Start a new fiscal year

Prepare next year's fiscal year and numbering series before the new year starts, then make the new year active on its first day. Doing it in this order keeps selling uninterrupted.

Accounting Setup for selling
3 min read
Updated October 20, 2026

For Accountant Administrator

Why the order matters

The fiscal year decides which dates are allowed and which numbering series can be used. On the first day of the new year, a company without next year's series cannot raise a single invoice or receipt. A company that makes the new year active too early cannot sell at all. So prepare first, switch on the day.

Before the new year

Create next year's fiscal year, not yet active
Who
Accountant or administrator
Where
Fiscal year > Add
What changes
Enter the name, start date, end date, display order and, if the company has IRD on, the Fiscal year IRD name. Clear Active: the form starts with it ticked, and an active year switches the current one off.
Needs
The dates must not overlap another year. The IRD name must not repeat. Use the Fiscal year screen, not the Fiscal Year tab of Company setting: that tab always saves a new year as the active one, which switches the current year off at once and stops selling.
Create next year's numbering series
Who
Administrator
Where
Document numbering > Add, for every module and every branch
What changes
Start date and end date inside the new year, a Suffix or Prefix that differs from this year's, Current no at the start number. The series stay hidden from the sales screens until the new year is active.
Needs
A series for each document the company uses: invoices, receipts, returns and the others in Document numbering for sales.
Finish this year's entries
Who
Sales clerks and accountant
What changes
Once the new year is active, no document can be dated before its start. Enter late invoices, receipts and returns of the old year first.

Example: the series a two-branch company prepares

A company with a Head office and Shop 2 raises invoices, takes receipts and returns in both, and takes sales orders at the head office only. Before 1 Shrawan it adds these series, each with next year's dates and a new suffix such as -84/85:

Module	Head office	Shop 2
Sales invoice	Yes	Yes
Receipt voucher	Yes	Yes
Sales return	Yes	Yes
Sales order	Yes	No

That is seven sales series, plus one for every purchase document and voucher the company also uses (Before you buy or post vouchers: the setup checklist).

On the first day

Make the new year active
Who
Accountant or administrator
Where
Fiscal year > the new year > Active
What changes
The old year is switched off. The old series disappear from the sales screens and the new ones appear.
Check
Who
A sales clerk
What changes
Open Sales invoice: the Add button is there and the number the new invoice gets starts the new series. Do the same for receipts.

What a missed step looks like on the first day

You see	The step that was missed
No Add button on a sales screen	No series of that module for your branch inside the new year
A save refused because the numbering series does not cover the date	The series' dates are outside the new year, or the document is dated before the series starts
Every sales screen says the financial year "has already been closed"	The new year was made active before its start date
Add greyed out on every sales screen, with IRD on	The new year has no Fiscal year IRD name