> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.lilury.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Balances

> How account and cost center balances work — per-period totals, multi-currency tracking, and year-end carry-forward

# 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.

***

## Period balance

A period balance captures an account's activity within a single accounting period.

| Concept             | Description                                                     |
| ------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Debit total**     | Sum of all debit amounts posted to this account in this period  |
| **Credit total**    | Sum of all credit amounts posted to this account in this period |
| **Closing balance** | The account's balance at the end of this period                 |

### Closing balance formula

The formula depends on whether the account's natural balance is a debit or a credit.

**Debit accounts** (assets and expenses):

```text theme={null}
closing = opening + debits − credits
```

**Credit accounts** (liabilities, equity, and revenue):

```text theme={null}
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](#year-opening-balance) below).

**Example — Cash account (asset, debit type):**

| Period   | Opening | Debits | Credits | Closing |
| -------- | ------- | ------ | ------- | ------- |
| January  | 0       | 5,000  | 2,000   | 3,000   |
| February | 3,000   | 1,000  | 500     | 3,500   |
| March    | 3,500   | 0      | 1,000   | 2,500   |

**Example — Sales Revenue account (revenue, credit type):**

| Period   | Opening | Debits | Credits | Closing |
| -------- | ------- | ------ | ------- | ------- |
| January  | 0       | 0      | 8,000   | 8,000   |
| February | 8,000   | 500    | 3,000   | 10,500  |
| March    | 10,500  | 0      | 2,000   | 12,500  |

### 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.

### 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.

***

## 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](#year-end-carry-forward) below).

***

## 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:**

```text theme={null}
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.

***

## 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.

### 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.

```text theme={null}
Next year opening = this year's closing balance
```

**Example — Cash (asset):**

```text theme={null}
2025, December closing:   12,500 USD
          ↓
2026, year opening:       12,500 USD
2026, January opening:    12,500 USD
```

### 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.

```text theme={null}
Next year opening = 0
```

**Example — Sales Revenue (revenue):**

```text theme={null}
2025, December closing:  340,000 USD
          ↓
2026, year opening:            0 USD
2026, January opening:         0 USD
```

### 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.

***

## 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:**

```text theme={null}
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.

***

## Summary

```text theme={null}
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
```