Overview
Closing a period in Luminous records your close line and creates a permanent audit event. Whether that close line also blocks edits to prior-period transactions depends on whether period lock enforcement is enabled for your account. The two behaviours are distinct, and the Close the Books wizard tells you which applies to you.
What period lock enforcement does
When period lock enforcement is on, Luminous rejects the following writes if their effective date falls on or before the close line:
- Receiving reports / inbound stock
- Inventory adjustments
- Shipment inventory deductions
- Cost-layer edits
Any attempt to save one of these records will return an error: "This date falls inside a closed accounting period."
The close wizard's Accept and close step and the confirmation dialog both describe this consequence in plain language before you commit.
Default behaviour (enforcement off)
For most accounts, period lock enforcement is not enabled by default. Closing a period:
- Records the close line
- Creates an audit event (who, when, outstanding findings, reason)
- Does not prevent later edits to prior-period transactions
The Close the Books wizard shows this message when enforcement is off:
"Closing sets your close line to [date] and records who closed the period and when. It does not prevent later edits to transactions dated on or before [date] — period locking is not switched on for your account."
Important: pre-existing close lines are not retroactively enforced
If your account had a close line set before this feature was released, that close line is treated as not enforced even if enforcement is subsequently turned on. Only close lines set through the wizard from this release onward are eligible for enforcement. This means no historical period is locked without a deliberate new close.
Enabling period lock enforcement
Period lock enforcement is an opt-in account setting. Contact Luminous Support to have it enabled for your tenant. Once on, enforcement applies only to future closes — previous close lines remain inert.
The allowlist: remediation actions are never blocked
The close wizard's own cost-layer correction actions (for example, setting a cost for zero-valuation items during the pre-close checklist) are explicitly allowed through the lock. These remediation writes are part of the close process itself and are not rejected even when enforcement is on and the date falls inside the closed period.
Frequently asked questions
I turned on enforcement and now I am getting "closed period" errors. What can I do? If a transaction is genuinely misdated, correct the date to fall after the close line. If the close line is wrong, contact Luminous Support — there is no self-serve way to roll back a close line.
Does enforcement block kit assemblies or transfer orders? Enforcement applies to inventory-affecting writes (adjustments, receiving, shipments, cost-layer edits). Contact Luminous Support if you are seeing unexpected errors on a specific transaction type.
Is the close-line the same as the Core inventory restatement boundary? No. These are two separate settings for two separate purposes. The close line set in Close the Books and the restatement boundary used by the Core inventory reconciliation tool are independent and do not overwrite each other.