Opening Balance Appearing on Trial Balance

Hi Jack - there is usually no need for a prior year close off for a Ltd company and, as you say, locking makes no difference, it just stops people accidentally putting transactions in the wrong year.

It's worth running the TB at the end of the previous year to see if it agrees with the company accounts.

When you say the dividend account balance is too high, is that the P&L account 9501xxx or the balance sheet shareholder account 8505xxx. It shouldn't be the former as any balance at the year end is automatically deducted from the Retained earnings balance when looking at next year and so, if it's the latter, it means that the dividends you processed in the previous year are still showing as not having been paid to the shareholder.

With regard to the VAT balance, this might again indicate that a payment (to HMRC) has not been processed?

Without access to your books I can only guess and so I suggest you contact support as they can look at your books and advise you. You can contact them via the "?" top right of screen or via email contact support