1017420 - New Posting Period Cannot Be Created or Existing Posting Period Cannot Be Changed or Removed

Symptom

You find that at least one of the following actions cannot be performed in the database:

• Creating a new posting period
• Making changes to an existing posting period

Reproducing the issue

When trying to add, update or remove a posting period, one or more error messages similar to those below are displayed:

• You cannot remove this item; its transactions are linked to an object , '20XX-XX' [Message 173-44]
   
• Field cannot be updated (ODBC – 1029) [Message 131-183]
   
• This entry already exists in the following tables 'Posting Period' (OFPR) (ODBC-2035) [Message 131-183]

Solution

SAP Business One does not allow creating a new period if the posting date range defined in Administration → System Initialization → Posting Periods overlaps the posting date range of a previous period for which postings have been entered.

This is a system definition. Explanation:

1. When you create a new posting period in Administration → System Initialization → Posting Periods → New Period, the system fills in the default values in the Posting Date From - To fields for all the periods and sub-periods according to the calendar year, that is, from 01/01/20xx to 31/12/20xx.
2. Before any document is posted in the period/sub-period, the Posting Date From and To fields are editable. In order to accommodate the posting periods to the requirements of various countries and business practices, the fiscal year can start, for example, in March rather than in January.
3. When editing the Posting Date From and To of the posting period or sub-period, be aware that:
   • All documents posted until the Posting Date To value will be included in the period-end closing, financial, accounting and tax reports of the posting period
   • No new posting period can be created with a start posting date before an existing period

If a posting period was created incorrectly and postings have already been added, then only the following solution can be applied:

1. Restore a backup of the database that does not contain any document with posting date after the start date of the new posting period that you want to create.
2. Set back the Posting Date From/To values to the correct or natural values and create the new posting period.
3. Import all the documents with posting date after the start date mentioned in step 1.

Note: If documents exist for periods that are in between the target period (period we want to create) and the original period (existing), then SAP Business One will not allow the creation of the target period. For example, there are no transactions in the target posting period (April 2017) or in the original posting period (April 2016); however, the system will verify if there are transactions between May 2016 and March 2017. If there are such transactions, the system will not allow the creation of the target posting period.

If the period to be added is, actually, not listed in the Posting Periods window (in the OFPR table), all the existing periods for the previous years look correct, and the error you receive is the following:

This entry already exists in the following tables 'Posting Period' (OFPR) (ODBC-2035) [Message 131-183]

Then the issue is most likely caused by unsupported customizations and you should proceed as follows:

1. Test the solution first in a copy of the database.
2. Remove all customizations as per SAP Note 2079411.
3. Go to Help → Support Desk → Restore → Restore Numbering File and choose Yes to the system message Restore Numbering File?
4. When applying the solution in the productive database, ensure that all the users have logged off the database and that you have taken a full backup.

Recommendation:

It is recommended that the system administrator restrict full access to posting period setup. This can be controlled in Administration → System Initialization → General Authorizations.