Year end preparation - Set up the 13th period in Sage 50cloud Pastel

Summary

Set up a 13th period in Sage 50cloud Pastel to give yourself extra time to finalise your year end. This step is optional.

Resolution

When to use a 13th period

Sage 50cloud Pastel supports a 13th period in a financial year for two reasons:

To run 13 four-week periods across the year, if your organisation uses that structure
To extend your financial year, and work in the new year while you finalise it

Set up the 13th period

From the main menu, select Setup, then Periods.
In the Number of Periods field, enter 13.
Select the Use Last Period as First Period of Next Year checkbox.
Select OK.

You can now process transactions in the 13th period. After the year end, any 13th-period transactions move to period one in the new year.

CAUTION:

If you run 12 periods, don't select Use Last Period as First Period of Next Year. This moves all your period 12 transactions to period one of the new year.

▼Examples

Twelve periods, the checkbox cleared

The periods run from March 2026 to February 2027
Period one of the new financial years starts in March 2027

Twelve periods, checkbox selected

The periods run from March 2026 to February 2027
February 2027 becomes the period one of the new financial years. (Not recommended — this shifts your period dates.)

Thirteen periods, checkbox selected

The periods run from March 2026 to March 2027
March 2027 becomes the period one of the new financial years

Thirteen periods, the checkbox cleared

The periods run from March 2026 to March 2027
April 2027 becomes the period one of the new financial years

If your periods are wrong after the year end

If the setting was incorrect when you ran the year end, your periods will be wrong. Restore your year end backup and run the year end again with the correct setting. See Restoring a backup.