Opening Balances

Opening Balances for Debtors, Creditors, Banks and Balance sheet nominals, including Fixed Assets are entered from the Settings menu > Opening Balances.

Opening Debtors and Creditors

If the value of the opening debtors and creditors is known, enter it on the opening balances screen.

Select the Update icon to enter the opening invoices and credit notes.

Add the invoices and credit notes as required. The date of the invoices must be in the previous year.

The icon beside the Required outstanding balance will change to a green tick once the correct total of invoices has been entered.

VAT on opening invoices

In the header section of opening invoices there is a slide icon titled VAT previously claimed. Turn this On if the VAT has already been returned on a previous system.

If the VAT is still to be claimed then leave this Off. The VAT on the invoice will then be included in the next VAT return.

If VAT is claimed on a Cash basis then the icon will not be available.

Opening Bank Balances

The opening bank balances are made up of the statement balance at the end of the last day prior to your year start, plus/minus any uncleared bank receipts or payments.

Click on Update.

Enter the bank statement balance.

Enter any unpresented bank payments or receipts. The VAT on the payments and receipts should be treated the same way as that in the opening invoices - see VAT on invoices section above.

Ensure the Opening balance on the first screen matches that on the update screen and both have a green tick.

Opening Balance sheet Nominal Balances

To add the balance sheet nominals to the list for opening balances:

Click on Add.

Select the required nominal or, if the nominal has not been set up, start typing in the name and select Create. 

Once all the opening balances have been entered and all the ticks are green click on Save.

Opening Fixed Assets

As with Balance sheet nominals, click on Add.

Select the required nominal or, if the nominal has not been set up, start typing in the name and select Create.

If the value of the Fixed Assets in that nominal are known then enter this on the opening balances screen. 

Select the Update icon to enter the individual Fixed Assets. The new screen will display the fixed asset nominal which is being updated, at the top.

Any Fixed Asset codes which have already been set-up against the selected nominal will appear on the second screen. New ones can also be added here.

Enter all the appropriate information and Save. 

The icon beside the Required outstanding balance will change to a green tick once the correct total of assets has been entered. If the total was not entered on the first screen, click on Save then enter the correct total so that the front screen has the green tick:

Depreciation

If Accumulated Depreciation is being used, the Accumulated Depreciation Nominal will also be displayed at the top of the screen. The Required outstanding balance will be the Cost of the fixed assets:

On the front screen the Accumulated depreciation will be displayed automatically as a contra to the fixed assets:

If Accumulated Depreciation is not being used then the Required outstanding balance will be the total of the Opening Net Book Value of the assets.

Control Accounts

The Sales and Purchase VAT control accounts and the Suspense account are read-only. They are updated automatically when you enter the balances. The suspense account is the sum of what has been entered and what should be entered to make the opening balances balance.

Opening Journals

All of the opening balances are entered into the data by means of journals. 

The invoices, credit notes, bank payments and bank receipts will appear as YE Jnl:

Opening Bank balances will appear as below, with the bank account code as the reference:

Opening nominal balances have the reference OB Jnl:

These journals cannot be edited. If any changes are to be made they must be entered through the Opening Balances screen. However, the opening nominal journals can be Removed which will then change the opening balances screen as well.