Goods delivered on 28 December and invoiced on 6 January belong to the year that is ending, not to the next one. Cut-off is the decision that assigns every cost and every revenue to its own year, and the test is the triggering event — delivery for goods, performance for services — never the date printed on the invoice. It is the first block of the closing sequence, and the one that makes everything downstream wrong when it is done badly.
The rule and its four traps
- The test is the triggering event. Goods delivered or a service performed before the closing date: the cost or the revenue belongs to the year that is ending.
- The invoice date decides nothing. It documents the transaction, it does not date it for accounting purposes.
- Four cases cause trouble: delivered not invoiced, invoiced not delivered, a service straddling two years, and a late credit note.
- Each case produces a named entry: invoice not yet received, invoice to be issued, prepaid expense or deferred income.
- The proof is the delivery note, the acceptance record or the performance statement — not the invoice on its own.
1. What triggers the match to a year
The Moroccan general accounting plan attaches costs and revenue to the year in which they arose, regardless of when they are paid or invoiced. That leaves the question of when they actually arise, and the answer depends on the nature of the transaction itself.
| Type of transaction | Triggering event | Proof to keep |
|---|---|---|
| Sale of goods | Delivery, meaning transfer to the customer | Signed delivery note, transport evidence |
| One-off service | Performance of the service | Acceptance record, dated deliverable, written sign-off |
| Continuing service | The passing of the period covered | Contract, period covered, statement |
| Purchase of goods | Actual receipt of the goods | Goods received note, stock entry |
| Rent, insurance, subscription | The period covered | Contract and payment schedule |
Payment plays no part in the reasoning at all. An invoice paid in advance and an unpaid invoice are matched in exactly the same way: to the year in which the transaction took place.
2. The four straddling cases and what they produce
Almost every cut-off error fits into these four lines. Each one is resolved by an entry that carries a precise name of its own.
- Delivered or received, not yet invoiced: The transaction belongs to the closed year but no invoice exists. On the purchase side that is an invoice not yet received; on the sales side, an invoice to be issued.
- Invoiced, not yet delivered: The mirror image. The invoice exists but the transaction has not happened: the amount belongs to the following year, as a prepaid expense or deferred income.
- A service straddling two years: Only the portion performed before the closing date is matched to the closed year. A twelve-month subscription starting in October leaves nine months to the next year.
- A credit note or rebate received after closing: If the credit note relates to a transaction of the closed year, it corrects that year. The date on the credit note does not move it into the new one.
The mechanics of each entry are covered in the dedicated guides on invoices not yet received, invoices to be issued, and prepaid expenses and deferred income. What matters here is knowing which box each file falls into.
3. Building the cut-off list
The list is prepared before closing, not afterwards. It is built from physical flows rather than from the accounts, precisely because the accounts are what you are trying to correct.
- Record the last delivery note issued and the last goods received note logged before the closing date.
- Pull the deliveries of the final weeks and tick off those with no matching invoice.
- Pull recent supplier invoices and tick off those with no matching receipt.
- List the contracts that straddle the two years: rents, insurance, subscriptions, maintenance.
- Ask the sales team and the warehouse what left the premises without paperwork.
- Put a figure on every line, even an approximate one, rather than leaving it out.
- Have the list signed off by the person who commits the spending.
An estimated, documented line beats a missing line every time. An estimate gets corrected in the following year; an omission is never noticed at all.
The invoice date is not the matching test
This is the most common error and the easiest one to fix. An invoice dated 6 January for a delivery made on 28 December is matched to December. Treating the invoice date as the transaction date mechanically shifts part of the result from one year into the other, in both directions, and makes any comparison between two consecutive years meaningless.
4. Proving your cut-off when someone asks
Cut-off is one of the easiest points to test: take a handful of deliveries either side of the closing date and check which year they landed in.
| What is tested | What proves it | What does not prove it |
|---|---|---|
| The date of the transaction | A dated, signed delivery note or acceptance record | The issue date of the invoice |
| Continuity of the number series | The last number recorded at closing | A verbal assurance |
| Treatment of straddling cases | The dated, signed-off cut-off list | An entry with nothing attached |
| Consistency across both years | No duplication between the year and the next | A balance that happens to look right |
Keep the cut-off list with the closing file. It is the document that explains, two years later, why a January invoice sits in December’s costs.
Mistakes to avoid
- Matching a cost to the invoice date rather than to delivery or receipt.
- Leaving out an invoice not yet received because the exact amount is unknown.
- Spreading a subscription across the wrong year.
- Forgetting credit notes that arrive after the closing date.
- Building the cut-off list from the accounts alone.
- Failing to record the last delivery note number.
Frequently asked questions
Which date governs the matching of a cost?
The date of the triggering event: receipt for goods, performance for a service, the period covered for a continuing contract. The invoice date documents the transaction but does not date it for accounting purposes.
What should I do if the exact amount is not yet known?
Estimate it and document how you estimated it, rather than dropping the line. An invoice not yet received, priced from the purchase order or the goods received note, is a defensible position; a missing cost is not.
Is a deposit paid in December a December cost?
No, unless the corresponding service was actually performed. A deposit is an advance: it sits on the balance sheet until the transaction happens, and becomes a cost at the moment of performance.
Does cut-off apply to sales as well?
Yes, symmetrically. Goods delivered before the closing date and invoiced after it produce an invoice to be issued, which matches the revenue to the closed year.
Does BelloPOS help with cut-off?
Indirectly, and it is worth being precise. BelloPOS Go timestamps sales and, with the purchases module, goods receipts; those timestamps and the last number in each series are exactly the records that document a cut-off. The matching decision itself remains an accounting one, taken with your accountant.
What to take away
Cut-off does not call for advanced accounting technique, it calls for discipline with dates. Decide on the triggering event, list the straddling cases before you close, put a figure on them even approximately, and keep the list. It is the least visible piece of work in a close and the one that determines whether the year’s result means anything at all.
Sources
The figures and rules quoted above come from these pages, read on the date given in the article.
- Ministry of Economy and Finance, General Code of Accounting Standardisation, read 1 September 2026
- Moroccan Tax Administration, 2026 General Tax Code
Date the transactions, not just the invoices
BelloPOS timestamps sales and goods receipts and preserves the document series: the records that document a cut-off. Purchases and receipts start with Go, journals and exports with Pro.
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