When you set up a Zoho Books organisation, one of the first steps is confirming the fiscal year start month. For Indian businesses, this is April. Once set, all financial reports default to the April-March period. The annual P&L, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statement all align to this cycle. If you change the fiscal year start month after transactions have been posted, it can affect prior-period reports, so this setting is best confirmed during initial setup.
At the end of the fiscal year (31 March), you typically close the books by reviewing all outstanding transactions, reconciling all bank accounts, posting depreciation and other year-end adjustments, and then running the closing entries that transfer net profit to Retained Earnings. Zoho Books does not require a formal close to move to the next year: you can post transactions in the new year while still editing the previous year, which is useful during audit season.
To prevent accidental changes to prior periods after your CA has finalised the accounts, Zoho Books lets you lock transactions before a specific date. Go to Settings, then Closing Date, and enter 31 March of the closed year. After this, no transaction can be created or edited before that date without an administrator override. This protects the integrity of filed returns and audited financials.
A fiscal year in Zoho Books is the 12-month accounting period your organisation uses for financial reporting. In India, the standard fiscal year runs from 1 April to 31 March, and Zoho Books is configured to match this by default for Indian organisations.
Go to Settings, then Organisation Profile, and scroll to the Fiscal Year section. For Indian businesses, set the start month to April. Zoho Books will then align all financial reports to the April-March cycle.
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