Who this is for: Firm owners, admins, reviewers, and the bookkeepers who hand a close over to them.
What you’ll learn: How to staff a close, submit it for review, sign it off in order, and send it back when something needs fixing.
Before you begin
- Open the client’s Month End tab and select the period.
- Debits records the close as a chain of approvals: the bookkeeper is the Preparer and the reviewer is the Reviewer. Each person signs in order, and the period closes when the last one signs.
Step-by-step instructions
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Select the assignee avatars in the workspace header.
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Pick the Bookkeeper who prepares the close and the Reviewer who signs it off, then select Done. Both carry forward to future periods until you change them.
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When the checklist and the review items are handled, select Submit & sign off in the header.
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Confirm the Reviewer and select Submit & sign off. This submits the month and records your own sign-off in one step.
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The period moves to Awaiting Sign-off and the header names whoever is next.
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Submitted by mistake? If you are the bookkeeper, select Recall to pull the month back to In Progress.
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On the Review tab, Final Review shows the Sign-off chain: who has signed, who is next, and the reviewer’s own sign-off tasks underneath.
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When it is your turn, select Sign off (Reviewer) in the header.
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Need to tell the bookkeeper something without sending the month back? Select Send FYI, write the note, and select Send note. The month stays where it is and the note is emailed to the bookkeeper and shown on the period.
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To send the month back instead, select Request changes, add feedback, and confirm. The period returns to In Progress and your feedback is shown to the preparer.
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Once the last approver signs, the period is Closed and locked.
What happens next
- Setting a bookkeeper or reviewer builds the sign-off chain automatically — preparer first, reviewer second — and assigns checklist tasks that carry that default role.
- A month you submitted is view-only for you until the reviewer closes it or sends it back.
- Requesting changes resets the chain, so every approver signs again on the next submission.
- Closing the month sets the client’s bookkeeping closing date to the last day of that month, so edits dated before it are blocked.
- Every status change, sign-off, note, and recall is written to the Activity tab.
Troubleshooting
- You do not see Sign off. Only the person the chain is waiting on can sign. The header names them.
- You do not see Request changes. Only the assigned reviewer can send a month back. Ask them, or ask an admin to reassign the reviewer.
- Reopen does not work. Selecting Reopen on a closed period currently fails with “Failed to update period status” — reopening requires a reason that the workspace does not ask for yet. Contact Debits support if you need a closed month reopened.
- “Segregation of duties is required on this account.” Your firm requires a second person: whoever submitted the month cannot also be the one who closes it. Assign a different reviewer.