General Ledger treats retained earnings accounts differently than other accounts when you close the fiscal year.

General Ledger updates the balance boxes (Setup, Accounts, Balances (Accrual) tab or Balances (Cash) tab) on your retained earnings account as follows:

1. The amount in the Current balance box replaces the amount in the Year end 1 year ago box. The Year end 1 year ago box replaces the Year end 2 years ago box and so on until General Ledger replaces all the amounts in the year end boxes with the appropriate amounts.
2. General Ledger determines the closing entry from your income statement accounts and then updates the Current balance and Future balance boxes on your retained earnings account with that amount.
   • Note: The closing entry is dated with the last day of your fiscal year, but this amount is not added to the Year end 1 year ago box.
3. The activity boxes on the Activity (Accrual) and Activity (Cash) tabs all roll down one period. The first future period becomes the new current period and so on. General Ledger does not add the closing entry to any of these boxes. There are amounts in the activity boxes only if there have been direct entries to the retained earnings account.
4. General Ledger does not maintain the other balance boxes on the Balances (Accrual) or Balances (Cash) tabs of your retained earnings account. Do not rely on any balances saved within these boxes.
5. The closing entry posts directly to the General Ledger history file. This entry never prints on the Current Ledger or the Year-to-date Ledger.