Help: Financial Year-End

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This page explains what a financial year-end is, how to manage it on payPod, and what happens when you close off a financial year.

What is a Financial Year-End?

Your financial year-end is the last day of your business’s annual accounting cycle. It defines the 12-month period you use to track income, expenses, and overall financial performance.

In South Africa, financial year-end rules vary by business type:

  • Registered companies (Pty Ltd): The financial year-end is determined when registering your business with the CIPC (Companies and Intellectual Property Commission). You can choose any month-end and update it later via resolution and CIPC filing.

  • Sole proprietorships and partnerships: These usually follow the SARS (South African Revenue Service) tax year, which ends on the last day of February.

💡 Choosing an appropriate year-end helps ensure smoother tax submissions and reporting cycles.

How to Update Your Year-End

You can update your financial year-end on this page. Simply:

  1. Navigate to app.pagepod.co.za/financial-year
  2. Select your preferred month and day using the dropdown controls.
  3. Click Update Year-End.

The new financial year-end date will be used to generate future financial years and reports. This change will not affect any years that have already been closed.

Only change your year-end if you're certain — it may affect how reports and closing entries are generated.

How to Close a Financial Year

Once a financial year has ended, you can close it manually by clicking “Close Year” next to the relevant entry.

When you close a financial year:

  • The system automatically generates special journal entries to close off all income and expense accounts.
  • These closing entries move the year's net profit (or loss) to Retained Earnings, keeping your accounts balanced.

Once a year is closed, you cannot edit or add transactions within that period.

YouThis page explains what a financial year-end is, how to manage it in your account, and what happens when you close off a financial year. must close the oldest open financial year first before proceeding to the next.

Can I Reopen a Year?

Yes — if you closed a year by mistake, you can reopen it, but only the most recently closed year can be reopened. This ensures accounting integrity is preserved.

How Does This Affect My Reports?

Reports such as the Balance Sheet and Income Statement use financial year-end data to:

  • Separate current vs. retained earnings.
  • Exclude transactions from future years once a period is closed.
  • Align report periods with the correct tax year for your business.

This helps ensure your financial statements are clear, accurate, and aligned with South African compliance requirements.