Overview

Follow the steps below to reopen a closed fiscal year in Microsoft Dynamics GP in order to correct a GL account type that was incorrectly marked as a balance sheet account when it was intended to be a profit and loss account or vice versa.

Step 1: Reopen the Closed Fiscal Year

1. In order to reopen a fiscal year that has already been closed in Microsoft Dynamics GP, first make sure all users have exited all companies. If any users remain logged in to any company, the error message ‘You cannot reverse the historical year because other users are logged in to the system’ will display when the following steps are attempted.
2. Once all users have logged out of all companies, take a current backup of the company database.
3. After backing up the database, click the Microsoft Dynamics GP toolbar icon and navigate to Tools→Routines→Financial→Year-End Closing to open the Year-End Closing window. Then, click Reverse Historical Year at the bottom of the window.
4. Click Process to reopen the last closed historical year, which is shown in the Year to Open field. Click Continue in order to verify the database has been backed up.

NOTE: If the database was not backed up as suggested in number 2 above, click Cancel and take a backup before proceeding.

Clicking Continue will reopen the last closed historical year, which will move all the historical data from the GL history table to the GL Open Transaction table and will reverse all the Beginning Balance Entries that were brought forward, reopening the GL year as if it was never closed.

Once the year is reopened, the next historical year will populate in the Year-End Closing window, allowing the user to continue reopening historical years as needed. The user can reopen as many historical years as necessary. However, the historical years must be reopened in consecutive order beginning with the most recent historical year.

Once all desired historical years have been reopened, close out of the windows.

Step 2: Change the Posting Type on the GL Account Setup

1. To correct the posting type of a GL account, open the Financial module and navigate to Cards→Financial→Account to open the Account Maintenance window.
2. From this window, select the Account to be changed using the Account lookup.
3. Once the account is selected, change the Posting Type by selecting Balance Sheet or Profit and Loss as desired.
4. After correcting the account’s Posting Type, click Save.
5. After correcting the desired GL account(s), click the Microsoft Dynamics GP toolbar icon and navigate to Tools→Routines→Financial→Year-End Closing to open the Year-End Closing window in order to reclose the fiscal year.
6. Before closing the year, verify the Retained Earnings account being used has not changed and that no historical data had been purged from the year.
7. Then, reclose the fiscal year by clicking Close Year at the bottom of the window.
8. Once the year has been closed again, verify that the changed account has or does not have a beginning balance as needed. 

Step 3: Reclose the Fiscal Year

1. After correcting the desired GL account(s), click the Microsoft Dynamics GP toolbar icon and navigate to Tools→Routines→Financial→Year-End Closing to open the Year-End Closing window in order to reclose the fiscal year.
2. Before closing the year, verify the Retained Earnings account being used has not changed and that no historical data had been purged from the year.
3. Then, reclose the fiscal year by clicking Close Year at the bottom of the window.
4. Once the year has been closed again, verify that the changed account has or does not have a beginning balance as needed.