1 Topic by alex1452 (edited by alex1452 06/27/2025 02:57:07 am)

  • From: Germany, Kiel
  • Registered: 06/26/2025
  • Posts: 12

Topic: "Closing GL Transactions" grayed out

Hi Forum,

I am trying to switch from another accounting software to FrontAccounting. I have done 2023 in the other accounting software and would like to do 2024 in FrontAccounting.

In order to have the right starting balance in FrontAccounting, have created a new GL 3999 Opening Balance Equity and created journal entries for 12/31/2023 to book all positions of the Balance Sheet from the other accounting software. The Profit of 2023 is booked to 3590 "retained earnings". I have reconciled all bank accounts simply by using 0 as starting balance and the actual YE balance as ending balance. I am "System Adminstrator" working on a fresh installation of 2.4.18 with the default US-COA.

I would like to close now 2023 to start posting actual transactions for 2024. However the menu item "Closing GL Transactions" is grayed out. None of the journal entries that I have created for 12/31/2023 is closed. Why is "Closing GL Transactions" grey and what do I have to do to close the "dummy" 2023 to start working on 2024?

Thank you for your help!
alex

  • From: Singapore, India, Chennai
  • Registered: 05/02/2009
  • Posts: 6,256

Re: "Closing GL Transactions" grayed out

Closing the dummy year will forward the closing balances to the new years' opening balances.

Please note that all partial transactions will be abridged into the opening balances unless the dummy year had details of individual transactions that were to be finished in the new year.

apmuthu's Website

  • From: Germany, Kiel
  • Registered: 06/26/2025
  • Posts: 12

Re: "Closing GL Transactions" grayed out

Thank you, I am aware of that. That is the reason why I put the opening balances in 2023. I want the correct balance for 2024.

My question was really HOW do I close 2023 given that the menu item "Closing GL Transactions" is gray and not clickable. WHY is it gray and what can I do to make it "clickable"?

  • From: Singapore, India, Chennai
  • Registered: 05/02/2009
  • Posts: 6,256

Re: "Closing GL Transactions" grayed out

You will have to make the 2024 year as the active year and then close the 2023 year.

apmuthu's Website

  • From: Germany, Kiel
  • Registered: 06/26/2025
  • Posts: 12

Re: "Closing GL Transactions" grayed out

I have created 2024 and marked it as the active year. However the "Closing GL Transactions" is still grayed out.

  • From: Singapore, India, Chennai
  • Registered: 05/02/2009
  • Posts: 6,256

Re: "Closing GL Transactions" grayed out

Check the Trial Balances for any discrepancy and whether Credit and Debit balances tally.

apmuthu's Website

  • From: Germany, Kiel
  • Registered: 06/26/2025
  • Posts: 12

Re: "Closing GL Transactions" grayed out

I have done that. Credit and Debit are fully balanced. I did not spot any discrepancies. What causes the function to be disabled?

  • From: Singapore, India, Chennai
  • Registered: 05/02/2009
  • Posts: 6,256

Re: "Closing GL Transactions" grayed out

You will have to do an investigation into it in the code given earlier by putting it watch points and logging the variables.

apmuthu's Website

9 Reply by alex1452 (edited by alex1452 07/01/2025 05:23:57 am)

  • From: Germany, Kiel
  • Registered: 06/26/2025
  • Posts: 12

Re: "Closing GL Transactions" grayed out

I am sorry, I lack the knowledge to do that. However, I suspect that this is a bug in FrontAccounting because this happens with a fresh new installation of FrontAccounting. Can you please review?

Steps to reproduce:
1. Extract frontaccounting-2.4.18.tar.gz
2. Create empty database and user in mariadb
3. Install FrontAccounting and create sample user and company using "US COA with sample data"
4. Login to Frontaccounting and go to "Banking and General Ledger"
5. Menu entry "Closing GL Transactions" is grey and cannot be used

System:
OS: Debian Bookworm
Webserver: Nginx 1.21.3
PHP: Version 8.2.27
Mariadb: Ver 15.1 Distrib 10.6.22-MariaDB

Since this test-install is on an internet facing server, I am happy to set-up a user account if you want to check for yourself.

  • From: Singapore, India, Chennai
  • Registered: 05/02/2009
  • Posts: 6,256

Re: "Closing GL Transactions" grayed out

Tested with Debian 6 and MySQL 5.1 and PHP 5.3.3 and all worked well.
If adding a user was a real problem practically all major users of FA would have complained by now.
Single stepping and watch points and debug_status are the way forward.

apmuthu's Website

11 Reply by alex1452 (edited by alex1452 07/02/2025 03:11:35 am)

  • From: Germany, Kiel
  • Registered: 06/26/2025
  • Posts: 12

Re: "Closing GL Transactions" grayed out

Sorry, but your comments do not seem to lead anywhere. Did you actually read my post in full?

1. I never said that "adding a user was a real problem". Where in my post did you read that? Adding new users is absolutely no problem. I even offered to add you as a test user so that you can see for yourself. As clearly stated in my title the issue is with "Glosing GL Transactions".

2. Debian 6 is over 10 years old. It is considered "obsolete" by Debian and receives no security-fixes. Where does it say in the FrontAccounting system requirement that you have to use Debian 6?

