why is the start date locked on billing account

AI generated answer (using internal Slack threads):

The start date is locked on a billing account in NetSuite due to the system's design to prevent inconsistencies and errors in financial reporting. When a billing account is created, the start date is set and locked to ensure that all subsequent transactions and billing operations are aligned with this date. This is crucial for maintaining the integrity of the financial data, as changing the start date after transactions have been posted could lead to discrepancies in the financial reports. In the context of SuiteBilling, the start date is also used to determine the billing period for the account. NetSuite does not include the current day when invoicing, which means if you invoice today, your billing period ends the day before. This is to prevent potential issues where transactions posted later in the day are not included in the invoice or are duplicated. If the start date falls within a locked accounting period, the system will default to the start date of the earliest open period. This is to ensure that transactions are not posted to a closed period, which would violate accounting principles. In a global billing scenario, the start date and cut-off periods for booking orders can be managed by locking the functionality on the relevant subsidiaries or using the period close checklist. This ensures that all billing operations are aligned with the local time zone and accounting periods of each subsidiary, preventing audit issues. ****** Disclaimer: This response was generated by an artificial intelligence assistant based on previous conversations from multiple Slack channels, and may contain inaccuracies or mistakes. ******