Why close your books?
Once you set a Close Books date, Garde won’t let any transactions, invoices, commissary orders, transfers, or inventory postings land in a closed period. If an invoice from December 8th shows up after you’ve closed December, Garde automatically dates it January 1st instead. This mimics how you’d close out periods in your accounting system — except Garde enforces it for you.Weekly or monthly?
The right cadence depends on how you report your numbers. Close weekly if you’re reporting numbers (sales, COGS, labor) internally or to investors on a weekly basis — Prime Margin Reports, Weekly Flash Reports, that kind of thing. Weekly closing ensures your reported numbers stay locked and won’t change after the fact. Close monthly (or per accounting period) if you only report numbers at the end of each period and don’t need week-to-week numbers to be frozen. Not sure which fits? Here’s the quick decision:- Do you produce weekly financial reports for internal stakeholders or investors? Close weekly.
- Do you only look at numbers at period end? Close monthly.