3. PHP 5.3.3 is also 10 years old and out of service and has multiple severe security issues. The FrontAccounting Release notes for 2.4.18  state "A couple of php 8.2 and 8.3 problems has been fixed. This release should now be PHP 8 compatible. The following versions has been tested: 8.0.0, 8.0.7, 8.0.12, 8.1.6, 8.2.0 and 8.3.2.". Of course reading this now is kind of a strange statement because it states it SHOULD be compatible. What does that even mean? Is it or is it not compatible with PHP 8?

4. I posted clear and easy steps to replicate the issue. This takes less than 5 min. Did you actually follow these steps before commenting: "real problem practically all major users of FA would have complained by now."?

5. If you want to debug the issue I am very happy to support that! However, I would need clearer instructions than "investigation into it in the code given earlier by putting it watch points and logging the variables." What code have you given me earlier? What watch-points do you want me to set? Which variables should I look at? What is expected?

I would like to re-iterate as you can clearly see from my description, that the issue has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with adding a user to the system. You seem to mass answer questions in this forum. Thank you for spending the time to try to help others! However, it seems that we did not get to the issue at hand. I feel this might be an actual bug because it happens on a completely fresh installation that I did not modify in any form.

I have seen that you have deleted my bug report on the issue. That is of course one way to deal with bugs... If FrontAccounting really only works with FULL functionality (incl. "Closing GL Transactions") on Debian 6 with PHP 5.6 may I respectfully suggest to clearly state that in the system requirements? Would have saved me (and potentially others) the time to look into this software.

  • From: Ecuador
  • Registered: 12/05/2019
  • Posts: 9

Re: "Closing GL Transactions" grayed out

Hi, can you upload a image of your problem?, if the option is grayed , did you check the "Access setup" option in Setup tab  to allow access to the user's role?

  • From: Singapore, India, Chennai
  • Registered: 05/02/2009
  • Posts: 6,256

Re: "Closing GL Transactions" grayed out

Duplication of posts causes deletion to avoid having to look into multiple posts.
Please take assistance of php programmers to inspect variables in the code at the point of failure where the error comes out. There is one of the forums in this board where such professional programmers exist.
I used an existing test install on Debian 6 to check out if and when the closing GL greyed out issue occurred since several code changes have been effected over time. It is not my recommendation to use Debian 6 in public facing installs.
The project admins are in Poland (@itronics Janusz) and Sweden (@joe Hunt) who are closer to your time zone and possibly have access to several platform versions to assist.
I only have as much time to assist on various issues in FA as I participate in the project only as a hobby and for teaching accounting.
I am sorry I have been of little use to solve your issue. Good luck with others helping you.

Generally when ever any issues arise with later versions of PHP/MySQL we generally regress to a known state / platform and then probe our way to a solution.

apmuthu's Website

  • From: Germany, Kiel
  • Registered: 06/26/2025
  • Posts: 12

Re: "Closing GL Transactions" grayed out

hi @fburbano, thank you so much for your help! That was the root cause. It turns out that in the default install, the system user has all rights except for "Closing GL Transaction". I did not expect that this was missing in the default install. So the issue is solved!

  • From: Singapore, India, Chennai
  • Registered: 05/02/2009
  • Posts: 6,256

Re: "Closing GL Transactions" grayed out

Just checked. This has been the default since the very beginning over 15 years ago.

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16 Reply by alex1452 (edited by alex1452 07/11/2025 07:29:04 am)

  • From: Germany, Kiel
  • Registered: 06/26/2025
  • Posts: 12

Re: "Closing GL Transactions" grayed out

dear @apmuthu, if that is the case, why did you ask me earlier to first "check the Trial Balances for any discrepancy and whether Credit and Debit balances tally." after that to "Test with Debian 6 and MySQL 5.1 and PHP 5.3.3" and to "take assistance of php programmers to inspect variables in the code at the point of failure where the error comes out." and finally stating that "adding a user was a real problem practically all major users of FA would have complained by now."

I clearly stated that, " this happens with a fresh new installation of FrontAccounting". So the issue is a rights issue that I was not aware of that "has been the default since the very beginning over 15 years ago.": The System Administrator does not have the rights to close by default. A simple review of rights solved the issue.

I am writing this, because you seem to mass-answer questions on this forum. This mass-answering might be the reason, why your answers (at least in my case but potentially in other posts that I have seen in the forum) seem to miss the connection to the underlying issue. Maybe answer a little bit less and in instead focus more on moving towards the solution?

While I am extremely grateful for your huge commitment and your energy, I feel that at least in this case, your comments more obstructed the solution than helping to move toward the solution. Anybody reading this because she or he was looking for a solution to the problem might be better off with just the solution of @fburbano without all the tangents/distractions that you introduced.

  • From: Singapore, India, Chennai
  • Registered: 05/02/2009
  • Posts: 6,256

Re: "Closing GL Transactions" grayed out

If mass-answering is your issue, then many satisfied users would not have been benefited here. It is not very often that anyone answers posts in the forum lately after the start of the Ukraine war. I am doing my best to keep the project alive. Checking for code updates and code commits will reveal that clearly.

Thanks to this post, I have added this solution to the wiki at the end of:
https://frontaccounting.com/fawiki/index.php?n=Main.OpeningBalances

In case my suggestions have sent you on tangents please note that all this is part of checking the possibilities as I thought might expose issues with PHP versions. The Job offers section is there for professional assistance in case the general community does not elicit a solution.

Adding a new user post was meant for another post.

apmuthu's Website