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Definition: What is it?

Time periods are a defined period of time (usually a month, quarter or year) that is used to group business transactions. It is a key part of any general accounting setup.

TO CHECK: The minimum setup required for OFBiz is a financial year (eg 1st April - 31st March) as one of the validation checks of accounting transactions is to verify that a time period has been setup for the transaction to be posted to.

What is it used for?

Time periods can be used for the definition of :

  • Company Financial Year
  • Fiscal / Tax Periods (weeks, months, quarters)
  • VAT / GST Periods
  • Sales Periods

Any others ?

What's on the screen?

The screen is divided into 3 main areas. The first two show lists of the open and closed time periods. The area at the bottom allows you to define and enter a new time period.

 TO DO: Add a screenshot

How do I add a new time period?

Example: To add a new financial year that runs from 1st April 2008 to 31st March 2009

  1. Using the area at the bottom of the screen labelled 'New'
  2. Leave the Parent Period Id field blank (NoteNOTE: The financial year will be the parent of other time periods eg fiscal months or GST / VAT periods)
  3. Select  'Fiscal Year' from the Period Type Id drop down box
  4. Enter '13' in the Period Num field (NoteNOTE: You can use any number that does not conflict with the other time periods you want to use. We plan to define 12 fiscal or tax months so will use 13 for the year) 
  5. Enter 'FY 2008-2009' in the Period Name field (NoteNOTE: You can use any name you want but make sure it makes sense. This example is an abbreviation for Fiscal Year 2008-2009)
  6. Select '1st April 2008' using the calendar lookup in the From Date field and press OK
  7. Select '1st April 2009' using the calendar lookup in the Thru Date field and press OK (NoteNOTE: Even though we want our financial year to end on 31st March 2009 the test is used is based on less than not an equal to)
  8. Leave the Is Closed field at its default of 'No'
  9. Press the 'Create' button

The new time period will now be displayed in the list of open time periods.

Example: To add a new fiscal month or VAT / GST period that runs from 1st April 2008 to 30th April 2008

  1. Using the area at the bottom of the screen labelled 'New'
  2. Select the previously created financial year 'FY 2008-2009' in the Parent Period Id field
  3. Select  'Fiscal Month' from the Period Type Id drop down box
  4. Enter '1' in the Period Num field (NOTE: This is the first of 12 periods that we want to define.) 
  5. Enter 'FM April 2008' in the Period Name field (NOTE: You can use any name you want but make sure it makes sense. This example is an abbreviation for Fiscal Month April 2008)
  6. Select '1st April 2008' using the calendar lookup in the From Date field and press OK
  7. Select '1st May 2008' using the calendar lookup in the Thru Date field and press OK (NOTE: Even though we want our fiscal month to end on 30th April 2008 the test is used is based on less than not an equal to)
  8. Leave the Is Closed field at its default of 'No'
  9. Press the 'Create' button

The new time period will now be displayed in the list of open time periods.

How do I update a time period?

TO DONOTE: Time periods cannot be updated via the current time periods screen. If you need to amend time period details then it can be done via Entity Data Maintenance in the Webtools menu.

How do I close a time period?

...

To close a time period select the 'Close' button next to the time period. The time period will be removed from the current open time periods area and re-displayed in the closed time periods section of the screen.

NOTE: Closing a time period is a trigger for an automatic accounting transaction as follows:

Transaction Type

Triggered By

Accounting Entries Generated

Comments

Period Closing

Close Time Period

DR ?????????? (based on the GL account type mapping for Profit Loss)
CR 336000 Retained Earnings

NOTE: Both sides of this accounting transaction uses the same GL account type default mapping.
The account mapping for 'Profit Loss' is not setup as part of the demo data so this transaction will not
automatically post to the general ledger but will instead be put in the ERROR_JOURNAL as an unposted transaction.
The transaction value is zero for both sides of journal...Even if it does have a value do we want to
move it from P&L to Equity during the financial year? Normally this is done once at the end of the financial year????


TO CHECK: What happens if you have a transaction that needs to be posted to a closed time period...??

Other ways to create and update time periods

Time periods can be created, updated or deleted by using the Webtools menu using the following steps:

  1. Select the Webtools menu at the bottom of the screen
  2. Select Entity Data Maintenance from the Entity Engine Tools section
  3. Select the 'All' buttom next to the 'CustomTimePeriod' entity
  4. All the entries for that entity will be displayed
  5. Select the option you require to:
  • 'Create CustomTimePeriod' from the top of the screen
  • 'View' (then Edit) or
  • Delete