box when you are finished with the accounting for the financial year. When the financial year is locked, it is no longer possible to post any journal entries for that year. If you need to unlock the financial year, simply uncheck the box.

The function for importing opening balances with an SIE1 file is only available for the first financial year created. Once your first year is complete, the new opening balances are transferred to the new year automatically.

When you use the cash accounting method you normally register invoices after the payment. Before closing the financial year all sales and purchase invoices, as well as unpaid invoices, have to be registered. You can use Enter customer receivables and supplier payables to register the unpaid sales and purchase invoices for the current year before closing the financial year.

Related topics

Chart of accounts
Add new ledger account

Work smarter

This is how you can work most effectively

Work smarter in Visma eEkonomi by using our app

Take a look at our education website

Find an accounting office

Video tutorials

See all movies about Visma eEkonomi Pro

Support forum

Discover Visma eEkonomi - accounting and invoicing on autopilot!

Searchword: Opening year balance sheet, OB, opening balance, opening balances