Opening balances show your company's financial position before using Accounting. Without accurate opening balances, reports can't reflect your true financial position.

Enter the opening balances for:

• Bank account balances
• General ledger trial balance values

To enter opening balances, gather your outstanding customer and vendor invoices, credit notes, closing trial balance, bank statements, and unrepresented bank items (like uncleared checks).

Start using Accounting at the beginning of a new accounting period. Produce your final trial balance from your prior system to ensure accuracy.

You can enter all opening balances at once or in stages. For example, enter customer, vendor, and bank account balances now, and general ledger balances later.

Before entering balances, create records for customers, vendors, and bank accounts, including loans and credit cards. You can also enter bank account balances when creating these records

Verify your start date

Before you enter opening balances, make sure you’ve entered the start date for your transactions.

1. Click Settings, Business settings.
2. Under Financial Settings, click Fiscal year.
3. In the Accounts Start Date field, enter the day that you’ll start using Accounting. For example, if you stopped using your previous accounting system on September 30, enter October 1.
4. Click Save.

 NOTE: You can’t enter any transactions before this date, only opening balances. 

Enter your bank account opening balances

 NOTE: You can also enter opening balances for your bank accounts when creating new accounts or from within the bank account record. 

1. Under Opening Balances, click Bank. 
2. Enter the following information:
   • Bank Account: Select the bank account
     • To change the branch and account numbers, go to the Banking page
   • Date: Use a date before the Accounts Start Date
     • For example, if the start date is October 1, use September 30
   • Type: Select whether the balance is a debit or credit
   • Opening Balance: Enter your total bank account balance from your bank statement as of the opening balance date
3. Repeat these steps for each bank account. Record uncleared bank items from your previous system on separate lines with the original transaction date. Reconcile them once they appear on your statement.
4. Click Save. Your bank opening balances will be displayed in your bank records and the relevant ledger accounts.

 NOTE: For reconciled balances, post the opposite entry for the difference. For example, Enter a $1000 credit if the balance needs to be $4000 instead of a $5000 debit.

What account types normally hold a debit or credit balance?

• Assets - Debit
• Liabilities - Credit
• Revenue - Credit
• Expenses - Debit
• Owners/Shareholders Equity/Capital - Credit

When the Asset balance is negative, enter the opening balance on the Credit side instead of the Debit side. When the opening balance is positive, enter the value on the Debit side.

Enter general ledger account opening balances

1. Under Opening Balances, click General Ledger.
2. Verify that the date is correct.
    NOTE: The default date is the day before the Accounts Start Date. Don’t change this.
3. Enter a reference for your opening balances.
4. Enter the remainder of your trial balance:
   
   • Category: Select an account
   • Details: Enter other details if needed
   • Debit: Enter the debit value from the trial balance
   • Credit: Enter the credit value from the trial balance
5. Enter all values from your trial balance by repeating these steps. The opposite entry posts to the Opening Balances account. Ensure this account has a zero balance after all entries.
6. Verify the entered balances match your trial balance.
7. Click Save. Your opening balances will be displayed in the relevant ledger accounts.

 NOTE: You can save your opening balances without entering the full trial balance. A value remains in the Opening Balances account until you enter the full trial balance.

To edit or delete an opening balance

1. Under Opening Balances, click the type of opening balance you want to edit or delete.
2. Do one of the following:
   • Click Delete next to an account to delete it
   • To edit an opening balance, change the applicable line and click Save

 CAUTION: Changing your opening balances can create a difference between debits and credits on the General Ledger Opening Balances page. The difference posts to the Opening Balances account (9100). Ensure the values match your trial balance. Update as needed and verify the balance for ledger account 9100 is zero before saving.