Opening Balances - Getting Started

Question asked by Julie Woodhouse 7 years ago

I'm trying to set up the opening balances as per the Accountants Trial Balance, the only way I can see to do this is by way of a journal. However, I need to enter Trade Debtors against each Debtor not just in the nominal.

I do not have under the 'Settings' tab and option for 'Getting Started'.

If I enter the individual invoices, what date do I enter and what do I post the transaction to?

If they are entered as invoices, then this will create the correct Trade debtors balance but when I come to post the remaining Trial Balance entries, they wont balance by this amount. I'm used to entering opening balances on SAGE where there is an opening balance tab against the Customer and the entry is posted to Suspense account and then when posting the TB, the trade debtors figure on the TB is posted to Suspense to clear that account. I cant find a suspense account or a tab against the customer for opening balances.

4 Replies

Hi Julie - the Getting started menu is under the Dashboard not Settings.

The trouble is that, if you have been able to create invoices as normal, this will be of no use now as the start date is almost certainly a year too early.

Under normal circumstances the debtors you enter under the getting started tab go to "retained earnings" ie that's the suspense account so, if you enter a journal for the rest of the TB, ignore trade debtors, and adjust the retained earnings accordingly.

Rather than fill in the journal screen it is usually quicker to import a CSV via Tools > Import > Journals.

Hi Julie

Create trade debtors and/or creditors by creating invoices/bills just as you normally would - using their original dates and the original nominal codes.

You may then need to adjust other parts of your TB to compensate these entries so as not to 'double up' anywhere along the way.

I did manage to work that one out, but thanks for the reply.

Hi Julie - the Getting started menu is under the Dashboard not Settings.

The trouble is that, if you have been able to create invoices as normal, this will be of no use now as the start date is almost certainly a year too early.

Under normal circumstances the debtors you enter under the getting started tab go to "retained earnings" ie that's the suspense account so, if you enter a journal for the rest of the TB, ignore trade debtors, and adjust the retained earnings accordingly.

Rather than fill in the journal screen it is usually quicker to import a CSV via Tools > Import > Journals.

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