Configure accounting settings and calendar
Open Charity → Financial configuration. This workspace holds accounting settings, receipt routes and fund mappings. Configuration does not enable tenant capabilities, grant permissions or provision a chart of accounts.
Accounting settings fields
| Field | Rule | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Approved base currency | Valid supported currency compatible with the existing ledger | GBP |
| IANA tenant timezone | Real IANA zone, used for local-today checks | Europe/London |
| Initial approved business date | Required initial accounting date; not later than tenant-local today | 2026-11-06 |
| Required configuration reason | Approved private explanation, maximum 500 characters | Finance approved initial Charity setup |
| Settings active | Active settings required for posting | Checked after review |
Base currency and timezone freeze after the first Charity financial use. The existing business date is read-only in the settings form; use the separate advance action to change it.
Initial setup
- Confirm finance's approved currency, zone and date.
- Review the tenant's existing journal/payment base-currency compatibility.
- Enter settings and a reason, select the intended active state and choose Save versioned settings.
- Reload and verify currency, zone, date, version and activity.
- Configure receipt routes and fund mappings.
The compatibility check includes retained existing journal/payment records across statuses. A mixed or invalid base currency is a blocker, not an instruction to rewrite historic amounts. Ask finance/support to investigate diagnostic codes/counts.
Advance the business date
This requires the separate charity.finance.business-date.manage authority and finance view.
- Review the displayed current date and version.
- In Advance tenant business date, enter the approved New business date.
- Supply the required calendar reason.
- Choose Advance business date.
- Reload and verify the saved date/version before staff generate new previews.
The date cannot move backwards, exceed tenant-local today or precede committed Charity journal dates. This is an explicit business-date policy; it is not a general closed-period accounting feature.
Example: Move from 5 to 6 November after the approved reconciliation. A preview prepared against the old date/version must be regenerated and reviewed. Posting a donation does not advance the date for the next user.
If settings are missing or fail to load, posting remains blocked. Distinguish missing configuration from a failed read. After a version conflict, reload the latest state and reconcile the approved change rather than overwriting someone else's calendar decision.