What does locking do?
When your work on a plan year is done, you confirm the reconciliation. Confirming locks the plan year. The record keeper figures, including any overrides you made, become the reconciled totals. Those are the figures the plan's Form 5500 can use.
A locked plan year's figures are frozen. Nobody can change them by accident. If a change is needed later, an admin can unlock the plan year, someone can make the change, and an admin can lock it again.
Your firm decides what must be true before a plan year can be locked. This is the firm's lock policy. An admin sets it once for every plan. See Admin Settings for Reconciliation.
[Image to add] đŹ GIF: On the Cedar Ridge Excavating 401(k) Plan reconciliation, signed in as an admin, click Confirm Reconciliation, read the dialog, click Confirm Reconciliation in the dialog, and show the success message, the Unlock button, and the Reconciliation confirmed card. About 10 seconds.
Who can lock and unlock
Only admins can confirm, lock, and unlock a reconciliation. Retirement write access lets you change figures, but it does not let you lock.
If you aren't an admin, the Confirm Reconciliation button is grayed out. A note next to it says "Only a team admin can confirm or unlock a reconciliation".
People who aren't admins don't see the Unlock button.
When your work is ready, ask an admin to confirm it.
What CX checks before a lock
CX checks the plan year before it lets anyone lock it. Here is what it looks at, in plain words:
There is at least one asset schedule. A reconciliation with no schedules isn't finished.
Every schedule has its files. Each uploaded schedule needs at least one file.
Every file has finished reading. Files that are still being read, or that failed to read, are unfinished work. Remove or replace a failed file.
Matching has run and didn't fail. Each schedule's rows must be matched against the census.
Every row is matched to a participant. No record keeper row can be left without a person.
Every schedule's matches are confirmed. If you added a file after confirming, confirm that schedule's matches again.
Plan-level overrides still fit. If participant figures changed after you made a plan-level override, review that override.
The census could be read. If CX couldn't read the census, it can't tell whether the figures tie. Try again shortly.
Accrual rules could be read. For Accrual reconciliations, CX must be able to read your firm's accrual rules. Try again shortly.
Each money type is close enough to the census. How close is set by your firm's lock policy.
Which of these actually stop a lock depends on your firm's lock policy. See the next section.
How your firm's lock policy affects locking
Your firm picks one of four lock policies. Here is what each one means when you click Confirm Reconciliation.
Lock policy | Unfinished work | Money types that don't tie |
Nothing | Doesn't stop the lock. It's listed for you to accept. | Doesn't stop the lock. |
Outstanding work to be finished | Stops the lock until it's done. | Doesn't stop the lock. It's listed for you to accept. |
Within a dollar amount (the default, $1.00) | Stops the lock until it's done. | Stops the lock if any one money type is out by more than the amount. |
Within a percent | Stops the lock until it's done. | Stops the lock if any one money type is out by more than that percent of its census figure. |
Good to know:
The tolerance is checked one money type at a time. A plus on one money type never cancels a minus on another.
Under every policy, an Accrual reconciliation can't be locked if CX can't read your firm's accrual rules. Locking would freeze those figures as missing. Wait a moment and try again.
If your firm has never changed the setting, the policy is Within a dollar amount at $1.00.
Under Nothing, a plan year can lock even while a file is still being read or matches aren't confirmed. Whatever is there when you lock is frozen.
On the Plan tab, a money type that is out by less than your firm's tolerance shows its small difference in the Reconciliation column. Hover it to see "Out by $0.40, within your firm's lock tolerance". When every money type is within tolerance, a banner reads "Plan reconciles within your firm's lock tolerance".
Confirm and lock a plan year
Open the plan's reconciliation from Retirement > Reconciliation.
Look next to the Confirm Reconciliation button at the top right. If something is stopping the lock, a note names it. For example: "Resolve this first: 1 source(s) have unconfirmed participant matches." If there are several, the note names the first one and says how many more there are.
Click Confirm Reconciliation. The Confirm reconciliation dialog opens. It opens even when something is stopping the lock, so you can see the full list.
Read the message at the top. When everything ties, it reads like this:
â"Lock Plan Year 2025 as reconciled? The record keeper figures, including 2 overrides, become the reconciled totals offered to the Form 5500. You can unlock later."
On an Accrual reconciliation, it says "accrual-adjusted record keeper figures" instead.
Check the lists below the message, if there are any:
⢠Plan Year 2025 can't be locked yet: lists what your firm's lock policy says must be fixed first. The Confirm Reconciliation button in the dialog stays grayed out. Click Cancel and finish those items.
⢠By confirming you accept: lists things you are agreeing to. This can include money types that don't tie, participants who are in the census but not in any file, and, under the Nothing policy, unfinished work.
â[Image to add] đ¸ SCREENSHOT: The Confirm reconciliation dialog for the Cedar Ridge Excavating 401(k) Plan, showing the Plan Year 2025 can't be locked yet: list with one item and the grayed out Confirm Reconciliation button.
đ¸ SCREENSHOT: The Confirm reconciliation dialog for the Cedar Ridge Excavating 401(k) Plan with nothing blocking, showing the message and a By confirming you accept: list with one item.
