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Balances

Every account in Lilury maintains a running balance that is updated automatically whenever a journal is posted. Balances are tracked at two levels of granularity: by accounting period (monthly activity) and by financial year (opening anchor). Both levels support multiple currencies — an account that receives entries in several currencies holds a separate balance for each one.

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Period balance

A period balance captures an account’s activity within a single accounting period.
ConceptDescription
Debit totalSum of all debit amounts posted to this account in this period
Credit totalSum of all credit amounts posted to this account in this period
Closing balanceThe account’s balance at the end of this period

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Closing balance formula

The formula depends on whether the account’s natural balance is a debit or a credit. Debit accounts (assets and expenses): 
closing = opening + debits − credits
Credit accounts (liabilities, equity, and revenue): 
closing = opening + credits − debits
The opening used in the calculation is the closing balance of the previous period. For the first period of the year, the opening comes from the year’s opening balance (see Year opening balance below). Example — Cash account (asset, debit type):
PeriodOpeningDebitsCreditsClosing
January05,0002,0003,000
February3,0001,0005003,500
March3,50001,0002,500
Example — Sales Revenue account (revenue, credit type):
PeriodOpeningDebitsCreditsClosing
January008,0008,000
February8,0005003,00010,500
March10,50002,00012,500

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Posting into earlier periods

If a journal is posted into an earlier period — say February — after March already has a closing balance, March’s closing is automatically recalculated to stay consistent with the updated February closing. This cascade applies to all periods after the posting date within the same financial year.

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Closed periods

Once an accounting period is closed, its balances are frozen. No further postings can affect them. Reporting against a closed period always returns the same figures.

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Year opening balance

Each financial year has an opening balance for every account. This is the account’s balance on the first day of the year — the starting point from which the first period’s closing balance is calculated. For a new company or a newly created account, the opening balance is zero. For all subsequent years, it is populated automatically during the year-end close (see Year-end carry-forward below).

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Multi-currency balances

An account can receive journal entries in different currencies. When this happens, Lilury tracks a separate balance for each currency in addition to the base-currency total. This lets you see both the converted base-currency figure and the original transaction-currency figure side by side in reports. Example — a USD-base company with entries in multiple currencies on the same account: 
Account: Cash  |  Period: January 2026  |  Base currency: USD

Base currency (USD):
  Debits:  7,200.00    Credits: 2,680.00    Closing: 4,520.00

Original currencies:
  USD  →  Debits: 5,000.00    Credits: 2,000.00    Closing: 3,000.00
  EUR  →  Debits: 1,200.00    Credits:   500.00    Closing:   700.00
  SAR  →  Debits:   800.00    Credits:     0.00    Closing:   800.00
The base-currency figures include everything, with each entry’s amount converted using the exchange rate recorded on the journal line. The per-currency figures show only the activity in that specific currency, without conversion. The same pattern applies to the year opening balance: each currency that has appeared on the account throughout the year has its own opening figure.

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Year-end carry-forward

When a financial year is closed, Lilury automatically sets the opening balances for the next financial year. The rule depends on the account’s nature.

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Permanent accounts — balance sheet

Accounts with nature Assets, Liabilities, or Equity carry their closing balance forward. The closing balance of the last period in the closing year becomes the opening balance for the next year. 
Next year opening = this year's closing balance
Example — Cash (asset): 
2025, December closing:   12,500 USD
          ↓
2026, year opening:       12,500 USD
2026, January opening:    12,500 USD

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Temporary accounts — income statement

Accounts with nature Revenue or Expenses are reset to zero each year. They measure performance for a single period and are cleared into retained earnings through a closing journal at year-end. 
Next year opening = 0
Example — Sales Revenue (revenue): 
2025, December closing:  340,000 USD
          ↓
2026, year opening:            0 USD
2026, January opening:         0 USD

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Multi-currency carry-forward

Every currency that appeared on an account during the closing year is carried forward by the same rule:
  • Permanent account: each currency’s closing balance becomes that currency’s opening balance in the next year.
  • Temporary account: each currency’s opening balance is set to zero.

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Cost center balances

When a journal entry line includes a cost center, Lilury tracks a separate parallel balance for that account and cost center combination, in addition to the account-only total. The structure is identical: debit total, credit total, closing balance, per-currency breakdowns, and a year opening balance — all scoped to the specific account × cost center pair. Example — Sales Revenue with two cost centers: 
Period: January 2026  |  Account: Sales Revenue

Account total (all cost centers combined):
  Credits: 50,000    Closing: 50,000

Cost center "North":
  Credits: 30,000    Closing: 30,000

Cost center "South":
  Credits: 20,000    Closing: 20,000
The account-level total is always the aggregate across all cost centers. The per-cost-center figures let you analyse the contribution of each segment independently. Year-end carry-forward applies to cost center balances using the same permanent/temporary rule as account-only balances.

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Summary

Financial year
  │
  ├── Year opening balance (per account, per currency)
  │
  └── Accounting periods
        ├── Period 1  opening = year opening
        │     └── debits, credits, closing  (per account, per currency)
        │     └── same again per cost center
        │
        ├── Period 2  opening = Period 1 closing
        │     └── ...
        │
        └── Last period  closing
                  │
                  └── year-end close
                        ├── Permanent accounts → next year opening = closing
                        └── Temporary accounts → next year opening = 0