Once you've filed a VAT return or finished a financial year, lock it. A locked period keeps what you posted exactly as it was, so the numbers you filed stay the numbers stub shows. You and your team can still edit anything inside it. stub won't rewrite the period: each change waits for you to decide where it posts.
Lock a period
- Open Sales, Expenses, General Ledger or Insights.
- Click the padlock beside the month selector, at the top right.
- Check the Up to date. It starts at the end of the month you're looking at, or at the end of last month if that month isn't over yet.
- Add Notes if you like, such as "VAT return filed 25 Oct".
- Check the preview, then click Lock. The button names the month, such as Lock September.
The preview shows the period, how many entries it locks and the first open day after it. A locked period has to balance. If it doesn't, stub names the entry that's out and links to it, so fix that before you lock. You can lock up to yesterday, but never today or a future date.
Once a month is locked, the padlock turns into a Locked button.
How periods add up
Your first lock covers everything up to its date. Each later lock covers the time from the previous lock to its own date. Lock 31 August and then 30 September, and you have two periods: one up to 31 Aug, and one from 1 to 30 Sep. A period stays locked until you unlock it, and you can only unlock the latest one.
Change something inside a locked period
If you edit, add or delete anything dated inside a locked period, stub asks first: "Change a locked period?" Click Save and stub keeps your edit as an unposted change. Moving something out of a locked period counts too, because it changes that period.
An invoice or bill in a locked period opens read-only. Click Edit and stub asks once before you change it.
Until you decide, two things are true at once:
- Reports and the General Ledger show the locked period exactly as it was posted when you locked it.
- Invoices, balances and statements show what's current.
The waiting change explains any gap between the two. In the General Ledger, its row carries an Added, Changed or Deleted badge.
What you can't change
A few things can't wait for a decision, so stub refuses them inside a locked period. It tells you why before you save.
- A bank account's opening balance or opening date. This includes a new bank account that opens on a locked date.
- A product's opening stock.
- Setting, moving or deleting your business's opening balance. Its lines can still change and wait like any other change.
- Completing, reopening or deleting a payslip, or deleting a pay run, that posts on a locked day.
See what's waiting
The Locked button counts every change waiting across all your locked periods, up to 99+. Click it to see which accounts the changes move. Click the entries count under them to list each change.
A document with a waiting change shows a card at the top, setting out what the change did to each account, with a Resolve button.
Resolve a change
Click Resolve, either on the document's card for one change or in the Locked dialog for all of them. Then choose:
- Carry forward. The change posts on the first open day after the period. The locked period, and the return you filed for it, stay as they are. This is usually the right choice.
- Post in September (the option names your locked month). The change posts inside the locked period, so that month's figures change. If the change moves your VAT, stub tells you by how much, so you can file a correction. You'll need to add Notes saying why. Posting in an older period also moves the opening balances of every later period.
- Another date. Pick any open day after the period, and the change posts on it.
Every choice asks you to confirm before anything is written. Click Back to change your mind. If you close without choosing, the change keeps waiting.
A change that doesn't move any account, such as a date moved within the period, can't be carried forward, so you'll only see the option to post it in the locked month.
If you edit a document after its change was decided, it goes back to waiting with the new difference. To reverse a decision, open the change and click Undo.
Who can lock and resolve
Anyone who can add entries can lock a period. Owners, administrators and editors can resolve, carry forward, undo and unlock, and so can any custom role given the permission. Everyone else can see what's waiting but can't decide it.
See every period and decision
Click the History icon at the bottom left of the Locked dialog. It lists every locked period with its dates, its notes, who locked it and when, how many entries it holds, and its changes, waiting or decided. Click a period to see each change and how it was decided.
Unlock a period
In History, click ··· on the latest period, then Unlock. Unlocking undoes every decision made in that period, so stub asks you to confirm first. You can only unlock the latest period. To unlock an older one, unlock the periods after it first.
Questions
Does locking stop my team from working?
No. Everyone keeps adding and editing as usual. Anything that lands in a locked period waits for a decision.
Does locking add an entry to my books?
No. Locking writes nothing, so your reports look exactly the same the moment after you lock.
Can Ask stub change a locked period?
Yes, the same way you can. Its changes wait for your decision like anyone else's.
Tip: Lock each month as soon as its VAT return is filed. If something changes later, Carry forward keeps your filed return exactly as you submitted it. Read more in Set up VAT and View your General Ledger.