Xero lock dates stop users from making changes to transactions in past periods. When a lock date is set, it affects which items you can publish from Dext to Xero.
How lock dates work in Xero
Xero has 2 lock dates, both found in Accounting > Financial settings > Lock Dates:
Period lock date - stops all users except advisers from making changes on or before the set date.
Adviser lock date - stops all users, including advisers, from making changes on or before the set date.
If a document date in Dext falls within either lock date, Xero will block certain types of publishing. You need the Adviser role in Xero to set or change lock dates. See Set up and work with lock dates in Xero's help centre.
What you can and can't publish when a lock date is set
If the document date falls within a lock date, you can still publish the item to Xero - but only to certain destinations and statuses:
Publish to Purchases, Publish as Draft
Publish to Purchases, Publish as Awaiting Approval
Publish to Classic Expense Claims
You can't publish the item as a Spend Money transaction to Bank Accounts. If you try, you'll see this error:
"The document date cannot be before the end of year lock date, currently set at [date]."
How to resolve the error
You have 2 options.
Option 1 - Change the publish destination: Change the item's Publish to setting to Purchases and set Publish as to Draft or Awaiting Approval. This avoids the lock date restriction entirely.
Option 2 - Adjust or remove the lock date in Xero: If the item genuinely needs to be published as a Spend Money transaction, an adviser can update or remove the lock date in Xero.
In Xero, go to Accounting > Financial settings > Lock Dates.
Update or clear the relevant lock date.
In Dext, go to Business settings > Connections, select Manage next to Xero, then select Refresh integration data.
Publish the item again - the error may still show on the item, but it will publish successfully.