How do I enter the opening balances when starting up?

The first accounting task when moving onto the system is entering the opening balances: what you own and what you owe at the moment you start. Skipping this step leaves every report short, months later.

When to enter them

Choose a single start date and hold to it — the first day of the financial year or the first day of a month. Everything before it is summarised into an opening balance; everything after it is entered as an ordinary document.

Steps

1. Open Accounting → Opening balance — Figure 1 — then Add.
2. Set the date — Figure 2 — the same start date for every line.
3. Enter the accounts line by line, each balance in the debit or credit column.
4. Watch the two totals at the bottom; the system will not save an opening balance that does not balance.
5. Press Save then Approve; the opening entry is created and the balances appear in the reports.

What goes into it

• Cash: the till balance and every bank account as it stands on the bank statement.
• Customers and suppliers: the total owed to and by you. For invoice-level detail, enter the open invoices as documents instead of one aggregate figure.
• Stock: its value only here; the quantities are entered from the inventory screen, not this one.
• Fixed assets: at their book value after accumulated depreciation, not at original cost.
• Capital and retained earnings: usually what balances the entry.

Notes

• Do not put revenues or expenses in the opening balance; they are temporary accounts closed into retained earnings.
• Enter it once only; repeating it doubles the balances and is not discovered until late.
• Check the trial balance straight after approving and compare it with your old books before starting daily work.
• Do not begin entering daily invoices before the opening balance is approved, or you will lose track of what is before and what is after.