Click Confirm Reconciliation.
A message confirms that the plan year is locked and the 5500 can now use these figures. The Confirm Reconciliation button is replaced by Unlock. A Reconciliation confirmed card appears so you can move on to the Form 5500. On the queue, the plan's status shows Reconciliation Approved.
[Image to add] đ¸ SCREENSHOT: The locked Cedar Ridge Excavating 401(k) Plan reconciliation, showing the Unlock button and the Reconciliation confirmed card.
You're all set! Next, see Filling the Form 5500 from a Reconciliation.
Locking a plan that is out of balance
Sometimes the record keeper and the census don't tie. The dialog tells you how far out the plan is, then tells you what your firm's lock policy does about it.
The first sentence looks like this:
"Plan Year 2025 is out by $397.40 across 2 money type(s)."
The amount is the total of each money type's difference, added up without letting pluses and minuses cancel out. If the record keeper reported contributions as one total instead of by money type, the dialog says the plan is out "in total" and explains that where the difference sits is unknown.
The next sentence depends on your firm's lock policy:
Nothing or Outstanding work to be finished: "Your firm's lock policy allows locking it anyway, and the record keeper figures carry forward to the 5500. You can unlock the reconciliation at any time." The money types that don't tie show under By confirming you accept:, for example "EE Pre-Tax and ER Match out of balance with the census".
Within a dollar amount or Within a percent, and every money type is inside the tolerance: "That is within your firm's lock tolerance ($1.00 per money type), so the record keeper figures carry forward to the 5500 when you lock. You can unlock the reconciliation at any time."
Within a dollar amount or Within a percent, and a money type is outside the tolerance: "That is more than your firm's lock policy allows ($1.00 per money type), so it can't be locked until the difference is resolved." The money types show under Plan Year 2025 can't be locked yet:, for example "EE Pre-Tax out by more than $1.00". The dialog adds that a firm admin can change the policy in Settings.
When a money type is outside the tolerance, you have three choices:
Fix the cause, such as a missing file or a census error. See Overrides and Census Corrections.
Add an override with a reason, if the record keeper figure is wrong.
Ask an admin whether your firm's lock policy should change. See Admin Settings for Reconciliation.
Tip: Before you lock an out-of-balance year, add overrides with reasons for anything you've explained. Your reasons stay with the reconciliation and appear in the export.
What is frozen when you lock
Locking freezes the figures that carry to the Form 5500:
the record keeper figures from every schedule
your overrides and their reasons
any accrual amounts you typed
on Accrual reconciliations, the amounts that came from your firm's accrual rules
Accrual rule amounts are saved as they were at the moment of the lock. If someone later changes the firm's accrual rules or the client's payroll, a locked plan year keeps its figures.
The census is not frozen. You can still change the census after a lock, and the reconciliation's census comparison may update. The locked record keeper figures, and what the Form 5500 offers, don't change. See Overrides and Census Corrections.
What you can't change while a plan year is locked
Once a plan year is locked, the reconciliation is read-only:
The Edit button is hidden on the Plan and Accounts tabs, so you can't add, change, or revert overrides or typed accruals.
Add Asset Schedule is hidden. If you open the add schedule screen, CX shows "This reconciliation is locked. Unlock it to add an asset schedule."
You can't delete a schedule or the reconciliation.
Source files and match review show Locked ¡ read-only.
If you try to switch between Cash and Accrual, CX shows "Unlock to change the accounting method".
You can still view every tab, hover overrides to see their reasons, open the census, export the workbook, and work on the Form 5500.
Unlock a plan year (admins)
Click Unlock at the top right of the reconciliation.
Your browser asks: "Unlock Plan Year 2025? Editing is re-enabled and the 5500 will stop offering these figures until you lock again." Click OK.
Your browser asks once more: "Unlock now?" Click OK.
A message confirms the plan year is unlocked and editing is re-enabled. The Confirm Reconciliation button returns.
Unlocking is always allowed, even if the plan year no longer meets your firm's lock policy. That way, a locked year can always be corrected.
Important: While a plan year is unlocked, the 5500 stops offering its figures. Boxes that were already filled on the 5500 keep their values. Lock the plan year again when you're done.
If someone else locks first
Two people can have the same reconciliation open. If an admin locks it before you finish, CX doesn't save your change. You'll see a message like this in the Confirm reconciliation dialog or the Reason for override dialog:
"Jordan Lee locked PY 2025 while you were editing. Your change was not saved."
Click Copy my change to keep a copy of what you entered. The page refreshes to show the locked state.
If new work turns up at the moment you lock, CX tells you the plan year could not be locked because there is still work outstanding. The list in the dialog refreshes to show what remains.
If CX can't check the plan year's status, a Retry button appears next to Confirm Reconciliation. Click it to check again.
Related articles
Matching Participants to Your Census
Overrides and Census Corrections
Cash vs Accrual and Accrual Rules
Filling the Form 5500 from a Reconciliation
Admin Settings for Reconciliation
Asset Reconciliation Troubleshooting and FAQ