How Do I Enter Opening Balances?

This checklist discusses entering opening balances. Beginning of the Year Implementation applies to those users who are entering balances at the beginning of the organization's fiscal year.

Beginning of the Year Implementation
  1. Obtain or prepare a trial balance as of the beginning of the fiscal year being implemented. The trial balance should show each fund individually, not combined.
  2. The amounts to accounts payable must be entered through the appropriate module. Therefore, the subsidiary amounts on this initial trial balance must be made to fund balance or a clearing amount.
  3. Enter the account balances using the Transactions>Enter Journal Vouchers form on a fund by fund basis using the beginning of the year date and entry type "Beginning Balance" (UO).
  4. Make sure the total of the accounts payable invoices agrees with the opening accounts payable balance. Then, enter each invoice individually using the Transactions>Accounts Payable>Enter A/P Invoices form. Debit the account used in Step 2 above, to offset these payable opening balances using the beginning of the year date and entry type "Beginning Balance."
  5. Post all of these transactions, then, to verify balances, print a trial balance (General Ledger Analysis>Normal Trial Balance) and Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable ledgers (Accounts Receivable>Detail A/R Ledger and Accounts Payable>Detail A/P Ledger).
Mid-Year Implementation
  1. Obtain or prepare a trial balance as of the beginning of the month for the opening balances. This trial balance should include only those revenue and expenditure balances for the organization's current fiscal year. Any funding sources open at the beginning of the organization's fiscal year will be addressed below. The trial balance should show each fund individually, not combined. The amounts to accounts payable must be entered through the appropriate module. Therefore, the subsidiary balances on this initial trial balance must be made to a fund balance or a clearing account. Enter the Account balances by using the Transactions>Enter Journal Vouchers form on a fund-by-fund basis using the date for which the trial balance was prepared.
  2. Manually prepare a worksheet showing all revenues and expenditures for reporting periods that were open at the end of the organization's fiscal year, if there are overlapping fiscal periods. For example, if the organization is on a January 1 to December 31 fiscal year, and has a grant with a fiscal year beginning July 1, there are six months of revenues and expenditures open for this grant on December 31 which would be included in the worksheet. When preparing the worksheet, each fund should be shown separately. Enter the revenues and expenditures as a Journal Voucher. Use the fund balance to record the net difference between the revenues and expenditures.
  3. Make sure the total of the accounts payable invoices agrees with the opening accounts payable balance, and then enter each invoice individually using the Transactions>Accounts Payable>Enter A/P Invoices form. Debit the account used in Step 2 above, to offset these payable opening balances using the same date.
  4. Post all of these transactions, then, to verify balances, print a trial balance and Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable ledgers.