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Year-End Close (Jahresabschluss)

Close a fiscal year and produce an audit-ready binder for your accountant.

What is the year-end close?

The year-end close finalises a fiscal year. Slonge Billing runs a checklist against your bookkeeping, posts the year's net result to account 2990 Net Profit/Loss, locks the period against further postings, and produces a complete audit package (the "Treuhänder-Bundle") for download. After the close, the balance sheet is balanced, the P&L closes to zero, and your accountant receives a self-consistent package with all source documents.

Prerequisites

Before you start the close, the following must hold:

  • Account 2990 (Net Profit/Loss) exists in your chart of accounts. The Standard KMU template includes it — if you started with the Minimal template, add it under Accounting → Accounts.
  • All journal entries for the year are balanced (debit = credit) and dated correctly.
  • All quarterly VAT returns for the year have been submitted and recorded under Accounting → VAT Returns.
  • All expenses are posted and bank movements are reconciled.

You don't need to walk this list manually upfront — the wizard's check step tells you exactly what's missing.

Wizard walk-through

The wizard has four steps. You can navigate backward at any time without losing data.

Step 1 — Checks

Slonge Billing runs all ten automatic checks (listed below). Each check shows a status badge: OK, Warning, or Blocker. Blockers must be fixed; warnings can be overridden with a reason. The page refreshes live — if you fix a posting in another tab, click Re-check.

Step 2 — Bundle options

Choose which formats the binder should include. The PDF binder (balance sheet, P&L, trial balance, general ledger, VAT summary) is always included. Optional formats are AbaConnect XML (import into Abacus), CSV (journal and trial balance as an Excel-friendly export), and Receipts ZIP (all source documents for the year).

Step 3 — Preview

You see the proposed journal entry that posts the net result to account 2990, plus a preview of the balance sheet and P&L after the close. This is your last chance to spot a mistake.

Step 4 — Confirm

Type the confirmation token (ABSCHLIESSEN <year>) to commit. The binder is built in the background — you can leave the page and return later via Accounting → Year-End Close to download.

The 10 checks

CheckExplanation
Balance sheet balancedAssets must equal liabilities + equity.
Opening balance setThe opening balance must be recorded, otherwise prior-year carry-forwards are wrong.
No future-dated entriesEntries must not fall after today or after the period end.
Debit = credit per entryEvery journal entry must be internally balanced.
VAT returns filedAll VAT periods for the year must be filed.
No unposted expensesEvery expense in the period must be mapped to an account.
Bank reconciledEvery bank transaction must be linked to a journal line.
Open invoices flaggedOpen and overdue invoices are listed.
Time entries billedRecorded time should be billed or marked as non-billable.
Closing account existsAccount 2990 must exist in the chart of accounts.

Overriding warnings

Checks with severity Warning (e.g. unbilled time, small bank differences) can be overridden with a reason. The reason is persisted in the bundle and audit log and is visible to the accountant. Blockers (e.g. unbalanced balance sheet, missing account 2990) cannot be overridden — they must be fixed before the close can proceed.

Reopening a period

If your accountant needs to make corrections after the close (e.g. add a tax provision), you can reopen the period. This is allowed up to 5× per fiscal year — that cap is a deliberate signal that frequent reopens are a compliance smell.

When you reopen, Slonge Billing:

  1. Posts a reversal entry with document number ABS-REV-YYYY-N (N = the reopen sequence number) that exactly undoes the original closing entry.
  2. Flips the period status back to open so new postings are accepted.
  3. After the corrections, you can run the year-end close again — a fresh closing entry with the next document number is created.

Postings in a reopened year change the opening balance of the following year — Slonge Billing surfaces that warning in the reopen dialog.

CLI examples

The CLI is useful for scripts and for accountants who automate the download.

# List all fiscal years
slonge jahresabschluss list

# Run checks only (dry-run, no close)
slonge jahresabschluss check 2025

# Close with bundle (PDF always included, plus optional formats)
slonge jahresabschluss close 2025 --abacus --csv --belege --wait

# Download the finished bundle
slonge jahresabschluss download 2025 <runId> -o jahresabschluss-2025.zip

# Reopen a period
slonge jahresabschluss reopen 2025 --reason "Accountant correction: add tax provision CHF 8,400"

The --wait flag polls the job status and returns only once the bundle is ready.

MCP tools

For MCP-capable agents (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Claude Code), six tools are available:

  • jahresabschluss_list
  • jahresabschluss_get
  • jahresabschluss_checks
  • jahresabschluss_close
  • jahresabschluss_reopen
  • jahresabschluss_download

24h cooldown: jahresabschluss_close and jahresabschluss_reopen have a 24-hour cooldown per tenant and year. That prevents an agent from accidentally running the same close twice in one session. To close or reopen again sooner, use the web UI or CLI — neither is subject to the cooldown.

Related features

  • Accounting – Chart of accounts, journal, VAT
  • Reports – Balance sheet and P&L
  • Settings – Fiscal year start month, VAT returns
  • Audit Trail – Compliance events around close and reopen
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