GP #LifeHacks 110: Post Financial Transactions to History

Does this sound familiar? “I can’t close my fiscal year yet… the audit is not finished.”
Closing a fiscal year in Dynamics GP does a few things, but in particular, it closes the Profit and Loss account balances out to the retained earnings account.
Many customers fear closing their fiscal year because their previous years work is not complete. This causes complications with summary windows as well as with Financial Reporting.
I believe, in most cases, that the fiscal year can be closed right on schedule… just like closing any other month… no need to wait… no need to rebuild reports to create a make shift ‘balance brought forward’. Just use the ‘Post to History’ functionality.
Let’s take a brief look at this…

GP #LifeHacks 110: Post Financial Transactions to History

We have an option called ‘Posting to History’ that allows entries to be made after the closing… and it magically keeps everything in balance! What? Like I said, it’s magic! Well, not really, but it will feel like magic 🙂
This feature, found at Financial/Setup/Financial/Setup/General Ledger, allows for financial general transactions to post to the most recently closed fiscal year.
This does NOT permit sub-modules from posting to closed years.. just general ledger. Designed specifically for post closing entries… ya know, from your CPA or Auditors. 🙂
As you can see in the screenshot below, it is a simple checkbox. Check to allow, uncheck to deny. I recommend leaving it unchecked until you need to actually post to history. No need to log out and back in or anything like that… simply check it when you are ready to post an ‘audit type’ entry and you will be good to go.

When using this feature, the system allows for financial entries to post in the most recently closed fiscal year (providing the period is open in Fiscal Period Setup) and automatically updates the closing entry that originally closed the P&L to retained earnings.
Important Note: Just like with any closing processes, you will want to verify that your accounts are setup correctly (Balance Sheet vs Profit and Loss).

Let’s take a look at this

In my example, Fiscal Year 2026 is closed and my retained earnings account is 000-3030-00.

I created a simple entry to accrue some AP transactions that were posted in 2027 (my new fiscal year). Notice my posting date is in the closed year, 2026 and that my JE detailes do NOT include the 000-3030-00 account.

When I post this, or in my case, look at the edit list (with Posting to History checked AND my 12/31/2026 period open in Fiscal Period Setup), instead of getting one entry showing the entry above, I get something a little different.

The entry presented looks like my JE has two more lines… but in reality, when posted, the original two line items post in a new journal entry (#3673 in the image above), while the other two lines update my original closing entry (the one automatically created to close P&L accounts to R/E), bringing the new amounts forward in the BFF entries.

Now, I will admit that the edit list shown above (the one with the 4 lines in one JE) is a little confusing… that’s ok, in the end, it works just like we would want it to work. Remember… it’s magic 🙂
Close your fiscal period and uncheck the ‘posting to history’ checkbox, and you are ready to rock the new year!
Pretty cool right? I KNOW!! I LOVE THIS!
Thanks for reading!
Shawn