Report Banners & Status Messages

When you work in Accounting, Kraal shows banners and status messages that tell you the state of your data. Most of these are amber or yellow — they're not errors, they're guidance. Each one has a specific action that resolves it.

This page is a reference for every banner you may see while running reports, posting entries, or reconciling. If a banner is making you anxious, find it below and follow the steps to clear it.

How banners work

• Amber / yellow — informational. Something needs your attention but the page still works. You can ignore it temporarily.
• Red — blocking. The action can't proceed until you resolve the issue.
• Green — positive confirmation. No action required.

Every amber banner has a primary action button that takes you to the screen where you can resolve it.

The integrity & provenance dock

On Standard Reports, the trust signals no longer scroll away with the page. After you run a report, a compact integrity & provenance dock stays pinned under the report body:

• Status line (always visible): the cross-check result for the report you just ran — for example ✓ 4 checks passed, 2 warnings, or 1 check failed — plus an amber Provisional — not for external release chip while the close period is unlocked (green Locked period once posting is locked). The package segment separately tells you whether a current client deliverable is approved.
• Checks — the report-specific cross-checks (debits = credits, net income ties to the ledger, subledger tie-outs, and so on). Failing or warning checks show their detail right in the dock.
• Provenance — the full provisional/locked explanation, period lock state, scope, and when/by whom the report was generated.
• Filters — any active drill-down filters (account, period, entity) with row and debit/credit/net totals, plus Clear all and Back to statement.
• Package — the financial-package state for this client and period, with its action (see Financial package lifecycle).

Only the report itself scrolls — the dock stays in view, so you never have to hunt for the provisional warning or the check results before sharing numbers. When you expand a report to full screen, the Provisional/Locked chip stays visible in the report toolbar.

Setup pending — financial package available

Where you see it: On standard report pages (P&L, Balance Sheet, AR Aging, etc.) — as a card before you run a report, and in the integrity dock's Package segment (with a Package ready chip and an In close package · Review chip in the report header) once report data is on screen.

What it says: "The latest financial package is available for the period ending [date]. Review it here or run individual reports separately."

What it means: A monthly financial package has already been generated for this client. The banner is pointing you to the packaged review so you don't run individual reports unnecessarily.

How to clear it: Click Review Financial Package. The banner disappears once you open the package. If you'd rather run a one-off report, ignore the banner — your individual reports still work.

TIP

If the "period ending" date isn't a month-end (for example, May 7 instead of May 31), this means a stub close period was created at cutover or onboarding. See Financial Package Lifecycle below.

Package generation gated — reports still work

Where you see it: On standard report pages when setup isn't complete — as a readiness card before you run a report, and in the integrity dock's Package segment afterwards.

What it says: "Package generation gated. Individual reports still work. Finish the remaining setup steps before generating a new packaged monthly review."

What it means: Reports work fine. What's gated is the packaged monthly financial review — that requires setup to be fully complete (chart of accounts, bank feeds, opening balances, etc.).

How to clear it: Click the primary action button (usually labeled with the next setup step, e.g. Continue setup). This takes you to the client's setup actions page. Complete the remaining steps and the gate lifts.

Report is provisional · period unlocked · N pending

Where you see it: In the integrity & provenance dock pinned under the report — an amber Provisional — not for external release chip in the dock's status line, with the full explanation in the Provenance segment. The report header and the report toolbar echo the same Provisional chip (a Lock: Unlocked · N pending chip sits in the header too), so the signal stays visible even in full-screen mode.

What it says: "[Report name] is provisional. The close period is not locked yet. Re-run or lock the period before external release." with chips showing PERIOD LOCK: UNLOCKED · N PENDING.

What it means:

• Provisional = numbers can still move. The close period for this date is open, so new postings, adjustments, or matches could change the report.
• N pending = the count of unresolved blocking items in the close checklist for this period. These are tasks like prepared packets awaiting review, drift detections, or missing source documents.

How to clear it:

1. Open the Close screen for this client.
2. Resolve the N pending checklist items (each item links to the action that closes it).
3. Lock the period when ready (Lock period button on the Close screen).
4. Re-run the report. The dock's status line now shows a green Locked period chip and the provisional label disappears.
5. For client delivery, review the Package segment and use the current approved financial package. A locked period alone is not package approval.

WARNING

A provisional report is fine for internal review but not safe for external release (client deliverables, regulatory filings, board reports). Lock the period, then confirm the current financial package completed its review and approval steps before sharing it.

Package stale — books changed since generation

Where you see it: A Stale badge on a package in the pack history and close views, and on the close page's package gate: "Package delivered, but reports changed since — regenerate before sending."

What it means: The ledger moved after this financial package was generated, so the package no longer matches the books. Kraal marks a package stale when:

• new entries are posted into its period;
• the period is unlocked, reopened, or un-finalized;
• adjustments are made directly in the connected ledger — Kraal runs a daily consistency check that compares each recent package against a fresh trial balance and flags any drift.

Hover the badge to see the reason.

How to clear it:

1. Open the package (from the close page or pack history).
2. Click Regenerate. The stale version stays available until the new one finishes, then it is superseded.
3. If the package had already been delivered, send the regenerated version so the client has numbers that match the books.

A stale package is never silently reused: generating a package for the same period always produces a fresh version instead of returning the stale one, and the Close Binder prefers a fresh package when both exist.

No bank accounts connected

Where you see it: Banking view (Accounting → Banking).

What it says: "No bank accounts connected."

What it means: The client has no Plaid-linked accounts and no uploaded statements. Reconciliation and cash-flow reporting can't run until at least one bank source exists.

How to clear it:

• Click Connect a bank to link via Plaid, or
• Click Upload bank statement to upload a PDF or CSV from the client.

