Lock date – Allow allocations in current period
New Feature:
The ability to choose what period to allocate specific Transactions / Credits in. Current period set by default. These should be payment type and credit type transactions.
If the current period is the default this will save time by not having to open a prior locked period to allocate to a payment or invoice.
The current process falsifies when the credit was taken up and allocated, by forcing you to open prior periods which the credit was generated. When the debtor takes up the credit in current months payment, by opening prior periods this alters the locked period, when it should only be changing current month movement.
If choosing to use current month (default), no matter what the date of the credit note is, this should also allow credits to be allocated/unallocated and reallocated in current Period to ensure transparency. Date should be noted as allocated age for current period.
MYOB and other products already allow this as part of the core systems as default allocation behaviour. This ensures transactional integrity and prevents unnecessary movement in prior locked periods.
This is often used when a new process or a new financial controller finds historical payments, allocations which have been allocated incorrectly, or credits have been allocated incorrectly to correct this shouldn’t impact other periods unless you chose to do so.
Correcting them may or may not have an GL impact. However, everything should be done in current period to ensure maintaining accounting standards and any genuine changes should be happening to current period not already reported periods.
Suggestion on where to position allocation default flag.
This should be an accounting setting for the company not a page setting. Therefore, my recommendation would be to add to the Financial Year End Screen.
Accounting Settings> Financial Settings> Lock Dates area.
If you need to allocate in a prior period, there could be a tick box to the right of the “Stop all users making changes on and before” setting when you change the date to open the period. It should be clearly labelled as “Allow allocation in Prior Period”.
If this box is ticked the stored procedure can then follow current process of allowing the period changes to impact the closed figures at the accountant's discretion.
Katrina King
shared this idea
Hi Katrina, thanks for sharing your thoughts on lock dates. Currently, tasks like allocating credit notes or prepayments can be blocked if transactions fall before the lock date. A non-advisor user can still apply a credit note if:
- The credit note is dated before the lock date and the invoice or bill is after the lock date, or
- The invoice or bill is dated before the lock date and the credit note is after the lock date.
However, if both the credit note and the invoice or bill are dated before the lock date, a non-advisor can’t apply it. In this case, an adviser needs to either temporarily remove the lock or apply the credit note themselves.
Xero also provides both a Standard and an Adviser lock date, which lets advisers restrict staff while still completing necessary allocations and adjustments.
We’ve moved this idea to Gaining Support so we can better understand interest in more targeted allocation exceptions within lock dates. Your feedback and votes will help our product teams balance security controls with everyday bookkeeping needs.
