Fiscal year-end archive

Once a year is filed, the numbers on it need to stop moving. The fiscal year-end archive is GBooks Air's formal close: it seals a completed year so filed figures can't drift later, hands you a permanent package for your own records, and frees up working space in the app.

What archiving actually does

1. Locks the year. Transactions inside the archived range become read-only, so an accidental edit in July can't quietly change the March numbers you already filed in April.
2. Packages the year. The archive export bundles the year's ledger and reports into one downloadable file for permanent records.
3. Keeps the app fast. Archived years can be trimmed from the active working set, which matters as you get closer to the 20,000-transaction capacity. Your current and recent years stay fully interactive either way.

Before you archive: the close checklist

Archive once the year is genuinely done, in roughly this order:

• All transactions imported and categorized through your fiscal year-end date
• Bank balance in the app matches the year-end bank statement
• Every invoice issued in the year is recorded, with payments applied
• Audit flags reviewed and cleared
• Final GST/HST period reconciled
• Year-end P&L generated and sent to your accountant, or used for your own T2125
• A fresh encrypted backup and Receipt Vault export downloaded

The full workflow is walked through in the month-end close tutorial. Year-end is really just the same discipline, once more, with a bit more ceremony attached.

The six-year rule

The CRA requires business records kept for six years from the end of the tax year they relate to. Your archive file, backup, and receipt vault export together are that record. Keep the set in at least two places, an external drive and your personal cloud storage, say, and label them clearly by fiscal year.