Period locked — entry blocked

Where you see it: Bills, Sales Invoices, Purchase Invoices, Journal Entries, and Payment Entry screens.

What it says: "This posting date falls inside a locked close period ([start] to [end]). New entries cannot be posted. Reason: [reason]."

What it means: The close for the period containing your posting date has been locked. To preserve audit integrity, new entries can't be added retroactively.

How to clear it (pick one):

• Change the posting date to a date in an open period (usually the next open period).
• If you're booking a true correction, post the adjustment in the current open period and reference the original.
• If the entry genuinely must land in the locked period, the period has to be reopened first — see Reopening a Closed Period.

Approval required — prepared candidates

Where you see it: Bank Reconciliation view.

What it says: Amber panels showing prepared match candidates or duplicate-repair packets that need approval.

What it means: Kraal's auto-matcher found suggested matches but isn't confident enough to apply them automatically. They're waiting for you to approve or reject.

How to clear it: Open each prepared candidate in the panel and click Accept or Reject. Once the panel is empty, the banner clears.

Task status badges — review / waiting on user

Where you see them: Workspace lanes, Daily Board, Work List, ChatIQ results, and task lists.

What they say: Amber chip labels like Needs review, Waiting on user, Review work.

What they mean: A task or prepared packet is waiting on a specific human action — usually yours. The chip color identifies the lane; the action button on the row tells you what to do.

How to clear them: Click the action button on the task row (Open review, Open request, Approve, etc.). Complete the action. The task moves to its next state and the chip updates.

Connector issues pill

Where you see it: Top-right of every accounting workspace screen.

What it says: A red or amber pill like 15 connector issues or 3 connector issues.

What it means: Some of the client's integrations (ERPNext, Plaid, QuickBooks, Gusto, etc.) are erroring or out of sync. The pill counts the number of integrations with active issues.

How to clear it:

1. Click the pill to open the Integrations screen.
2. Each failing integration shows its specific error and a remediation action.
3. Resolve each one (re-authenticate, re-sync, fix permissions, etc.).
4. The pill turns green or disappears once all integrations are healthy.

For ERPNext specifically, see ERPNext Permissions. For Gusto, see Gusto Payroll Accounting.

Financial package lifecycle

The financial package banner can show in three different states depending on where the client is in setup:

State	What you see	Why
Readiness	Hero card: "Package generation gated — reports still work"	Setup not complete. Finish setup steps before generating a package.
Generate	Hero card: "Generate your first monthly financial package"	Setup is complete, no package exists yet. Click to generate.
Review	Package segment of the integrity dock (plus an In close package · Review chip in the report header): "The latest financial package is available for the period ending [date]"	A package exists. Click to review the packaged version, or run individual reports separately.

Once a package exists, its review state matters separately from the period's posting lock:

Package state	What it means
Building / Built	Kraal is assembling, or has assembled, a candidate from the current close evidence. It is not yet approved for delivery.
Reviewed / Approved	The required people reviewed the exact candidate and approved it.
Released	Finalization confirmed the period lock and released that approved package as the client deliverable.
Stale	The books or evidence changed after the package was built. Regenerate and review again.
Superseded	A newer package replaced this version. Keep it for history; do not deliver it as current.

The Close Binder is the internal evidence archive. It is not a substitute for the approved financial package.

About the "period ending" date

The "period ending" date you see in the Review state reflects the close period the package was built from. For most clients on a normal monthly cadence, this is a month-end (Apr 30, May 31, Jun 30).

If you see a non-month-end date (e.g. May 7), it means a stub close period was used — typically because:

• The client onboarded mid-month and the first close period covers from the onboarding date to month-end.
• A custom partial period was created manually for a special-purpose close.

A stub package is valid for its date range, but for clean monthly reporting cadence you'll want to wait for the next full-month package to supersede it.

Provisional versus locked reports

Every report has a provenance state:

• Provisional — the close period for this date is unlocked, so numbers can still change. Internal use only.
• Locked — posting into the period is blocked, so the report is stable for that lock. For external delivery, still use the current approved financial package; the lock does not replace package review.

The integrity & provenance dock pinned under every report tells you which state you're in.

Package versions

Packages are versioned rather than edited in place:

• Regenerating builds a new version first; the old one stays available until the new one succeeds, then it is superseded. A failed regeneration never leaves the period without a servable package.
• Interim vs. approved — a package generated while the month was still open is a candidate for review. Once the close is finalized, Kraal does not treat an earlier unapproved version as the client deliverable; use the version tied to the completed review and finalization.
• A cancelled close never produces a final package.
• Year-to-date columns follow the client's configured fiscal year start, and amounts are labeled in the client's (or entity's) currency.

Reopening a closed period

WARNING

Reopening a locked period is an auditable event. It should be done only for documented corrections — never as a workaround.

Reopening is not self-serve. If a correction genuinely must land in a locked period:

1. Contact your Kraal administrator or support with the client, period, and a written reason for the correction. The reason is captured in the audit log.
2. Once the period is reopened, make the correction.
3. Ask for the period to be re-locked as soon as the correction is posted.

Reopening a period automatically marks that period's financial packages and reports stale — see Package stale. After the period is re-locked, regenerate the package and re-deliver it so the client's copy matches the corrected books.

Frequent reopen requests are a sign that close discipline is slipping. If the same period needs reopening multiple times, look at why — usually it points to upstream issues (late bank statements, missed corrections in the open period, etc.).

Still stuck?

If a banner doesn't match anything on this page, or the action button isn't doing what you expect:

• Check the Troubleshooting page for common issues.
• Use the Kraal panel or ChatIQ — describe what banner you're seeing and what you've tried.
• Contact your firm admin or Kraal support.