The Close Books feature helps companies lock down completed accounting periods so historical financials remain stable and controlled. By closing books for a given period, you prevent accidental or unauthorized changes to finalized data while still maintaining visibility into any approved adjustments that occur after close.

This gives finance teams—especially controllers and CFOs—stronger reporting controls, clearer audit trails, and confidence that previously closed periods stay intact unless explicitly reopened or overridden by authorized users.
 

Step-by-Step Guide: 

1. Access Close Books:

   To get started, navigate to Mega Menu (9 square dots) → Financial → Close Books.
   
   This section shows the current closed status of your books and allows authorized users to manage closed periods and review override activity.
    

2. Set Close Period Date:

   Select the close period date to define the cutoff for locked transactions.
   
   Once a period is closed:

   • Transactions dated on or before the close date cannot be edited
   • New entries cannot be back-dated into the closed period

   • Reports for that period remain consistent over time

   Closed periods can only be modified by users with explicit override permissions.

   
   
    

3. Manage User Permissions:

   You can control who is allowed to override closed books by assigning the appropriate permissions to specific roles or users.
   
   This ensures:

   • Day-to-day users cannot modify closed periods
   • Overrides are limited to trusted roles (e.g., Controller, CFO)

   • Accountability is maintained for any exceptions

   
   
   
   To grant additional users the ability to override closed periods, click Add User in the Permissions section. From the dialog, select the user with the appropriate permission role, then click Add to save. Only users added here will be allowed to make changes to closed periods, ensuring override access is limited to trusted roles.
   
   

    

4. View Override Log:

   Any change made to a closed period is automatically recorded in the Override Log.

   • Who made the change

   • When the change was made

   • What was modified

   • Which period was affected

   This provides a clear audit trail for internal review and compliance purposes.

   
   
   
   The Override Log includes built-in tools to help you quickly find specific changes. Use the search bar to locate transactions by keyword, or click the filter icon to narrow results by date range, transaction amount, transaction type, account, or transaction number. You can also sort columns to review changes in the order that’s most useful for your review or audit needs.

   These controls make it easy to isolate specific overrides and understand exactly what changed, by whom, and when.
   
   
    

5. Export Override Log:

   For audits or external review, the override log can be exported at any time.

   Exports allow you to:

   • Share override history with auditors

   • Retain records for compliance

   • Review changes outside of Squava

   
   
    

   The override log can be exported as a CSV file, making it easy to open in Excel, Google Sheets, or other reporting tools. This allows you to review, filter, sort, and retain a record of all override activity outside of Squava for audits, reconciliation, or internal reporting purposes.

   
   
    

SUCCESS!!! 

You've now closed your books! Close Books helps ensure that once a period is finalized, it stays that way—unless a deliberate, approved decision is made to change it. This strengthens financial oversight while preserving flexibility when exceptions are truly required.